If I Had To Do It Again...

And I would... in a heart beat! But I promised Mat I wouldn't. It's his year!

But if I had to, here's some things I would change:

1. Equipment training. Get the equipment you are going to use on the day and practice in it. Change it if it isn't going to work and feel perfectly comfortable for the event!
2. Location training. Go to those hills and ride them, run them, cycle them. Paddle more, portage more.
3. Build in more recovery and cross training in training cycle. A macro-cycle of one week long slow distance, one week of speed and interval training, one week of maintenance and cross training, repeat cycle and then one week off, so you get a rest week every 6 weeks (adjusted depending on competition schedules). Actually, just thinking maybe that should be flipped around, with cross-training, then speed, then distance, so you rest after a distance week... only one way to find out which will be best! :)
4. Block training. Nail your transitions. Run then kayak. Swim then run then ride. Ride then cycle. Seems obvious, but practice with the gear you are going to use and get your transitions down to a fine art. Know where everything is, what order it needs to come out of the box. Stack it just so. Use it in that order. Be able to do it yourself, just in case you have to!
5. Nutrition. I was pretty happy with my nutrition planning. I had enough to eat and drink and never felt completely depleted. I was struggling a bit due to not being able to eat while on the horse, but I did drink and I wasn't completely destroyed. Practice with the food you use. Find what works for you and be consistent with it. Know that you don't have to use gels or gus or special drinks, that real food works fine too.
6. Preparation. I did good with this (except for missing my crop top, I had everything I needed when I needed it). Unless you have done it a few times and know exactly what you want and need and have packing down to a fine art, take the two days before. Plan everything, write a list, organise and recheck. Cook lots of food! Put everything in boxes for each transition and label the boxes. Let everyone who needs to handle the boxes know what's in them and what you need them to do with the boxes.
7. Recovery. Once again, I think I did well with this. Plan lots of food, plenty of time for sleep and rest, and massage and stretching. I probably didn't need to take two days for recovery, but am grateful for the second day, none-the-less, as it means cleaning up after the event is possible, and more naps and eating is possible, and there won't be any struggling through work.
8. Helpers. It takes an ARMY to support an Iron Person. There were 200ish teams, not quite 1000 competitors, and approximately 2000 support crew! That's a lot of people to help out! You need a team manager, you need to review the what's and where's, and the team members who are helping you need to know your expectations at each changeover, for example, "Meet with with a bottle of water, then I need the towel to dry off, then if you can put sunscreen on my back and shoulders while I change my shoes, I'll be ready to go." Clear expectations means that when you're adrenaline rushed you won't be puffing out instructions that might sound more like barking out orders. Also, trust that they have your back. Just do your thing and know that they are doing everything that needs to get done to make sure you can focus on your race. Trust! :)
9. Also, take good care of  your helpers! Organise food and drinks for them. They need to be strong and healthy to support you. Make sure they have chairs to sit on and hats and sunscreen and jackets too. Maybe some money for ice cream, if they are so lucky to be near an ice cream van. Yum!

Some discipline specific changes I would make are:

Run:

I was pretty happy with my running. But in training I did start to get bored with the long slow distances, and was struggling to get my distance over 12km. So the changes I would make are:

1. Use recovery macro-cycle: build long slow distances; build up speed in 5 and 10k runs with sprints and intervals; do hill climbs, stair runs, plyometrics, lunges, and other running drills to improve form, and keep it interesting.
2. Add off-road running.
3. Practice downhill running.
4. Make sure you are doing it in good shoes.
5. Stretch and do yoga to keep the muscles limber. I would love to have done about double the amount of yoga I did! It is good for a runner to be flexible!

Kayak:
Obviously, this easy point to make here is to actually practice in the equipment you are going to use!

1. Get good equipment. Try lots of things out, find something you like well before the event, and then practice in it lots. Even if you can't afford a flash kayak, get something you can afford (or borrow something you will be able to use regularly) and get on the water!
2. When you can't get on the water, do paddle at home in your living room. It really does help. Use a much heavier paddle than you will use on the day.
3. Go to the Blackwood River and train on it.
4. Practice getting in and out of the kayak quickly.
5. Practice carrying and dragging your kayak.
6. Cross train with lots of push ups, rows, tricep work (I have strong triceps and they were on fire after the paddle!). Chin ups and other lat work would also be a huge benefit. Wrist and forearm strengthening exercises will be of great benefit too.
7. Do pilates for core strength. Your back and core need to be in tip-top shape for maximum stroke effect. Get your obliques strong!
8. If your kayak has a rudder, pull up the rudder and practice paddling and controlling your craft without the rudder. You hear about this every year: rudder lost, kayaker can't control boat, barely or doesn't finish race.
9. Check your equipment before the race and have a back up plan! :)

Swim:
Fitness and some swimming ability alone will get you through the swim. But, there's always ways to improve!

1. In the case of the Blackwood River, don't wear brown-tinted goggles, as I did. It matches the water colour. And then you really can't see! Clear goggles are the way to go.
2. A wet suit adds buoyancy and warmth, but is not critical to the success of the swim, unless it's a really cold day.
3. Train in open water if possible, if for no other reason but to experience the distance for yourself before the race.
4. Train to swim about 2km in a pool, because without the rests and without pushing off at the end of each lap, you end up experiencing a much more challenging swim, even if you're going faster, because there is absolutely NO PAUSE button.
5. Practice running after your swim. Since you need to get up that bank, and you need to THINK after the swim, you need to develop your stamia beyond the 1km.

Horse:
Some of the things I mention here might be fairly specific to TK, but generally this is a harder and faster ride that is busier and has more people running out of control than is probably ideal. So you need trust and control with your horse.

1. Secure a strapper early. Lock them in. Work with them. Thank them profusely!
2. Expose the horse to lots of different environments. Go to endurance rides, social rides, ride in new places. Go to pony club, take him/her to different events. Let strangers handle your horse, take them to busy places, and away from them.
3. Work on control and TRUST. By trust I mean get the horse to trust that the rider does know what's best and will not steer you wrong, and get the rider to trust that the horse will listen, watch its own feet, and tell you when something is wrong. Do 'spooking' exercises, do group work, do alone work, get a good trainer you can relate to and work with your horse so that you know that when it comes to the day, he's not just fit, but will ride the ride you ask.
4. Build athletic and gymnastic ability as well as just stamina. Use the recovery macros-cycle mentioned earlier. Do long slow distances. Do some speed and heart rate training. Do lots of dressage style work, focusing on flexibility, strength. Do some jumping and in-hand work.
5. If possible, get a heart rate monitor for your horse so you actually know how hard he's working.
6. Always always always follow your cool down routine. Just starting the routine will teach the horse that the end is here and that he can rest and he'll be more likely to cool to requirements quickly. Practice this routine with your strapper.
7. Practice good equine management. Get the teeth done, worm, drench, and feed your horse appropriately. Get feet done regularly and make sure that you really trust your farrier, and that he understands the demands you are placing on your horse.
8. Separate your horse from a group, pull him up and make him do something different than his friends. Teach your horse that you are the herd, and he doesn't need the other horses. And, if you're lucky, you'll also teach him that he doesn't need to be first!
9. Practice riding in whatever you are going to be wearing out of the swim. Get it wet and ride in it. I got terrible saddle sores from my bike shorts under my pants. Wet rubber leg bands rubbing through onto the fender of the saddle made a BIG ouchie. I rode in my bike shorts in training, but not in them wet. What a difference!
10. Make sure your horse loads easily and that anyone can get him on a float. Practice loading with your strapper.

Bike:
I did alright in the bike, but there's heaps of room for improvement.

1. Get a decent bike with good gearing. I saw a few people doing this on mountain bikes, and they were working hard. Yes, they passed me, but that's not the point! :) Or is it? They had good gearing and knew their bikes. I also saw young Ryan on a very old bike that he wasn't very familiar with and didn't have good gearing and he struggled. He could have done the bike ride way faster if he had a better bike to practice on before the race.
2. Go to Bridgetown and ride those hills. Over and over again. In fact, ride it in reverse, too. I think it'd be even harder that way.
3. Use the recovery macro-cycle for training. Get some distance rides in, some hills, do some time trials, and a little weight training to develop leg strength.

So, now, in theory, you should be able to go out and do the Blackwood Marathon! Maybe see you there next year! :)

Intensity

Intensity was the “thought word” for the day I was looking at IL times and having a small fear/freak out moment. I was wondering how I’d ever keep up, and if I was going to make a fool of myself.

And of course, I knew the answer to “have I bitten off more than I can chew?”

No, in fact, I wasn’t quite biting off enough!

I need to up my intensity.

Essentially with 66 days left to go, I don’t have time to just plod along and dilly dally! I should not be working at a pace that I feel I can do all day! I need to get the speeds up, the distances up and FAST! I need to work hard and get working at race pace!

This week I did two workouts of higher intensity and really felt the benefits.

First was a row on the machine to act as my swim. I rowed Monday for only 14 minutes (I was aiming at 15, but just couldn’t do it) and I pushed to get out 1km in that time, and keep my stroke rate over 33, preferably up around 37. Normally I sit on a 27ish stroke rate, and am singing along to whatever song is playing. But not so on Monday! I was *grunting* to push out the last three minutes! I was working *hard* and it felt good!

And today, after a great 1 hour horse ride (where TK was actually *almost* fast!), I went for a 5km run and I pushed myself hard with intervals. I tried to run faster than I normally do and then at every 5 minute mark I sprinted for 30 seconds.

And the result was a Personal Best! Almost a full 2 minutes faster than my previous personal best!

Now I may not go out and try these intervals with my 12km run just yet, but I hope it will help me improve my speed over the whole distance! I might just learn to be a faster runner!

If I do at least one session of each discipline each week with the intensity cranked I think I’ll be ready to take this race on at a pace that I can be proud of!

Marvellous Monday

Well, despite a two hour delay to getting the morning underway (don't ask), I still managed to get in a few good workouts!

First, in between loads of laundry and feeding animals, I squeezed in 40 minutes of 'spinning' on my lovely mag trainer.  I wore my shorts - so much better! I had my pumpin' spin music, and I had my notes on what to do to have the best stationary bike workout possible.

Wow!  I was working my butt off!  I was DRIPPING with sweat!  I can honestly say sweat was flinging off my body!  I could NOT do another four tracks, I was too tired!  The other day, I thought maybe I could say that 35 minutes of steady going should count for one whole session, but there is no way I can accept that now!  This morning's ride was a real workout, and will count as "one".  I probably won't ever get the intensity up to that level while watching tv, so duration will definintely have to increase to get the benefits.  What a huge difference!  I'm still astonished by that session!

Then I ran around a did a few quick things in town (all sweaty still from my ride! Iew, people must think I'm really gross), and headed to the gym for a 5km run on the treadmill.  I was going to do it outside, but the weather looked like it was going to turn very nasty, and why suffer when you don't have to?  I did some speed intervals, because the new treadmill with the hill program is broken (after only one week!) and worked up to 11.5km per hour.  It made me think I might have the potential to run faster than my current average of 10km per hour.  New targets and goals all the time!

Then this evening I did Body Balance! I put a lot of effort into my workout!  I love the stretching and stabilising, especially after the weekend of rogaining, plus today's great workouts.

Renewed Vigour

After looking at where I am in relation to my goal yesterday, I have found a renewed sense of purpose to my training, so have had two wonderful workouts in the last two days.

Last night I got to spin on my bike for the first time!  I was watching NCIS, and planned to stay on for the whole show, but just couldn't!  I got about 35 minutes through and my butt and legs were really aching.  Out of practice, but I thought it was a good start and I am committed to my plan and will continue to work towards four hours or more on the bike each week.  I will also remember to wear my bike shorts, because it's amazing what a difference the padding makes to one's comfort!

This morning, I had to go in to work to clean up after last night's last Healthy Bodies Seminar.  We cooked a meal ourselves, and shared it, which was wonderful!  We had a great time, and ran overtime.  Security nearly locked us in, so the dishes didn't get done.  We had an event on at 10am so I went in at 8 to do dishes, thinking it'd take me 30 minutes, then planned to do 30 minutes on the tready.

Dishes took a lot longer than that, and I also decided I needed a longer run to get the 6km in that I was aiming for taking the hills into account, so in the end didn't get home until after 10am.  Oops! And so much to do here too!

But the run was great!  6km, 40 minutes, hill intervals at level 6, which means a maximum grade of 4.9%.  I will probably need to work towards a 10% grade to get hill-ready enough, but there is also the outdoor training that will take that into account.   Anyway, I really felt the burn, but no pain in the knee or hip.  I am pretty sure I burned WAY more calories than the little machine said!! I think I will also wear the heart rate strap next time, rather than using the hand sensors, so I can get a more consistent read out, but I seemed to be working around 85-90% most of the times that I checked my heart rate.

The other thing I've resolved to do is actually GET UP when my alarm goes off. Today the alarm went off at 7:15am - the official time of sunrise. And each week I will bring the time forward a few minutes to coincide with the increasing daylight, and my increasing need for longer workouts!

My new plan is still a work in progress, as there are a few changes coming to the schedule in light of a few programs ending, the school term changing, school holidays on the way, and new programs starting in 3 or 4 weeks.  But I think it'll actually be better - there shouldn't be any split shifts to work around, and that will definitely make things easier to plan around.

I'm going to be ready!

Ladder Runs - Attempt #1

Well, on the good advice of Men's Health Magazine contributor Matt Fitzgerald, I should try some intervals. Advice I give to my clients. I should follow my own advice. And I promised my next run would be a ladder interval. So, here's what I'm supposed to do:

The Ladder
Do this workout at a running track.

1. Warm up with 5 to 10 minutes of easy jogging, followed by stretches for the hamstrings and calves.
2. Run one lap hard, then jog one lap.
3. Run two laps hard and jog one.
4. Run three laps hard and jog one.
5. Optional: Run four laps hard.
6. Cool down with 5 to 10 minutes of easy jogging.

So, I have a 1km horse track right next to my house! How convenient! And I think, well, a 1km sprint is pretty unrealistic, so I will do 500m; most running tracks are, on average, over 400m, and I can find the half-way mark on the track pretty easily.

So I figure I can get to step 4 and with the cool down, I'm looking at about a 7-8km run: 1km warm up, 500m hard, 500m easy, 1km hard, 1km easy, 1.5km hard (figure that might be out of reach, but will try), 1.5km easy, 1km cool down.

Great, so out I go, do my warm up lap, my stretches, all is well.

And then I start to burn rubber, heading out for my first 500m all-out sprint. By the end of the first corner I am hearing this odd noise, something between a wheeze and a grunt, and it's coming from ME! My lungs are heaving, my heart is pounding, and I've only just made the straight! That's maybe 250m! And I'm thinking I'm pretty near death, I am sure of it! But I power on, pushing hard hard and make the 500m mark and slow down to a near walk. I'm pretty sure you can't call this a jog. My chest has never expanded so much, I feel like my ribs are going to burst through the skin! But I recover and have a nice easy jog in to the 1km mark.

I stopped, I drank some water, caught my breath and decided, "yeah, okay, I can try that again!" So I did!! Clearly I wasn't as near death as I thought I was!

And so I blast out of there with a little less vigour than the first sprint effort, but still good, and the wheeze comes on right into the first corner. That didn't take long! I was thinking, "This is probably what an asthma attack sounds like." And I kept thinking, "just keep pushing, push, push" and I got around the corner and into the straight. I'm slowing down, I'm struggling to breathe, I am hoping to make that 500m mark, but I'm not so convinced any more. Finally, in a cough and a sputter I have to concede and end up walking the last 90-100m to the half-way point. Yup, right down to a walk.

I was gulping for air. I was shaking. This was as close as I can recall ever being to a 10 (throwing up) effort in a run. I managed to pick up a jog again, and tried (as I had been in all my easy runs) to concentrate on maximising my stride by pushing back when my foot hit the ground. It does help, but I'd forget what I was doing and go back to plodding. This was a very slow lap in the end.

But the effort of running with awareness, of trying to run fast and efficiently, reminded me of when my friend Keri and I had a short-lived track running season back in the day - we were still in high school I think. We were pretty into it for a few months. We even went to competitions. And I was thinking of the drills and stuff we did. I used to run the 400 and 800m pretty well, and also did okay in the 4x100m relay race. I don't think I'm doing as well now as I was then... maybe I need to do more drills. It was a nice distraction to let the mind wander like that for a few minutes... then I concentrate on the work again.

I ran one more steady lap, at my usual pace and was surprised to find that I came in at an alright speed/time overall, despite the walking/gasping/dying. Well within my averages. But only 4km! I couldn't have gone any further. Well, maybe another easy 1km, but I just felt like I had done enough! I was TIRED! I felt finished, and I felt like I had a good workout! So I stopped!

It would have been pretty neat to be able to carry on at that first 500m speed. I would have made a 4 minute 20 second kilometre! Hard to believe there are people who just run that fast, and can maintain that pace over a marathon distance, and for me that's a flat out sprint effort that results in a massive crash!

All in good time, right?

I'm sure I'll have better results next time!