Boulder Colorado - Jumping Into The Deep End

Boulder Colorado - Jumping Into The Deep End

Well the weeks and months have flown passed and im finally over in the states living in Boulder Colorado for 5months of full time training and racing. 

I am a pretty lucky kid right..?

All I can say is I have been here for 3 days and this town is awesome :D 

After having a nice going away lunch and drinks at Benny's Bar and Cafe in Fremantle on Sunday it was time to grab the bags and head to the airport for the long journey ahead. I had 23hrs of flying including transit. By far the furtherest plane fight of my life, hence why i had my going away drinks on the same day in the hope to get some ZZZ's on the plane. I would like to thank all my family and friends that came to Benny's to farewell me off and also a big thanks to the boys at Benny's for putting on some great food and drinks. 

So back to the journey. It started with the first flight to sydney leaving perth at 11:50pm and arriving at 6am sydney time. I had a little time up my sleeve for a nice breakfast after getting the transfer bus to the international terminal. Upon my second check in i walked away an un happy man after getting slugged $135 for excess luggage.. i was only 4kg over but had to purchase another 32kg's... insane i could of brought my whole bedroom if i knew that! after floating about until 10am i was on the next plane direct to LA. It was a 13.5 hr flight... I managed to watch 5 movies, 2 episodes of two and a half men and 2 episodes of how i met your mother. For some people thats a normal saturday or sunday. It drove me nuts haha but i was in LA and most of the pain was over with a 2 n a bit hr flight left to denver. ( 1 quick thing if you ever go to LA and have a connecting and have your bike make sure you check it all the way through... i learnt the hard way when the lovely security guys had to open my bike box letting everything go every where and then had to tell them how to re pack it... complete nightmare). 

Back to it. The flight to denver went pretty quick and I had the boys waiting to pick me up. A big thanks to Matty Shipard, Joe Lewis, Ike Lewis and Al.

As it was July 4th its independence day (america day). Like aussies on australia day its just an excuse to have a party, get pissed and let off some fireworks. So why not experience it properly.... We dropped the bags off, went to the liquor shop n went to a party. Straight away I met some awesome people and turned out half the party was aussies... The sun stays up pretty late in boulder this time of year and by the time it went down at about 9pm it was time to go 2 CU to watch the fireworks.

Im finally all moved and settled in to my new place in north boulder about 1.5miles from the town centre which is perfect for getting on to the highway and hitting up the rides without going through town. Being 1.5miles from town its only a 5min ride to the town to pearle street mall and theres plenty of shops all around the place. 

So far i have banked 3 rides 2 swims and a run. All my training will be pretty easy for the first 2-3 weeks whilst getting used to the altitude. I have a local olympic distance race this sunday which is the Boulder Peak 5150. All the boys think im crazy for doing it this early after getting in to town but il be out there for fun and will take any result i get.

until then keep checking in as i will post the weeks training on sunday night boulder time 

(monday morning perth time)

if you need my us number its +1 720 289 6656

;) enjoy

Busselton 70.3

BUSSELTON 70.3 - MAY

I know its late but better now than never right...

The best race of the season had arrived and i was determined to have a good race after posting my first ever DNF at singapore in march. 

My training leading up to busselton was ok but could have been better. Whilst in singapore catching up with the boys at racers toolbox for some fitness testing beno put the idea across to make the move to a full time triathlete for a few months. After speaking to my coach Tim Reed the plan was set and I was to head off to boulder colorado for 5months being july - november. This is where the training could have been better. I decided to move back in home with the parents before I left to save for the trip and that also meant i needed to work my butt off. Everything was full on and i worked out i was banking approx 60-70hr weeks all up leaving me with no relax time.

However coming into the race week I was feeling good but still knowing i wasnt peaking in my fitness. I had worked a lot on my swimming technique with my coach and guy crawford so i knew i would be able to post a good swim. I ended up with a swim time of 0:28:58 which I was happy with as last year i was in the 30mins. I started next to fellow mate andrew tyack and sat next to him until just before half way when he surged. Soon after i spotted mark with his trademark super fish kick and we ended up swimming all the way in together after even sharing a smile on a few strokes. 

Straight out of the water and in to T2 I quickly emptied my guts of some sea water and headed to the bike exit. Unfortunately i didnt have the best mount on my bike with my shoe and chain coming off. Whilst this happend i lost mark and luke which i was hoping to ride with for the 90km ahead. I quickly re focused and decided to race my own pace in the bike and eventually caught mark on the second lap near the turn around. The wind on the second lap picked up and it was head down bum up with alot of the spectators apparently hearing the whole swearing vocabulary from the urban dictionary. I am sure there are alot of great photo's of angry athletes along certain parts battling through. My bike time was 2:29:34. I would of liked to go low 2:20's but thats just wat happens some days and i was feeling pretty good for a solid run so i was hoping to cut a little time to make up.

Off the bike and in to T2 it was easy to find my rack, the shoes were on and i knew i had to put the pace on as marks and a few others behinds strength was the run. About 2.5km in i caught luke coming out of the toilets and ran with him for a whilst until  about the 3.5km mark. I ran the first 3-5km pretty hard which was not the smartest thing as it lead to cramps. From there on the mind set was just get to the finish line. 

I ended up placing 11th in the 18-24 age group which is the first time i have not placed in the top 10 in a 70.3 race. I was a bit disappointed however i took a lot of things out of the race to work on. One being i need to stop cycling out of my threshold during races to set me up for a better run. All the races i have done so far has been just go hard till you blow which is how i landed the nickname 'Sonic" (as in sonic boom). Two its time to start a proper running block and build these legs into a running machine. 

For now I have a 2 week break to rest up before my running block and pre boulder prep starts. 

I would like to thank the following sponsors for looking after me 

GARLAND CYCLEWORKS - HOME OF SPECIALIZED BIKES PERTH

&

SCIENCE IN SPORT NUTRITION

Make sure u keep posted as i will be posting weekly in boulder!

arriving 4th july 

April - Busselton Training Camp

Busselton 70.3 Endurance Triathlon Camp 2011 - Dunsborough

Brian Kempson delivered yet another great training camp this year. With the location changed to a few kms down the road to dunsborough this year it was great having a different scene for all of our sessions on new courses.

It was a full packed weekend arriving on friday arvo. We started with a welcoming BBQ and seminar before we knew it was lights out for an early morning. Saturday started with our new bike loop through dunsborough and yallingup hills. We managed to punch out a 2 lap course totalling 3hrs approx 110km. As soon as we rolled back to the house it was running gear on and off for a 30min tempo run. The pace was set pretty quickly by Guy and Nathan with me and mark hanging on at the back. After listening to my coaches advice and the seminar the night before i decided to let the boys go ahead and flog themselves as my program didnt have the same pace written on the paper as we were going!! A decision well made as my body thanked me for it when we did another trail run and ocean swim a few hours later. Sunday morning it was a long ocean swim to the small jetty and return. It was a choppy day with not really many people enjoying it and before you know it me and mark had kicked the clarkes off their kayaks and decided to paddle back for abit of fun! Myself and Guy decided to kick back and enjoy a coffee after the ocean swim whilst every one else went for a trail run. Having run every day that week already i was glad to rest the feet instead :)

Sunday Arvo and the camp is starting to wrap up with a farewell BBQ at Fat Duck Cycles in Busselton. All in all it was great weekends worth of training and would like to thank the Endurance Fitness crew for making it ejoyable especially Briank Kempson for organising it.

More Pictures still to come...

March - Singapore 70.3

Singapore 70.3
Well it wasnt a great start to my long course racing for the year posting my first ever DNF...
I had an ok swim coming out of the water in 4th being approx 1 minute down to fellow WA mate Mark Luckin.

                    (swim course was 2 laps with a run out between laps.... ouch)

         (good swim 4th in age out of water. We all agreed it was a little longer than 1.9km....)

I pushed myself hard on the bike to bridge the gap to mark and eventually caught him on the last lap. We then worked together back to T2.

Unfortunetly I had neglected all my nutrition on the bike missing all of the water stations until the last one approx 7km from transition. This ment I had only taken in about 500ml of water over 80km from my aero bottle and in humid singapore conditions my body was not happy.

                                                             feeling cooked.....

                                   In the Hurt Locker.... Next stop, the med tent :(

Coming into T2 I made a rookie error n totally went passed the transition entry leaving me to doule back. In the end I didnt lose to much time to mark which meant it was going to be a battle on the run. Mark put the pace on from word go and my body was in a world of pain. The first 500metres was tough pushing at around 3:50 pace. I knew I couldnt keep this pace for long after having little fluid on the bike. After another few hundred metres my body was shutting down and mark dissapeared down the road. At this point I knew I was in trouble when it was hard to run in a straight line zoning in and out. This left me to only complete approx 3km before collapsing and getting carted off to the medical tent for a few IV drips. A few hours later and I was released feeling the worst i have ever been physically and mentally. I would like to give a big thanks to "The Luckin Family" and Ian Mansfield for looking after me. Also a big congrats to my mates Mark Luckin 3rd, Andrew Tyack 2nd and Matty Burton 1st for a full house WA podium. Good race boys!

Also a Congratulations to
Kelly McCombie - 1st
Caitlin Bridgeland - 1st

Epic effort to benefit flood victims

Well its been a few weeks so here is a catch up on what I have been up to....

Article from "Busselton & Dunsborough Times"

After hearing and watching the devistating news of the natural disaster to hit the East Coast of Australia, I thought it would be a great idea to whip up an event to raise some money to help our fellow Aussies in need.

Being a long distance triathlete I had to think of something challenging that was out of the normal training regime.... And then it hit. I was going to do a three day grind of swim, bike, run.

Day #1 - Ride from Perth to Busselton = 228km

Day #2 - Busselton Half Marathon = 21.1km

Day #3 - Busselton Jetty Swim = 3.8km

Total = 252.9km

Now I had the idea it was time to make a few phone calls to get an event partner and sponsorships.

Event Partner

Event Sponsors

 

A big thanks to these businesses aswell as a few certain people;

Shendelle Oliver - Salvation Army

Tim Watson - Salvation Army Busselton

Michael Ohara - SIS

Mel Marsh - Sportreat
Nick Garland - Garland Cycleworks

The Lions Club (Busselton)

Andy (Busselton Half Marathon)
Brian Kempson

And to my fellow triathletes that joined me what else can I say but thanks for an awesome weekend to remember yet again!

Kate Bevilaqua
Guy Crawford
Helen King
Johan Borg
Andy Tyack

We could not have done it without you!!



We raised approx $1000 in Total

Thank you to every one who donated!

Training/Racing and Life Adventures

So its been just over 2 weeks since my last post and i feel like a whole month has gone by with how busy i have been. So here is a few bits and pieces....

4x4 Adventure

Sunday 13/2/2011

After a quick hour and a half run early sunday morning it was time for abit of fun!

We hit the road at 8am to venture up north for a great day of 4x4 on the coast just north of two rocks. Leading the pack was Heui in his nissan navara with family and friends in white and black toyota prado's. 

 Jess was occupying the passenger seat for most of the trip but she took the wheel for abit on the way back. I must admit watching someone else driving ur car off road isnt the greatest piece of mind but she did a great job and next time if shes up for it she can tackle a few more difficult hills and descents!

After abit of exploring we hit the soft sand on the beach to find a good spot to set up for lunch and a good snorkel. The water was fresh but had awesome reefs with plenty of fish. Definitely a spot to remember and re visit another time.

After going around in circles a few times we found the way back to the main track and decided to go for another climb and descent on a nice hill we found and then gave the tyres a quick pump back up. Jess and I decided to pop into two rocks on the way home for another quick swim before heading home. It was a great day finishing with a quick fluffy bunny competition on the freeway back home but replacing marshmallows with grapes. Once we got to 12 grapes it got abit ugly with Jess starting to dribble everywhere haha!

Big thanks to heui for the day aswell!

Perth Olympic Distance Triathlon

Jan 30th

Recovering from my accident I was glad to still be competing in a team with Matt Illingworth and Cody Angell. From word go our game plan was just smash it....

On a extra long not 1.5km swim... i managed to pull on ok swim time. Being a team we were the last wave start out of the gate leaving the current to take the bouys a little but further than they started but nether the less i found myself out of the water and sprinting to the transition area to tag matt to murder every one on the bike course and that he did! Matty pulled the fastest bike time of the day overall. It was then Cody's time to put in a great run in the hot conditions with a 35min 10km run. Together we were the fastest time over the course for the day putting us in 1st and taking home a 6pack of pure blondes each.

Thanks for the day lads

Training
Recovery has been great and i have been putting in some solid weeks now preparing for singapore 70.3 which is only a short 5 weeks away now.
Everything seems to be clicking along just nicely now having put alot of time in the bike saddle which is more than ever before.
Im also equiped with a new weapon aswell as a few other goodies thanks to
Nick Garland from "GARLAND CYCLEWORKS"

specialized Tarmac SL2 Comp Double
Its a dream to ride making me just want to get on it at any chance I can!

Swimming has been another big imrovement since iv been turning over the shoulders more every week. In the week just gone i managed to hit the water every day except sunday. The busselton Jetty swim was sunday 2 weeks ago now with tough conditions and alot of stingas hanging around. The whole time i thought i was doing crap and just wanted to cave in but when i hit the shore and got out of the water to find mate Andy Tyack had only emerged approx 2mins before me i realised it wasnt such a bad time.