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Who are you going to call?

As previously mentioned, my ironman ‘dream’ started some eight or nine years ago. Between then and now, there has no doubt been many people who have helped me along my journey towards becoming an ironman, whether directly or indirectly. Even though triathlon is an individual sport, and it’ll be me against myself (and the official timing system), I want to acknowledge a bunch of people and what they have done to help me.

I may not be able to immediately tell all of the following people of my success on race day, but in due course, if you’re on this list you’ll hear from me. I promise.

As they say in the movies “in order of appearance.”

**Jason Shortis – my coach** – without a doubt, you’ll be the FIRST person I’ll be attempting to get in contact with when I’m conscious enough to be verbal on that device called the phone! I guess I’ll at least need a GCS (Glascow Coma Score – it’s a measure of ones conscious state!) of 13 to operate a phone? Eye opening = to pain. Best verbal response =  incomprehensible words. Best motor response = obeys command. That was a bit of sillyness. Thanks so much for all the time you’ve given me. Love your work. I love how you challenge me to be the best athlete I can be. Thanks for believing I can do a “sub 15:00:00.” And no, I’m not placing any expectations on it at all (just secretly, I am!).

Pete  – where it all started back at Hornsby swim squad. Thanks heaps mate. You’ve never given up on me and my ironman dream. You always you I’d be an ironman one day. I know it’s taken me a while, but here I am, I’m really going to do this.

Peter – my swim coach at Hornsby swim squad. You always knew I’d do an ironman one day too.

Martin – my cycling coach in 2002-03. I’m so glad I’ve got back in touch with you.

Dr Bob – remember that bunch ride I did with St George CC? Anyway, thanks for being so supportive.

Tim – my amazing physio and pilates instructor at Advantage Physio, Wynnum since January 2007. I know you have your concerns/reservations about my ‘readiness’ for ironman. But thanks for supporting me and not saying “don’t do it.”

Mark – owner of the Bathurst gym I was a member of in 2008, and avid cyclist. I’ll come and visit one day and bring my bike. I might be able to keep up with you. Or not?

Adam – swim coach at Bathurst Aquatic Centre. I loved your squad sessions in 2008. Really miss you! I can’t wait to tell you all about Ironman NZ!

Craig Harper – “Do I think you can do an ironman? Yes, I do… Do I think you are up to it this year [2009]? I’m not sure.” Thanks Uncle Craig. Means a lot that you believe in me. But I know, I need to believe in me, hey? I’m working on it.

Gav – my personal trainer since end of Sep 2009. Thanks mate for all your help.

There are a bunch of others – mainly family and friends. But the above are the key players in my ironman dream.

February 8th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 11 comments

Signs of an emerging ironman

This is in part quirky, but takes a realistic snap shot of the life of an ironman in training (according to me, anyway – I can’t speak for anyone else).

1.   You sign up for coaching with pro ironman Jason “Shorto” Shortis. (How lucky am I to be 100 km away from his bike and tri shop in Tweed?) I’m a happy girl! Thanks Jase – you’re awesome!

2.   You acquire the following gear:

  • Full carbon road bike
  • GARMIN 310XT
  • Blue Seventy Helix long sleeve wetsuit
  • Asics GT-2140 running shoes
  • Shimano WR40 bike shoes
  • Shimano PD-R540 pedals

3.   You have absolutely no idea what the current news of the day/week is, or even what the weather will be tomorrow, because rain, hail or shine, nothing will stop you from training. There’s always the ergo (home trainer) and Mum’s treadmill in the garage.

4.   You sacrifice your favourite social activities (ie. BodyJam) because you promised your coach there’ll be no ‘extra training’ added in to your already crazy training program

5.   You no longer have time to watch TV, period.

6.   You don’t even need to alarm yourself at 4:00 AM to get your training in so as to beat the Brisbane heat because you’re a chronic insomniac that wakes at 3:00 AM. One of my theories about my insomnia is that I’m just too excited about ironman to sleep!

7.   Your ‘wish list’ contains the following: 

  • FUEL belt
  • Team Shoris trisuit
  • OAKLEY Livestrong radar sunnies
  • Zipp gear bag (it has pockets for all your race gear – definitely need one for NZ)

8.   You start running with gel flasks in your hand. This is either indicative that you are training for long enough to warrant the intake of sports nutrition in the form of energy gel OR that you are serious enough about your race that you are practicing your nutrition routine in training. It also makes you look, think and feel like a serious athlete when you do!

9.   You consult your coach regarding penciling in a race for after your first ironman ‘just in case things go pear shaped and you have something to focus on so you don’t get too down about your performance.’ I’ve suggested to Jase that we think about Gold Coast Marathon on July 4, 2010) and/or Capricorn Resort Half Ironman, Yepoon  in mid August, 2010.

10.  You start bookmarking sites such as: 

  • Jason Shortis
  • Shortis Cycle and Tri
  • Ironman.com
  • Transitions
  • Ironman New Zealand
  • Ironman Western Australia
  • Challenge Roth*
  • Gold Coast Marathon
  • Road ID (very important for athletes who train alone. Must get one.)
  • Rottnest Channel swim
  • Triathlon Race Calculator / Time Management Tool
  • Allan Pitman (he writes some really good stuff)

* I have a cousin who is about to move to Germany for a couple of years – her husband is being posted there for work, so why not plan a trip to go and visit and do an ironman over there?

11.  You have a dedicated shelf in your pantry for your sports nutrition (meal replacement and electrolyte powders, energy gels and supplements such as multivitamins and salt tablets) 

12.  You initiate your own accountability system. For me, that entails emailing my daily training summaries to my coach. Whether he reads it isn’t the point, it keeps me accountable and it’s non-negotiable. I also keep a food diary most days, although I’m starting to not need to as I know what I need to be eating and when. 

13.  You put a lot of time and effort into planning your ‘big day.’ After an initial discussion with Coach Shorto, I went off and drafted my proposed nutrition plan that I later went over with him. I’ve since revised it and am practicing what I intend doing on race in training. I’ve also come up with a draft race plan which includes, but is not limited to stuff like pace, cadence and heart rate. In addition to that, I’ve also thought long and hard about my ‘mental game plan’ – because in an event like this, the mental stuff is equally as important, if not more so than physical endurance. How many times have you heard or read that the mind typically gives up before the body does? I’ve come up with a checklist of stuff I need on the bike at the start, the swim start, T1 (swim-to-bike transition), bike special needs (90 km into the bike), T2 (bike-to-run transition), and run special needs (21 km into the marathon). 

14.  You book in for a VO2 max bike test at the University of Queensland (UQ) but are forced to cancel because you had a crash off the bike. Yes, I was booked in to do a VO2 max bike test at UQ on Fri 5 Feb at 9:00 AM but I cancelled it due to not feeling 100% up to going ‘all out.’ I might wait till I return from NZ to do it now. I’m very curious as to where my VO2 max is at now, after my preparation for NZ. I did a test in November 2008 so will be cool to compare the two. I know I’m getting super fit but in terms of oxygen consumption, power output, lactic acid tolerance and heart rate, I’ll have to just wait and see. 

15.  Your ‘food’ shopping list looks like this  

  • ENDURA Energy gel, 500mL bottles
  • ENDURA Optimizer
  • ENDURA Magnesium rehydration formula
  • ENDURA energy bar
  • TOPPIN salt tablets
  • Jelly beans/snakes/jelly babies
  • The nutrition provided on the course at your event: PowerBars, PowerBar energy gels, Horley’s electrolyte

16.  You start getting weekly full body massages in the lead up to your ‘big day’

17.  You can’t stop watching DVDs of the Ironman World Championships, Ironman Western Australia and Ironman New Zealand that an ironman friend sent you. * Thanks Pete. Can you send me any more?

18.  You re-read Lance Armstrong’s book, It’s not about the bike. What a story he has to tell: Cancer survivor. Seven times Tour de France champion. But he’s way more than that – he’s an amazing person. 

19.  You get nervous about your ‘big day.’ It means you care. It means you want to do well. It means a new world of unknowns. It’s nervous excitement.

20.  Just thinking about ironman gives you chills because you’re so excited!

21.  You put a ‘time freeze’ on your gym membership because you don’t have a need to use it with all the training you do in the pool, on the bike and your running. You’re doing studio pilates 1-2 times a week with your physio which covers the core/strength work.

Have I missed anything?

February 7th, 2010 | Category: ironman | 3 comments

On becoming an ironman

As I went through my paces this morning on my 16 km run I saw it fitting that I start a journal of the four weeks leading up to becoming an ironman. Just as you only graduate with your first Bachelor’s degree once; have your first baby once and so on… you only compete in your first ironman once too. I want to remember as much as I can about the experience so when I come across things in my life that challenge me and I feel I am not good enough, then I can look back upon a time where I put in an amazing effort to achieve something amazing. Something almost every person is able to do, if they have the desire, that is. There sure is stuff out there I’d never contemplate doing for a nanosecond. Like, being an accountant. An engineer. A lawyer. A neurosurgeon. A fire fighter. A car salesperson. Anyway, the point is, I want to document my journey, starting today. It’s purpose is primarily for my own personal records, but if it inspires just one person to either accept the ironman challenge, or to accept another challenge then I would be thrilled to hear that I have helped someone else along their life journey and/or share the love and passion I have for the endurance event called ironman triathlon. 

3.8 km swim    180 km bike    42.2 km marathon

I’m not convinced I can describe why I want to do ironman. It’s a very personal thing. And ask any other ironman and you may get a similar response. What attracts anyone to anything though? Why do some people love fast cars or motorbikes? Why do some people get ‘high’ on thrills such as base jumping, sky diving or whatever? Do you think somewhere in your brain we are wired to do certain things? Or a certain ‘type’ of thing? Maybe for me, it’s endurance sport. The origin of my wanting to do ironman stemmed from reading an article in the paper about Australian marathon runner, Heather Turland. I forget how it evolved from there, but I found myself training with Hornsby Swim Squad (in Sydney) and came across a bunch of amazing people who were into this thing called ‘ironman triathlon.’ I was indeed very interested. Before too long, I had decided that I want to do that one day.

That was about 9 years ago, in early 2001, from what I can recall. Although the candle has remained lit this whole time, for various reasons I’ve been unable to commit to the preparation for ironman. The main reason(s) being time and money. Being a student on/off for the better part of the past 9 yrs tells the rest of the story!

What does it mean to become an ironman?

Training for an endurance event is time consuming. That is a given. If you only have 30 mins a day to train, then you can write off doing an ironman or a marathon or a stage road (bike) race. You’re going to need at least 20 hours a week would be my educated guess. Maybe 15 hours if you have a solid base (which I don’t yet have). Training for ironman therefore gives you many hours to think. To contemplate who you are, where you’re at in your life journey and where you are heading. I believe there are two main groups of ironman athletes. There are those who prefer training alone, and those who prefer doing the majority of their training with a group – be it swim squad, a cycling club or triathlon club. For where I’m at now, I’m in Group A and am happy training alone. Why? While I’d love to meet other likeminded people with the same or similar goals, I want to have 100% control of my training and not be dictated by the sets the swim coach writes up on the white board, or the pace that the lead bunch of the tri club set on the bike or the run. For starters, I’d just discourage me from continuing in the sport because I’d struggle to keep up with them for the first 5 km, and also, I wouldn’t have any control of the heart rate zones I’d be training in as I’d be too focused on trying to keep up with the rest of the group. 
February 6th, 2010 | Category: ironman | 3 comments