It’s much easier to hold ground than to try and win ground.
Looking at a military point of view, it’s far less work to defend a position than
it is to take possession of an enemy held position.
In our sport a similar battle plan can be applied to an
Ironman race. If you swim well, transition fast, then ride well, you set your
competitors the task of taking your position away from you. While it’s very
necessary to have a strong run, if your competitors are so far down the road,
it may become an unrealistic …

Running is the most basic of all human movements. Swimming and cycling are skills that have to be learned. Humans have been running down their meals since before we began measuring time.
It’s such a natural movement it should just happen while we travel from A to B. Triathletes are great at complicating things. Analysis – paralysis is an easy affliction to catch. We have heart rate monitors, GPS watches and pedometers measuring every step we take.
In long distance endurance races controlling what goes on in your head can be the difference …

Port 2008 taught us a lot of lessons. Some pleasant ones and some not so pleasant. But lessons are not always easy to accept.
 
A few of our athletes got exactly what they wanted. But every one got exactly what they asked for. Very often we unconsciously ask for things we don’t really want on the surface.
 
Athlete A – Had been training really well. Had adjusted his goals as a result of his great training improvements in recent weeks. On race day he had a clear picture of exactly what he …

If you’re forgetful, a bit dizzy in the head this week you’re not on your own. When I had my bike shop every year when I returned from Hawaii my landlord had to ring me to remind me about the rent. When I had my best races, it would take a week or two before my mind became sharp again.

 Coach’s Comments
Coomera Half in a couple of weeks and everybody is getting excited. We have lots of veteran Half Ironman competitors but a few are going to do their first. For the first timers and for those who may have done one, but not really put it together as well as they’d like, I’m going to lay out a plan. Use it as a guide, there are many right ways and many wrong ways, this is one of the right ways.
Start with carbo loading. For a race of this length …

Race photos can tell us so much.
Looking through the photo collection from the Yeppoon half Ironman last weekend has given me lots to work on with myself and other athletes in the squad.
When I look at race photos, first thing I look for is core stability. You can’t hide lack of core strength when you’re racing. The dropped hip, the knee bending out under load.
Next thing I look for is stride length and foot placement/heel strike. It’s really easy to point out bad runing technique when the photo has stopped …

Last Sunday before the swim start at Yeppoon I swam out to the first buoy as part of my warm up. Greg Kelly did as well. Each of us swam out far enough and stopped for 30sec to see how the current was running. It was sweeping across from right to left strong enough to move us 10metres in 30sec. We knew to swim out aiming about 40m upstream from the buoy so when we got there we’d be swept across and go right round smoothly.
Ten minutes later the “pro …