Kona 2008

Very cool video of Kona 2008

Confusing abilty with ambition...

Well it’s been a while since my last post, but to be fair I have been very busy. Work has been full on and as my training is ramping up I in preparation for Kona I seem to have less and less time to sit put my thoughts into script.

I must say that I am little....no actually I am a lot over winter. It’s been tough to get on the bike during all of our cold wet weekends, thankfully I have a understanding wife who tolerates my wind trainer whirring in the lounge in the evenings as we both watch Le Tour replay. Last Sunday I rode 100km into a nasty cold southerly headwind...it was miserable. I was so relieved to get off my bike and into the car. My pesky calf has finally come right and I am now running 60min plus...this is a huge relief, because I felt that I was less prepared for the run at IMNZ than I would have liked....I was prepared to be beaten by Cameron, but I was a bit gutted that Terenzo ran faster than I did. I now have plenty of time to get myself into some decent marathon form before I can take it to those Euro & Nth American Tri fags in Kona.

One thing that does continue to baffle me about triathletes is that their lack of reality in their ability at each of the three of the disciplines (sorry if you’re offended...actually no I’m not haha)...and a great example of this is Rasmus Henning, last week on the IMTalk Podcast (week 168) he was asked in a interview what he thinks he could run for a marathon - ‘i could run around 2:12’ was his reply, I nearly fell off my chair with laughter, but do you know the worst part!? (rhetorical of course) The interviewers (who are experienced multisporters and should know better), didn’t even question his outrageous claim. I was miffed at their lack of knowledge....so I did some research (then emailed them...I’ll probably get slagged off this week). There is no denying that Rasmus is a class athlete, and that he has had a stellar ITU carreer, and has made an exceptional start to his IM career with a debut win at IM China, but he ain’t no 2:12 marathoner. Just as an aside the Danes haven’t had anyone run sub 2:13 for 20 years.

2:12 - wake up dreamer

Anyway this outrageous claim has given me to a new goal for Kona - I want to smash his run time.

On the mend

I am pretty excited that my calf muscle has improved to the point that I am now planning on running tomorrow. In my experience a calf muscle take between 5-6 weeks to come right, and I think by the time I am able to run for a solid 45min it will have been 6 weeks since I was i..... It'll be a very slow and very short jog tomorrow. I think I’ll start with a 5min walk, 2min jog, 1min walk, 2min jog. If that goes well, i'll go 5min walk, 5min jog, 1min walk, 5min jog on Thursday.

This time off running hasn't been a complete dead loss though as I have used this time to get my bike miles up and work on my swimming. My swimming has improved in leaps & bounds since Ironman NZ, and I feel like I am now swimming more efficiently; I am defiantly swimming faster. My riding has also come along nicely, and I am now feel like I am riding more smoothly and can hold a decent tempo for longer. Although I did suffer a mechanical meltdown on Sunday, when my rear tyre was shredded by some little pricks broken beer bottle. I had to call a Kylie to come and pick me up. This leads me to my questions for this week;

Should Beers & RTDs be bottled in plastic or glass? I vote plastic

Now don’t get me wrong, I like a nice cold beer (or 2) from a glass bottle like any kiwi bloke, however every time some loser throws an empty from his car on to the road and I run over it, it costs me money. I counted up the patches on one of my tubes last night and it had 6 patches on it. Imagine if I’d purchased a new tubes every time that happened – it’d would have cost me $110 on that tube alone. It's a good thing I find patching tubes therapeutic.

Frustrating

Biggest of BIG Wendesdays

I think everyone in New Zealand will be buying a Big Wednesday for this tonight’s draw...$25 million...can i say that again....$25 million. How nice would that be (it’s rhetorical question of course)?

I, like many others, have already decided how we’d spend it, and thought I share with you the first five things I’d like to do....now I say ‘like to do’ because ultimately Kylie will have to approve any decisions.

1. Share my winnings with my family
2. Buy a new house and car etc...
3. Donate huge amounts of money to the Cancer Society
4. Buy a property and open an endurance training base
5. Invest in the dreams of my friends
6. Then I’d have a coffee

Ok that is 6 things, but hey it’s my blog, and if all goes according to plan I’ll be worth $25,000,010 tomorrow - so really I can do what i like J

Some other questions that I have always pondered about when you hear about other people who have won big - $25million big

• Would I continue to work? No
• Would I even ring my boss to tell him? No
• Would I invest it? Only in the future of family and friends

Wish me luck - cause the odds are in my favour 1 in 2,715,000

North Westerly’s blow

What would you consider more daunting, riding 215km or riding from Tauranga to Auckland? And what if I tell you that you it was a headwind for 175km?

On Saturday Mike & I encountered all of the above!

It was an interesting ride, one that started in comfort and progressed though rain & wind, pain & discomfort, and suffering & regret...but not even that fact that we were riding through Mangere could damped my joy at seeing the Mangere Mount, and knowing that a hot shower and a comfortable chair was only minutes away.

A couple of key memories from the ride

1. A puncture before Katikati didn’t go down well, and then I found out Mike had 2 spare tubes but only one CO2 cansiter...humour
2. Steak & Mushroom pies in Paeroa at 9:30am are awesome
3. Headwinds suck
4. Miranda? Where? I must have missed it....head down and suffering I suspect
5. Did you know there was such a place as the Seabird Coast? I didn’t, and I still don’t know why it’s named that...I didn’t see any...although maybe I should refer back to #4
6. Coke in Kaiaua was a savour
7. Snake Hill wasn’t as bad as I feared
8. Headwind = yuk
9. Kawakawa Bay was as peaceful and serene as ever
10. Coke in Clevedon was heavenly
11. West Road after 180km was bloody awful! Every sinew in my legs demanded that I stop, and it took every ounce of pride & determination to keep pushing
12. The contrast in the suburbs of Auckland is astounding - Whitford, Danemora, Flatbush then into Otara, Otahuhu & Mangere
13. Did I mention how I feel about headwinds...they blow

Thanks for the company & the tow Mike

What a drag

50 times less drag than skin, how can you argue with that?

‘the pointzero3 has a drag coefficient of 0.032 which is over 50 times lower than skin’

At 5:30am this morning I dragged myself out of bed at and trudged off to swim in my brand new Blue Seventy Pointzero3+ swim skin. I told those who asked what the heck I was doing that I just wanted to drag it out and try it on, but the truth is that it makes me feel fast. However, whether I swim fast at Kona or drag arse will obviously be directly related the frequency of me dragging myself out of bed to go swimming, cause who am I to question the stats.

Why? Well for you non-tri geeks out there, the swim at Kona is a non wetsuit swim, but these drag defeating swim-skins are allowed...and i need all the help I can get.

Thanks Blue Seventy.

Swear words....

My least favourite word in the English language is one that i consider a swear word, but it’s probably not one that most people would guess first up....it is INJURY! I dislike it to the point that i don’t even like to say it...strange eh...maybe it is a superstitious fear that it’ll cause one.

 

Anyway, I have spent the last two months getting myself back into some decent running form after my sojourn into triathlon. I had planned out my season, scheduled my races, planned my training and had done pretty much everything right only to get injured 9 days before I was due to race....gutting. I was doing a workout on the wet road about two weeks ago now, and the slipping caused my right calf to tighten, I swam the next morning and cramped twice pushing of the wall, then that night I was 8min into a 90min run when it pinged on me...I was subject to the walk of shame. There is nothing that looks more ridiculous than a guy dressed in running gear walking home with a limp.

 

So no Christchurch Half Marathon this year, however in retrospect it was a very cold and windy day, it would have been pretty miserable...or is that just me justifying it to myself...I’ll let you make up your own mind on that one.

 

I’ve also had to postpone my attempt at the Treadmill Marathon World Record which was scheduled for the 13^th June. To shed some light on this event, I was trying to think outside the square about how I could fundraise for my trip to World Ironman Champs in Kona, Hawaii this October. I initially thought I might ride the equivalent of the length of NZ on my wind trainer, or do a static Ironman (endless pool, wind trainer & treadmill) but both of those options just seemed far too daunting (and insane), so I decided to give the Treadmill Marathon World Record a nudge. The current record is held by American Erik Baker at 2:21.40 who set it in 2006....and I reckon I can take it, and to have to postpone this after all the work it took to set up was gutting, but thankfully my supporters have said that they’ll be there when I reschedule it.

 

So onward and upward....and be gone you nasty ‘I’ word.