So often I hear the guys talking about their bike times in an Ironman. It’s like they categorise each other on what their bike splits are. Really, when they hand out the Hawaii qualifying spots, it doesn’t matter much what the bike split was. It’s the overall time that gets the place. The combination of swim, bike and run times.
When you look through the result sheets of the next Ironman, there are a lot of five hour bike times followed by run times over four hours. Maybe there’s a better …

If an athlete is left to their own resources they’ll often do the workout they like most. If you threw down a pair of running shoes, a pair of cycling shoes and a pair of goggles and watched which one was picked up by the athlete, you can almost predict the results of their next Half Ironman or Ironman race.
Good swimmers love swimming, that’s no secret. Triathletes as a group are predominately “in love with their bikes”. They love spending money on new gear, they like the social atmosphere of group …

Today I had a conversation with an athlete who is racing in the first week of June. He’s sick, not dying, just not well. After twenty minutes into a  ride over the weekend, he turned around and came home. He had no strength and coughed at the first sign of exertion. Yesterday he did an hour long walk.
He has roughly a month until his race. He has a background of many years of training so the base is solid. Our conversation went something like this.
“You can’t get an unhealthy body fit. …

Free advice is one of the most plentiful commodities in triathlon. The supply is even bigger in Ironman training groups. I love reading the posts on some forums where anonymous people are handing out all sorts of advice. Often based on what they’ve read somewhere or heard somewhere.
One of the best ones I’ve heard is that triathletes don’t ever need to kick.
Now I’m going to dispute that statement. I’m not anonymous. I’ll stand and argue that triathletes should do kicking drills in their swim training. Many don’t like it. Very …

Last weekend I travelled to Dubbo in the middle of New South Wales to conduct a training camp/seminar. I’d been to Dubbo about thirty years ago but don’t remember too much about it. it’s one of those places you go through on your way to somewhere else. It is amazing where triathlon takes us. There are lots of interesting places we’ve travelled to that we would never have gone to if it wasn’t for triathlon.
No, I didn’t get fleas in Dubbo. I could easily get them at home. What I …

I’ve had the same vehicle for about six years, a Toyota Landcruiser Troop Carrier. I intended keeping it for a few more years. Usually when I am finished with a vehicle, it does not go on to be a reliable family car for the next owner. I usually wear them out.
This is the third Troopy I’ve owned. Each one has been a diesel. My ex-wife still has the one we bought new in 91. They reconditioned the motor at 490,000km. They’re a hard vehicle to wear out.
Last Friday my mate …

Around the area where I live, there are lots of cyclists, runners and walkers out on the roads every day. On an average day over a thousand cyclists would pass our house. Riders of all abilities. There’d probably be several hundred runners and walkers go through this neighbourhood each day.
It’s easy to pick the triathletes, especially those training for longer races. With their compression socks, or their fuel belts and always wearing something which has Ironman printed on it somewhere.
It always amazes me that so many are out there just …

Last weekend we watched the Gold Coast Marathon. We stood at the twenty-two km mark and watched everyone from the leaders back to where the attention seekers started coming through. The people with silly hats, costumes etc. There’s was one guy (a sushi eater) running the marathon backwards carrying a big flag. Another one from the same place wearing all white compression tights from ankle to wrist, with shoulder length hair (Japan’s answer to Fabio, the most beautiful man in the world).
Apart from the attention seekers, the most noticable thing about the …

How quickly are you able to convert directions/advice into action?
There are many common traits among successful athletes. One of these is definitely the ability to convert directions to actions, quickly and efficiently. During the past week one of my athletes told me of a sore calf, which was still tight two days after a long run. Not torn, just tight and making it’s presence felt. My advice to him was try Jiang, my accupuncturist (I’ve been using her and sending my athletes to her for 12yrs)
One hour later I had …

I’ve heard about this phenomenon for 25yrs. When I first came back from Hawaii in 86, one of my brother’s mates asked him, how I was going with “post Ironman depression”. When my brother told me, I thought “what in the hell is that?” Since then the subject has come up over the years.
Seriously, when I came back from Kona in 86, I had two businesses to run, a family to raise. I didn’t have time for “post Ironman depression”. I was too busy.
Being busy with other things in your …