Apart from my coaching committments, I have one more major workout to get done. My endurance/fuel efficiency workout next Sunday. It’s a 200km bike with a 26km climb in the middle of it, and a 30min run off the bike. It usually works out to be an 8hr day. It’s always a great day sharing the experience with all the guys. I have some of them who don’t need to do the full 200km, starting at a point along the way which gives them 140km.

I have two other jobs to get done before I leave. We’re renovating a house which we’ll move into shortly after we come back from Hawaii. I’ve cut a section of the floor out to make way for an internal stairway. The steps come and will be fitted the day before we leave. I have framed up the walls each side of the stairwell. They are 4.8m high. Before the stairs go in, I have to fix the plasterboard and the cornice. Finish the sanding etc so we don’t drop white powder all over the new stairs.

Another job I must do is render the two back walls of the house before the deck is built. I don’t want to be rendering over a new kwila, timber deck. It’s too hard to keep clean. 

I’m crossing the jobs of the list. Today it was a hilly ride of six and a half hours with a total elevation gain of 2,328 m. With 6 x 2km run repeats off the bike. I leave for each repeat on a 10min time base. This leaves me enough time to get a drink and gel if I need it between repeats.

I’ve had my post workout recovery drink (Endura Opti), a bowl of pasta, a shower, a 90min sleep, another big glass of Opti and a sandwich. As I write this I’m waiting on Sandy getting ready to go out to the Vietnamese restraurant for a bit more recovery feeding. After a seven and half hour workout, it takes a few calories to make up the deficit.

This past week has totalled 8.5hrs cycling, 2hrs swimming, 2hrs running and 2hrs walking plus a lot of time on my feet at the renovation project. I doubt if the renovation work will make me any faster in Kona, but it does help to keep the life in balance.

Yesterday I had a Cat 953 track loader hired to excavate the front yard and rip up the driveway and retaining walls. The owner let me drive it for a couple of hours while he had a bite to eat and made a couple of calls.  It was a nostalgic visit to a past life. (before triathlon, I had done tousands of hours on a similar machine) Just enough to enjoy the feeling of power and enough to realise, that was a past life which I don’t want to return to.  We are all big boys at heart.

The course we use is west of Brisbane over rolling terrain. It has some hills, some flat, often wind, and in winter it’s cold enough for full finger gloves and shoe covers.

Today was my “one month out test”. My results were both good and not so good. Time, power output, speed were all encouraging. The only problem was I didn’t take enough fuel with me. Not a big one, but it is a shame to have to learn the same lesson over again.

Using the same course about every month the club members have the chance to plot their progress as they learn the skills of time trialling.

My own results have been

May 2nd Walloon – ave HR 148, ave power 185wt, ave rpm 88, ave speed 31.2, time 3.09

June 5th Honu Half – ave HR 148, ave power 189, ave rpm 90, ave speed 32

July  18th Walloon – ave HR 145, ave power 198, ave rpm 84, ave speed 31.4 (flat tyre at 79km)

Sept 12th Walloon- ave HR143, ave power 197, ave rpm 91, ave speed 32.3, time 3.03

I’m happy with the progress, If I hadn’t run out of fuel with 25km to go I would have a better result. It’s a mistake I would not make on race day.

I’m swimming approximately 12km per week in three sessions, and it’s already showing results. It’s just easier. My running is going well, last week I ran a  total of 4hrs in three sessions. My body weight is over three kgs less than this time last year.

I’m generally fitting in three swims, three bikes, and three runs. Total hours are around 12-13hrs. Combined with the renovation work I’m doing on our house, I’m looking for the bed about 8.30 each night. Sometimes the alarm goes off at 4.30am and it’s hard to believe it’s morning already.

My health is good and I’m enjoying everything I do. Spring is a beautiful time of year.

It’s six weeks to go and even though I’m tired right now, it’s all good. I’ve had a productive week of training last week. I managed to fit in 4hrs swimming, about 12km, 7hrs cycling and 4hrs running.  I had two rest days in the week, Monday and Friday, both days I walked the dogs for 1hr.

I find that walking is an important part of my training. It’s low intensity recovery/circulation work. The dogs like it too. We often walk down to Sandy’s horse paddock, feed the horse and walk home via the espresso bar.

It would be good to see more people as happy as my dogs. They don’t ask for much, they don’t have much. A few old bones, a smelly bed to sleep on, and one meal a day. When they get cold, they go lie in the sun. When they get too hot, they lie in the shade. They stay fit by walking two or three times a week and are always ready to defend their territory. They know no fear.`

I think we can learn a lot from the dog’s simple approach to problems. Handle it and forget it. No analysis, no worrying about what might go wrong. They live in the moment. They’re happy being what they are. I like to practice simple thoughts like my dogs when I train and race. It takes practice to be in the moment. It’s not the sort of thing which will just happen on race day if you don’t practice it.

My Sunday workout was a good test for my immune system. I did a solid three hour bike which included lots of seated climbing, then ran 20km off the bike at “ideal day race pace”. I ran it as 10 x 2km repeats, leaving on 10min. Every 10min I was refuelled ready to start the next one. I love this workout, it requires the sort of concentration on technique, the simple mental state which is necessary for a good Ironman run.

It’s a tough workout, but it’s so satisfying once it’s done. Susan, Toby and Martin, all training for Kona were holding great technique. It doesn’t matter how tired you get, you have to hold good form. The great thing about these run backs is, we constantly cross paths. A 20km run on a 1km strip would drive some people mad, but the guys who’ve got through the qualification for Kona all like it.  

I’ve always said the Ironman is 70% mental.

My Sunday workout was going to be a test of the strength of my immune system. We did a two hour bike followed by a two hour run. I had done a 4,000m aerobic swim set on Saturday, no change in symptoms. I still had a little bit of a tickle in the throat.

Sunday’s workout all went well, I hadn’t lost a thing in the legs by having a total week off training.  The real test would be how I woke up Monday morning, all good.

We’re always fighting off something. So often we have minor battles going on inside us, and we don’t even know about it. Having a strong immune system before an Ironman training build up is so important. The work load is always going to test the strength of our immunity.

When I look back through my notes, I can see when I have stepped across the invisible line which separates good healthy recovery from too much work load and inadequate recovery. Even though I’ve prepared for many Ironman races over the years it’s still possible to make mistakes.

The whole way through a build up, we push up to that invisible line, and back away before crossing it. Sometimes an extra sleep in and a few zinc lozenges will save the athlete. Sometimes it’s too late.

The workout which pushed me over the edge was not hard enough or long enough to push me over the edge. I simply did it a little harder than I should have. I set myself the time base of 10mins for my 2km run backs. Had I stuck to that pace I would have most likely been right.  I was feeling so good that I gained a little time each one and ended up finishing two minutes ahead of the total time.

Improvement comes from stressing the body just enough to let it bounce back stronger and fitter. I stressed myself 2-3% too much. I’ve done it before, it’s been along time, but it is sad to have to learn the same lesson again.

The interesting thing is, often it takes three or four days after crossing that line for the eventual results to show up. In my case I stepped across the line on Sunday, and was tired enough to have to abandon my Thursday workout. Had I taken Friday very easy I may have gotten away with it. But Friday was spent driving for eight hours. It is only driving, but stress is stress. Eight hours on the highway is stressful, especially on a tired body.

In the past I have had several athletes training in the squad who were Uni students. At exam time, I reduced their training by 30% and still half of them got sick. Another time we often time trialed up Mt Nebo twice in a workout (an 18km climb). After a few weeks of this we time trialled up three times in one workout, I felt the guys were ready for it. Five out of twelve in the group got sick during the next week.

Each individual athlete has a different tolerence level to training stress. Sometimes outside influences add to the workload and it just get’s too much to carry.

In my own case I am usually good at knowing when you back off or rest a little more. This time I made a mistake. At least I’m well now and I have six good weeks of training ahead of me.

A strong healthy male can be struck down overnight, rendering him a sniffling, shivering, mess. Totally unable to do any of his normal daily chores like cutting down forests, killing animals for food, and fighting off intruders. If this pandemic had struck in the last century, the human race may not have made it this far. 

I’ve been training very well. My power figures this year are 20% higher for the same workouts I completed last year. My body weight is 3kgs less and I’m running very easily. I was looking forward to the Capricorn Half Ironman last Sunday. Yeppoon is an eight hour drive north from Brisbane. Sandy and I look forward to the trip each year, we talk, argue, talk again, it’s all good.

When I arrived in Yeppoon, I was more tired than I expected to be. I thought I’d been carrying a bit more fatigue into the weekend, I’d run about 50km in the week before. I had no intention of tapering for Yeppoon, Hawaii is only eight weeks away. I had won my category by an hour the year before, so I wasn’t too worried about being a bit tired.

We trained on the course on Saturday morning. A short swim, bike and run, all easy just testing equipment and doing enough of a workout to stimulate the body to store glycogen for the race on Sunday. I felt great, good legs, just a little bit of a sniffle. I though it was the sea water making my nose run.

As the day wore on, we did all the things we normally do. Making up drinks for race day, checking bikes and numbering gear. My sniffle got a bit worse, a few more sneezes. I went to bed with a bit of a question mark over my head. Through the night I knew it would be unwise to start the race. Doing it at half throttle was not an option, if I stand on the start line, I’m going to race it.

My overall plan for my Hawaii preparation was to have a physical and mental freshen up, right after Yeppoon. It looks like my body is demanding a break. A real easy week now will set me up for a final six week build into Kona. We’re already up to Wednesday and all I’ve done is walk the dogs.

As my symptoms gradually wind down, I’ll start out with a reverse taper. Building up the time of each workout slowly. It’ll be all aerobic training. I’ll see how I am tomorrow, to see whether I swim and cycle. I’d rather have one more day off and not have a relapse. I’m confident in my ability to hold strength and skills in each sport for a week or two.

I’ve had a great run of health, I can’t remember being sick in the last couple of years. I reckon my body is just asking for a rest. I’d be crazy to ignore it.

The 2km repeats are done on a time base, just like a swim set in the pool. At this stage I run mine on a 10min time base. In the early ones when I come in the the feeding area at the start finish, I waste no time. Drink what I need, take a gel if I need it and be ready to start on the time base.

If I can win a few seconds and leave before the 10min is up, I’ll take them and bank them for later in the workout, when I might need them. I picked up 15sec on the first one. Another 10sec on the second one, then I needed a toilet stop along the way. When I rejoined the course I was 35sec behind my time base. I leave the watch going all the time.

The workout took on a new challenge. Could I regain the lost time and hold good running technique? I gradually nibbled back the seconds. I stick ridgedly to my feeding plan. Some laps I come in and just take sports drink. Some I take a gel and water. I plan to take salt caps at regular intervals.

As I went on I had regained my time base and now started to pull back more seconds. I wanted to see how far in front of the 10min time base I could finish the set. My feeding plan was spot on, I had no cramps, stayed strong to the end and finished my set of 10 x 2km two minutes inside my time base. I’m happy to be able to run 20km off the bike at my projected race pace with nine weeks to go.

Yesterday was a classic motivation test. It was the local show holiday, a mid week public holiday. It had poured rain all night, when the alarm went off at 5.30am it was raining steadily. What a beautiful morning for a sleep in. Sandy and I got up, got ready and ran 17km together in the rain. The streets were quiet, it was like there was a curfew in force. We saw no other runners, three cyclists and three golfers. A lot of people took the opportunity to sleep in.

Running in the rain is not that bad, you only get wet once. When you are wet, you can’t get any wetter. I think what you can gain psychologically is of far greater value than what you might gain physically.

Tomorrow we drive eight hours north to Yeppoon for the Capricorn Coast Half Ironman. It’s a great test of “where you are ” in a Kona preparation. Eight weeks out and half the distance. We won’t be doing it as a training run. We’re going to go hard from start to finish. We enjoy the eight hour drive??? In our busy lives we don’t have many opportunities to talk for that length of time.

We drive up Friday, race Sunday and drive back Monday.

My weight reduction plan was simple. I only ate fish and vegetables for two weeks. I ate as much as I could fit in. For two weeks I had no wheat, no dairy foods, no rice, no animal protein, no trans fats, no saturated fats. To give a bit of variety, I made pumpkin soup, potato and leek soup, bean soup, (recipes on the forum) oven roasted veges, stir fried fish and veges. It was an easy diet to stick to and the added benefit was a de-tox effect.

In June I did the Honu Half Ironman race as a dress rehearsal for the main event in October. I celebrated my 62nd birthday the day after the Honu race. The Honu race uses the toughest 90km of the full Ironman bike course. I used my Power Tap wheel and Garmin to record the data from the ride, so I can structure my bike intervals as closely as possible to my requirements on race day. This may seem a bit specialised for a 62yr old athlete, but the guys I’m racing are all as serious as me.

On Sunday I did my first 200km ride with a 30min run off the bike. Physiologically, I don’t think I really need to do a ride of this distance, but I have a lot of guys and girls in the squad who get a lot out of a workout like this both physically and psychologically. If I didn’t go, the pace would not necessarily controlled to suit the bulk of the squad, and it would look like I was dodging the workout.

My squad having respect/confidence in me is really important. As long as I can, I’m going to be setting an example for the guys and girls in the squad. Apart from all that, I love those epic workouts. Enjoying eight hours training in a day with a bunch of great people is something most people who are not involved in this great sport, would understand.

I’m building my run distances up. Spreading the volume over three runs in each week. I’ve been running five minutes and walking for 30 paces. We do this religiously. Something which is very interesting is that we’re covering the same distance as if we kept running all the way. The 30 pace walk refreshes our legs and re focusses our mind, and we run on more efficiently. Instead of slowing down, the further we go.

We’re recovering better from these long runs as well. It appears that releasing the muscular tension at regular intervals, prevents the muscle damage that often takes days to recover from.

I’ve been pretty tired this week, an eight hour workout can take several days to recover from. This 200km ride has a 26km climb in it, and by time we stop for toilet stops, drink refills etc, time slips away.

This week has been a tough one, but I’m looking forward to next Sunday already. We’ll be doing a 4hr aerobic bike with 10 x 2km run repeats as a brick session. It’s always a good day with the whole squad running up and down the dirt track at Qld Uni along the river bank. Lots of laughs and lots of suffering for those who haven’t prepared well.

I’ve had the most frustration week of trying to make contact with the rest of the world. I’ve spent too much time at the internet cafe. First it wouldn’t recognise my USB with all my addresses on it. Then Sandy forgot her password, we both have e-mail addresses on the same account. She kept trying every different possible password (her computer at home remembers it for her). Anyway the short story is, the e-mail provider got sick of all the attempts to log on and shut down my account.

Training has been going very well. Swimming in the ocean is the best way to start the day. Breakfast on the verandah (lanai in Hawaii) of fresh paypaya and tree ripened bananas from the farmers market.

Yesterday we rode from Waikola out along the Queen K highway to the end near Kawaii, turned and came back for a run through the resort grounds. Paradise in the middle of the lava desert. The winds were mild (by Hawaii standards). The day before we parked at Kawaii and rode up to Hawi and back. Again the winds were milder than I have felt here in the past.

It took us 1hr 50min to ride up and back. It felt the best ride I have ever done up to Hawi and back ever. My concentration was the best it’s ever been. A very underestimated skill in racing the Ironman is, the ability to maintain concentration over a long period of time.

Yesterday after our lava field workout we picked up Pete Jacobs from the airport. He’s staying with us for a couple of days until his parents arrive. He’s so relaxed. That’s the one thing our little group at the Kona Tiki has going for it. We’re all so relaxed. Lots of laughing and story telling. Susan Casey is staying downstairs, directley below us. It’s amazing how well she’s acclimatised, especially living in Launceston (last week the max temperature in Launceston was 16C)

So far the hire car thermometer has been telling us it’s been 86-90F, which has been no trouble to handle. After a run or bike workout you realise the heat build up in the body by the flow of sweat after you stop. Today after jogging back from the swim start, we all went in for another swim to lower the core temperature. What a way to do it? Swimming around looking at all the little fish in the clear water.

Today after our swim I ran into my old mate Lew Hollander, he’s 78yrs and lining up for his twentieth Hawaii Ironman. He invited me to the Iron Gents dinner tonight. It’s been a secret ambition of mine to one day get invited to the Iron Gents dinner. (you have to be over sixty to go) It’s like becomming one of the “tribal elders”.

I haven’t seen Darren or Marc yet, I thought I might see them at the swim start. We’ll run into each other no doubt, they know where I’m staying. They have their taper workouts on their programs which are the same as ours. We’ll possibly run into them this afternoon when we go out to the industrial estate at 2pm and run up the highway and down into the Energy Lab and back in the heat of the day. (sound like fun?) It’ll be about 90F and about 75% humidity, not all that different to the conditions on the “dirt track” at Qld Uni on a Sunday at midday.   

We  have been enjoying a glass of wine each night watching the sun setting into the ocean. Watching for the “Green Flash”. (the last moment that the sun spends in sight, the golden colour turns to green. Something to do with the light travelling through the atmosphere. I guess a bit like a rainbow.) The “green flash” is so small, many watchers say, is that it??? In twenty years I’ve only seen it about six times. The horizon needs to be completely cloud free for it to show.

It’s only a few days to go, we’re not going to get fitter, but we can get fresher. Some athletes here are not working on that plan. They’re still out there doing 4hr bikes and running 1hr runs off them???? We’re watching for the “green flash”, it’s more productive.

Yesterday we cycled three hours aerobically, it was a fun ride with about twenty five of our club mates around the Bay loop. Down along the waterfront at Wynum and around to Wellington Point and back to the Uni.

The squad did 16 x 1km repeats off the bike and Sandy and I only did ten. We felt strong and could have run another thirty if we had of wanted to. That’s what we told ourselves anyway. It is a good feeling to have a short day. A ten-thirty finish is like a holiday to the whole squad. We were all treated to a fine display of pacing by one of the class clowns, who last week started out running four minute kms, only to finish off with several seven minute kms.

The importance of a shorter day once a month can’t be over emphasised. Mental fatigue sneaks up on you. I’ve found when a group are training for an Ironman, they get so used to the big workout of the week being 5-6-7hrs, that when I give them a four hour Sunday. They almost feel like they’re being robbed.

But if they continue to stack those long days in every weekend, they develop mental fatigue. Not to mention the physical fatigue. The type of athlete attracted to Ironman racing can easily become so driven, they forget how to switch off. This is the start of a downward spiral. A bit like a world war two arial “dog fight” where the end result is a crash and burn.

 I do have some who are too ready to switch off, but even they can get caught up in the momentum of the pack. I think one of the most important roles of the coach in Ironman training is to recognise the first signs of mental fatigue and intervene before the downward spiral begins.

I use my coach Trent Patten to make me answerable. To help me keep records of times, workouts and power production figures. In an earlier post I mentioned our “Blue Card” system. This is where I get four “get out of jail cards” to use when I am too tired or sick to train. Those four cards have to last me the whole season.

I have got to the point where I am two weeks out from Hawaii and I have no cards left. That means over the last six months, I have only missed four scheduled workouts. This simple system has kept me more consistent than ever before. I don’t do big mileage, but I do like to keep very regular training patterns going.

This approach, along with my attention to flexibility and technique has allowed me to keep improving. This week I swam the fastest one tousand meter time trial I have ever swum. I swam 16.48 as a result of only swimming three – one hour sessions per week.

My total hours for this week are 12.5hrs. The body is feeling good, I’m getting excited about the race. Lots of people have wished us good luck. We can’t count on good luck, in fact the better the preparation, the less luck you need. But we’ll take any good luck which comes our way. Thank you all.

I am tired. Sandy and I did a big mid week bike ride of just under 200km with a 30km climb in the middle of it. We were in the saddle for nine hours. Probably wasted an hour with water, toilet stops and a coffee at the top of the mountain.

We finished the ride in better shape this time than last time we did it. On Wednesday our legs were still empty after last Sunday’s 4hr bike and 20 x 1km runs at race pace. It’s interesting how they come good after a couple of hours. We were blessed with a beautiful day. The ride to O’Reiley’s is one of the most scenic rides in the world. This is the Australian version of the Pyrenees.

Today finished the week with another 4+hr bike followed by 20 x 1km repeats. It was hot today, 30C or around that. We have our esky full of prepared drinks so we can feed just as we would on race day. I usually combine two of the 1kms together to bank enough seconds to get our drinks in easily back at the start line.

We do these workouts as complete dress rehearsals of race day. I have now used my Quads from Compressport with my Calf compressors for two 6.5hr bike/runs and a 9hr bike. I’m happy with how they feel, and my last two Sunday runs have been the best I’ve felt in five to ten years.

Each of these workouts are great confidence builders. Our bodies are ready for the job, we’re working on the mind now. I enjoy doing these workouts because I can check all of the other squad members technique out as they tire. When you’re tired, technique is very important.

The Ironman race is just like a big day of manual work. If it’s approached like that it can simplify things a lot. Too many athletes over complicate the whole thing. I have been guilty of the same thing in the past.

I treat each of our long workouts as “days of work”. Each day of work we put in, we get better at our job.  I’ve been self employed as either a landscaper, an earthmover or pool builder for over thirty years. I couldn’t count the number of ten-twelve hour days I’ve worked.

We’ve done those long days regardless of the weather conditions. Cold, hot, windy or light rain they were just a part of our life. When we would start out to do another long day of work. We would usually pack an esky with enough food and water to go the distance. Just the same as we do now.

There are a few things we’ve found from Ironman which help manual work. Taking a couple of drink bottles of Endura with extra salt can stop the fade on hot days. Also I’ve found the guys are much more likely to make mistakes between 3pm and 5pm.

If we have to finish something important that day, and it involves working through to 5pm, I send someone off to the shop for a can of coke and a snickers for each of us at 3pm. I get good production for those two hours and far fewer mistakes. Caffeine and sugar at 3pm can make the last half of an IM marathon much more productive.

We’ve had a few tough mornings this week. When we wake up and it feels like the night has just not been long enough. I’m not game to look in the mirror, I fear Keith Richards will be looking back.