Time well spent

Since Ironman NZ in March I have spent 93hrs 25min or 3 days 21hrs 25min swimming!! Yes you read that it correctly....swimming....and with only 3hrs of swimming in NZ left, I am going to crack the 4 day barrier....wow. That’s a lot of exposure to chlorine.

Ok now I can hear you asking, how do you know that? Well, for those who don’t know I work in the GPS Vehicle Tracking industry and I just ran a report on my vehicle...it’s a little sad I know, but I was curious.

I only hope it’s been enough to get me out of the water closer to the front of the field than I was at Ironman NZ.

Vista with a Barista

As a born and bred mainlander I am not foreign to the awe inspiring vistas our country has to offer, and over the last 3 days I have spent time in the Coromandel and today I am in Taupo....NZ is an amazingly inspiring place! Taupo is a cracking little town with spectacular views, and I have always enjoyed coming here for work or for play, and I could easily see myself living here. I never tire of this view....enjoy.

A cup of fixation coffee and beautiful view, does life get any better....thanks Mr Barista.

Island time

In just a little over 4 weeks I will be departing the chilly NZ spring for the warm summery climate of Kona, Hawaii....and I can’t wait. Despite my training going very well, I am over it. I am ready to race. I always find this the hardest part of training for any event – 3-4 weeks to go. I always end up using the countdown as a method of keeping me focused ie. I only have 12 more swims before leave.

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine told me he’d been speaking to a fellow Kona entrant, and this fella bravely stated something to the effect ‘oh Kirky will struggle on the bike in Kona because of the wind’. Now this kind of thing really winds me up. Granted I have only been in the sport about 10 months now and didn’t own a bike or a pair of speedos up until about 15 months ago....hell my idea of going for a swim was to doing bombs in the deep end, and I have only ever raced in 3 triathlons, but I have raced this particular guy (who shall remain nameless) twice, and beaten him twice....I smell sour grapes. Maybe he should stand in front of his tri-career drawing board and focus more on finding a way to beat me rather than making ill-informed comments about my abilities (or lack of them). FYI it has been pretty damned windy in the BOP this winter.

Update:

Craig Kirkwood = 6 Moros & 3 Snickers/Mars bars

Michael Kelly = 0 - but he did see a sea bird whoaaaaa.....

Cancer Society of New Zealand

It been just over 3 years now since my Dad died...he spent the last 18 months of his life suffering greatly as a result of Cancer.

He was diagnosed in February 2005, and on the 5 May 2005 he had is first surgery in an attempt to remove the tumour. The reason I remember the date is because my son Matthew was born on the 2 May. Dad was so excited about the birth of his new grandson he jumped on a plane and within hours he was in Auckland. I’ll never forget how happy he was holding his new grandson, it made me feel happy that we could provide the distraction he needed....he was scared.

Over the next 18 months he underwent the usual treatments of chemo, radiation, more surgeries etc... it was truly devastating watching the man I looked up to shrivel away to a frail & lifeless shell of the man he once was. Throughout this 18 months my mother soldiered on, providing her undivided care & attention on him. Mum is a stoic and private person and is not good at asking for help, but without the assistance of the Cancer Society of New Zealand she would not have been able to provide that level of care that she did. We as a family will be forever grateful to them.

Now, If that hasn’t brought a tear to your eye, you better check yourself for a heartbeat.

As you will all know I am going to the big island of Hawaii in 47 days, to take part/race in Kona - 2009 World Ironman Championship, and my aim is to raise $5000 for them.

To donate please visit my fundraising page. I am happy to accept any reasonable challenge . FYI - I met every single challenge at Ironman NZ.

Thanks Cancer Society of New Zealand

Get more go on Moro...

When you literally spend your whole Sunday on the bike you need fuel...and plenty of it. My latest craving has been for the good old Kiwi Moro bar. This little piece of Kiwiana has been made even more enticing with Cadbury’s generous ‘1 in 5 wins a Freebie’ deal that they have going at the moment.

This competition is a blessing for my Moro craving and is a bloody good thing too, because of the eight....yes, eight I have had in the last 9 days six of them have been FREE!

Craig Kirkwood = 6

Michael Kelly = 0

Mate I love free stuff...Thanks Cadbury

Art

I believe training the body to its optimum is a form of art...of sorts. It takes time, patience, skill, hard work, perseverance...and often you and others don’t appreciate what you’ve achieved until it’s all over. The art is in the balance between being a big softy and not doing enough, to being a hard arse and doing too much. I like to think that I push the envelope of the later, although some may disagree. Therefore for me the balance between doing enough and overdoing it something that I like to test in an attempt to push the boundary further and further away than what would be perceived as normal. There are a few people that I have had the pleasure of being involved with over the years that have left me with a couple of key memories that have help me mould this ability.

• In 2001 I was training for my first marathon (London), and at one point during the training I was fried. When I spoke to my coach at the time, the legendary Alan Storey, about it he simply said ‘Kirkwood, you’re in a hole, so stop f..... digging!’ - simple, but perfect.
• Right before that first marathon I was speak with one of Britains greatest marathon runners, Jon Brown (4th Olympic marathon 2000 & 2004), about racing a marathon, his advice was ‘the 1^st time you want to go (meaning pick up the pace), don’t!, the 2^nd time you want to go, don’t!, the 3^rd time you want to go, you won’t be able to’ - so true
• Earlier this year when I was training for my first Ironman, my coach Uncle Wattie (Mark Watson) and I were talking about racing the Ironman or more specifically the ride and he said ‘every 20km or so of the ride, do a mental check and ask yourself the question ‘can I still run a fast marathon after x km at this effort?’’ – so valuable

The real art to all of this is learning what you are capable of and where your boundaries lay, then have the courage and the skills to push that boundary without destroying yourself in the process. If you can't master that technique then you’ll never really discover your true potential.

This is different form of art; maybe Blue seventy can make this into a swim skin.

Now the reason for all of this babble is that in the last two weeks I feel that I have pushed a boundary in my training, and have nudged myself up to another level. All three disciplines are on going very well, and I am feeling confident. I am training well and I feel like I am recovering very well from the volume and intensity I am putting in...and yes Alan I am making sure the hole isn’t getting too deep. I think I can put this down to 3 main elements

1. Well structured training programme - thanks wattie

2. Nutrition & hydration - Part of my nutrition is a daly intake of Resveratrol which I think is really aiding my recovery - thanks About Health.

3. Weekly Massage - thanks Kylie (Bay Massage Therapy)

Whatever it is...I like it.

Work-Life Balance

Can you believe the NZ Department of Labour has a section on their website dedicated to work-life balance.

'Work-life balance is about effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and other activities that are important to us - including spending time with family, taking part in sport and recreation, volunteering or undertaking further study. Research suggests that improving the balance between our working lives and our lives outside work can bring real benefits for employers and employees. It can help build strong communities and productive businesses.'

And according to Ezibuy, my July horoscope ‘The key to not only surviving this month but thriving, using any pressure to your advantage and as a means to achieve a breakthrough, is finding the right work/life balance.’

I can hear you asking ‘who gives a shit Craig, what is this all about?’ Well good question.

Many of you will know that I do lead an reasonably busy life – I have a full time job, I have a young family, I am training for Kona, I coach runners and I have a part time job. Believe me when I tell you that these responsibilities/undertakings take some balancing. The catalyst for this blog was that I had my work review on Wednesday, and as with any review you get both positive reinforcement for your good performances and ‘constructive criticism’ for your failings. One of my ‘constructive criticisms’ was that I need to work on my work life balance. Now I am not into Horoscopes into a big way or anything, but I am a Libra (or the Scales) and I have always thought that I do pretty damn good job at balancing activities in my life....apparently I could do better!

Libra Traits

Diplomatic and urbane
Romantic and charming
Easygoing and sociable
Idealistic and peaceable

Interestingly, these are Some of the negative Libra traits – I can also see these in myself.

Indecisive and changeable
Gullible and easily influenced
Flirtatious and self-indulgent

After pondering this information for a good 48hrs now I have determined that although it is true that I do get distracted from time to time, I think they are wrong. I believe I do a fine job, there are only so many hours in a day, and I think I use 90% of them wisely. Btw I am writing this blog while my work mates are having a coffee break....slackers.