Ironman Cafe

Little steps

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:04:00 +0000

There has been progress!

I have been slowly increasing my running as my injuries subside and allow me to do more. I have managed to go from 10 x 1 min walk/ 1min run two weeks ago, to 4 x 10min run/ 1 min walk last night, with a similar level of discomfort. This is an improvement, not a huge one but things are going on the right direction. It is a boost for my motivation too because it could indicate that I am on the road to recovery and I may be able to string some good training together and maybe have a reasonable 09/10 season.

Fingers crossed.

I have an appointment with a Sports Physician on Monday; hopefully he can do the assessments needed to figure out exactly what is going on in my hammy/glute so we can get it fixed.

Good things.

Iron-Parent

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:12:00 +0000

This week will be the official start of my training and racing endurance sport with a family (i.e. wife, child and dog).

Before March 1st, I had a wife and dog, and both of them were very supportive of my training and racing. Now I have a new family member that I am going to have to pay dues to, in order to get out the door to train and to pack up to go to races. At this stage she is giving the go ahead to all training sessions (I took her lack of response as consent…) and I am sure she will continue to support me as her beautiful mother does. But how will I cope with the time spent away from my family…? I have spoken with a few Iron-Dads and a lot of them say that even when they have the green light to train; they often drag their feet and find reasons to stay home. I can already feel that I am missing out, when I go to work.

I think it would be easy to put my training on the back burner or take time out, but I think my wife would concur that when I don’t train and sit around the house I go into hibernation and become less enjoyable to be around. I sleep for longer and do less around the house. I think that while my training may have to adapt to the new girl in my life (things are already more pink, that is for sure), it will continue be important to my well-being and to my ability to be a good parent (whatever that means).

P.S. As you may have picked up from this post, my baby daughter Alexandra (Ally) Wendy Duncan was born safe and sound on 1/3/09. Welcome to the Family Ally

In need of purpose

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

The longer I consider myself an endurance athlete the more I see that I am not in it for the joy of training.

I know that a lot of endurance athletes out there love to train and could train for the sake of training all year round.

Me, I train to race... I train to compete...I train to go faster than the guy next to me to catch the guy ahead of me and to hold off the guy behind me. Training is a necessary evil to race fast/er. Without a race on the immediate horizon and without the pressure to get prepared I am finding it hard to find some fire.

I am in need of purpose.

Being injured and unable to run is making it much harder too. Because I need to get my body in shape to train again before getting in shape to race. This is not how I pictured the early stages of the 09/10 campaign.

I have sucked it up and made an appointment to see the Physio. I am pretty sure I put his kids through college last year, and it seems that they will be awarded the Duncan Scholarship again this year... Also Mr Ibuprofen will be rubbing his hands together when he sees me coming again.

Ahh well, neither ‘getting rich’ nor ‘lengthening my life’ were on my goal list for 2009...

The Lycra doesn't lie

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:15:00 +0000

Due to pressure from my adoring fan... I will be blogging again.

I hope to be regular; but with a lot on my plate over the next little while I may not be.

As I said to my to my fan the other day "it's been so long, I could write a novel to update what has happened since my last post!". I won't write a novel; but will give you the highlights and fill in the details over the next little while.

Since my last post:

1 Half Ironman – so-so performance
1 Ironman – major injury issues, glad to finish
Numerous injuries – old ones and new ones
1 Sea Urchin attack – WTF?
1 Surgery to remove Sea Urchin Spines – Yes, the nickname ‘bubbleboy’ is appropriate
1 trip to NZ to not compete in a Half Ironman and not attempt to qualify for World Long Course Champs
2 months of 0 training sessions
1 month of easing back into training and dealing with lingering injuries.

In essence the 08/09 season was not my finest and good riddance I say.

I forgot to mention that somewhere in there I managed to get my wife pregnant and it is currently 13 sleeps till another Iron-Orphan enters the world (kidding).

I anticipate a continued ‘easing’ back into training due to fatherly duties. This all works nicely towards my plan to race Ironman NZ 2010, so baby’s first birthday is perfectly timed to see the grand-parents in NZ (you may remember that my wedding was scheduled around a race last year too…)

I have likely missed some of the details; they will come to me as I go.

It feels good to be back.

Oh, the title is a reference to the way my bike shorts groan when I put them on at the moment, race weight is a distant memory...

Good luck to all competing in April!

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:02:00 +0000

Well look at that another post and only four weeks between.

I have little to report, my season has come to an end and I now need to draw a line in the sand and say there goes that season and now we get serious for Ironman in December. I think it will be after the trip we are taking to watch Ironman Australia next week, when I feel it is time to look ahead and put the past season to rest.

A big shout out to the guys from my ETPA that are racing at Ironman Oz. Ken, Mark and Pete will rip the course up big style and I am stoked that I will be there to support and watch them!!!

Also Johan, a friend of mine I have mentioned before, is racing in the Auckland Half Ironman in NZ next weekend. Hopefully the serious training he has put in over the last 3 months will pay big dividends...

Good luck to all that are competing over the next few weeks.

I will keep chugging along and will keep you all up to date as the next few months progress.

Train hard!

He lives!!

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Just a quick post to say I am still alive and fully intend to get back on the blogging bandwagon. I went through an unmotivated patch there and will start to make an effort over next little while. In a bit of a slow period training-wise due to a back injury but should get moving again next few days. I have an Olympic distance race coming up next weekend which should be fun. Not the best build up with the back and all but smash! smash!

Hmm, I just realized this must be one of the most cliche posts in the blogging world, " I am still alive but I am a slack ass..." Ahh well...

More later.

Port of Tauranga Half Ironman – 2km/90km/21km

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:27:00 +0000

Short Version:
Overall: 50th 4:34:55 solid
Swim: 34th= 28:35 sigh…
T1: 127th= 01:53 ouch!
Bike: 57th= 2:25:58 chuffed
T2: 98th= 01:31 hmm..
Run: 86th 1:36:58 I’ll take that
Category: 6th 30-35 age-group

Another solid race, was expecting a bit more for the swim and run and it seems my transitions are pretty average (not surprised on T1, my timing chip came off in my wetsuit, panic ensued…). The swim was a disaster organisationally with the pros and female age-groupers getting at least 50-100m head start and a huge current assistance (to put in perspective the lead pack of age-group males hit the first 500m turn buoy at the same time as the female age group main pack!! The pros were well ahead). Rode hard for a nice improvement in time over last time out with little payback on the run. The run was a significantly tougher course than Shepp and I had cramping in my quads from early that came and went, so reasonably happy with the time (managed to even split the first and second 10.5km). All in all, I’ll take a 2min PR, would have liked more. It was great to race in front of home crowd.

Long Version:
Race day conditions were pretty good. The sky threatened to open up prior to the race but only a short shower on the bike resulted. There was some blustery onshore winds that played a little havoc on the disc riders (of which I was one) on the 50/20/20 three loop course and there were a lot of puncture sufferers (of which I was not one, phew..). It got pretty warm on the run.

Because they held the race briefing the previous evening, pre-race went smoothly… other that the 3 portaloo stops required! I now know that double dosing on Ultra-muscleze for the 3 days prior had an extreme laxative effect on me. Not an ounce of discomfort but I am talking liquefied!! Not a good idea. I know it was the Muscleze because the day after stopping it things returned to normal.

I got into the water with a few minutes to warm up and find a good position for the start which was positive.

Swim:
The swim was a double triangle course in a bay beside Mount Maunganui, exiting the water between laps (for spectator value). The first lap was slightly longer than the second. The swim start was a deep water start at a jetty at one end of the bay. There is a significant current running in the direction of the first 500m leg that gets seriously stronger the further out you get. The age-group males were positioning on the shore side of the jetty, the females on the ocean side with the pro field just in front of them. In the last few minutes before race start the pros followed by the female age-groupers swam out from the jetty to get more current assistance (smart move). They then proceeded to drift towards the first buoy. Meanwhile, the age-group males were questioning the race official/starter about this and things were getting heated. The starter then began his speech about good luck etc. and half the male pack took off. I was expecting a call back prior to starting which never happened and then a pitiful hooter signified the race start and we took off. I was angry at myself for again missing the start and had to work very hard to catch one of two lead packs of age-group men. At the first turn buoy the pros were a good 200m ahead due to a head start and strong current. The pack I was in hit the first buoy with the female middle pack and we had to swim through a mess of slower swimmers. I then started to pick off some slower pros. Once in clear water I had a pretty solid swim, the other male lead pack had managed to get a drop on us in the mess and I ended up about 10th out of the age-groupers while the majority of the pros came out well ahead of us. I felt good coming out of the water, though a bit annoyed that I had not had the swim I had wanted.

T1:
I came into T1 feeling fresh, I whipped of my wetsuit and then realised that my timing chip had come off with it, I had to dig around in my wetsuit to find it and then had to reattach it. Precious seconds ticking away!!! I was glad not to have a “Macca” moment with the aero helmet and got away smoothly.

The Ride:
I felt good once on the bike and got up to speed real quick and managed to get rolling. Jumping onto a legal “pack” of three other riders that were moving at a good pace I got to work. I didn’t have the pain in my legs like I did in Shepp and I really noticed the tapers affect on my power and rhythm. I loved the new aero helmet; it really helped me focus on staying aero. The course consisted of a dead flat 50km loop and two 20km loops. Each lap went twice over about 6 large speed bumps, which was a pain in the ass. A lot of people lost nutrition on these, thank goodness for the attention I put into this leading up to the race and I was glad to have no problems with ejected bottles on the bike (though a runaway bottle rolling down the road came close to causing me grief!) The first lap was windy blowing the disc and deep rim front around a bit, not enough to be a real problem but enough to keep me awake. I lost a few places on the ride and managed to gain a few back. Maintaining focus and pace became difficult on the two shorter laps because the entire field of 800 + 200 team riders was squeezed on the 20km loop by the end and a lot of newbies seem to find keeping left difficult and have a tendency to weave while drinking etc. A few close calls and some shouting was as bad as it got luckily. I managed to get though all my nutrition and I feel this helped later in maintaining my speed. I still feel that something was missing from my nutrition plan on the bike as I cramped on the run again. More analysis is needed.

T2:
I had all my run kit in a plastic bag after the squelchy shoe incident last time out. I had a dense moment when I tried to take everything out of the bag individually before figuring out that the dump on the ground method would be faster. I got sorted pretty quickly after that, not rushing the socks, not wanting to pay with blisters later. Looking at my transition times/placings there is definitely time to be gained and this will be something to be considered next time for sure. Some was just that “shit happens” kind of stuff some was need for practice. I will work on this before next race. Free time is good time.

The Run:
Coming out of transition I felt strong and hoped that the faster ride was not going to hurt me too much on the run. I pulled in behind two guys that seemed to be running strong and used them to pace off while I concentrated on relaxing and getting my stride sorted. At about 3km I started to cramp in my VMOs (the tear drop shaped quad muscle just above and to the middle of the knee) it was pretty bad and I was in some trouble for a few km. I was cursing for not organising salt tablets before leaving Australia and not being able to find some in NZ. I grabbed water and Balance Electrolyte drink (race sponsor) at the next aid station and got a bit down while trying to stay with the two guys I was pacing off. It wasn’t enough, so at the bike aid station a bit further up the road I crossed the road and grabbed a bottle of Balance and a bottle of water. I drank half of each pretty quickly and poured the cold water on my quads. The effect of the fluids inside and out was pretty quick and I was able to run pretty freely again after a few km. Then we hit the dirt path surrounding the Mount. The path is an undulating dirt path around the bottom of the Mount. It has a few nasty sharp hills and these do a number on your legs. I felt pretty strong on the path but definitely felt that my pace dropped off significantly on this section of the run that had to be covered twice. At the turn around I knew going under 1:35 for the run like I had hoped was a long shot and a negative split was needed. I picked up the intensity but it seems not the pace as I covered the second lap in the same time as the first. I found a second wind on the second lap of the Mount and managed to pass a couple of people that had passed me, making it stick and running strong into the finish. Though had they made a comeback I would have been in trouble, as my legs were going into meltdown over the last 1.5km flat stretch to the finish. I crossed the line pretty happy with a personal best time of 4:34 and headed straight for the massage tent.

It was great to have a solid performance in front of my family and to do a similar time to my last race on a tougher course was pleasing. It also indicates that I am where I am at the moment and this gives me food for thought as to how improvements can be made. It seems that the most benefit would come from improving my run and probably some free seconds in transition. To do this I need to ride faster with less fatigue going into the run. I think my swim is very close to where I want it and on a good day will get me to the right place at the right time.

On a side note, my age-group placing qualifies me to race for NZ at the World Long Course Triathlon Championships in the Netherlands in August. However because I am not a financial member of TriNZ and didn’t tick the box saying I wanted to be eligible, I wont be selected. Maybe I will consider a serious crack at this in the next few years (I have 4 more in the 30-35). The distances might suit me well with a 4km swim and 120km bike and a 30km run.

Thank you:
A big thanks to the ETPA crew, Coach Tippett, the great friends that lent me go fast gear and the support texts from Australia. Thank you to the friends and family that cheered me on during the race and to the other half of Team Duncan, Fay.

Cheers.

J.

Race report Campbell’s Shepparton Half Ironman (2km/90km/21km) 18th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:49:00 +0000

Summary (read this if you want the hard facts and numbers):

Time: 4:36:59

Swim: 25:56 solid

Bike: 2:35:46 ack!!

Run 1:35:17 solid

9^th in age-group

50^th overall

Solid effort, happy with my time. Definite room for improvement with quality taper, improved race strategy, improved mental approach, tweaks to nutrition and attention to mechanical issues. Quality B race result, fulfilling requirement with regards to highlighting fitness gains and areas needing to be addressed.

Race Report (read this if you want a long winded, ramble about the race and what I will take away for future races):

Build up:
Shepparton was on the race card based on timing and financial reasons. It’s seven weeks out from my A race, Tauranga Half Ironman, NZ 5^th January 2008, making it a good lead-up and it’s only a couple of hours drive north of Melbourne, meaning no need for airfares etc.

The plan was to go into Shepparton with a “training race” mindset. The Coach, Mat Tippett, warned me well in advance that there would be no full taper and little recovery afterwards. I would be racing tired and winding back into full training ASAP after the event. I was fine with this as I want to be all guns a-blazing in NZ in January, in front of the home crowd, my family and Kiwi friends.

There were two issues I found with going into a race with a “training race” mindset. The first of these is the possibility of talking yourself out of a result before toeing the start line. I found myself making predictions when people asked of “having a crack but not expecting much as I will not be tapered” and “it’s just to see how I go and get pacing/nutrition and stuff right”. The coach reminded me that I need to go in expecting a strong showing and to be confident in my training to give me a result despite any fatigue I was feeling. I am not sure I achieved that… The second issue is that I am a highly externally motivated athlete and to think that I was going into a race in which I may not perform as well as I might like was a considerable stress on me. Sprinkle on top of that, the “I have busted my gut for the last nine months with a new coach and surrounded myself with solid athletes, what if I haven’t improved much? What if I only do as well as I did last time out …?” For a psychologist I sure do have some issues to work through with regards to race build up. There have to be huge gains for endurance athletes (including my self) from improving their mental game in training, race lead-up and during racing… Hmm there could be a career in that…

Race Morning:
Race morning, I was feeling in control, I have raced many times before and I am pretty good at a slow controlled build of nervous energy running up until the start line. I was feeling good after a restful nights sleep despite waking up a few times and having a nightmare that I had the wrong wheels on my bike (whatever that meant). Pre-race nutrition was all liquid form, which I felt was a success, however it may have resulted in my being over hydrated pre-race relative to the conditions and may partially explain the constant need for relief felt throughout the race.

We got down to the race venue nice and early and started setup. I was a little thrown off by the bikes already in transition thing, as I would usually take the stead for a quick spin prior to the race start. This was one of the mistakes, as minor technical issues on the bike were a concern; the lack of a proper warm-up was another. I was thankful for my priceless race support crew, Fay. Without her to carry, hold, pass, anticipate and generally let me focus I would have been considerably more stressed and less sorted on race morning. Once all was ready, body parts that required lubing were lubed and the wetsuit was on it was down to the lake (puddle) for a race briefing that was too long and ate into any chance of a warm-up it seemed. By the time the race director had finished and allowed us to file through the finish shute and walk around to the race start I was lucky to have time to enter the water and get to the start line let alone warm-up or get positioned for the start. Next time the race briefing will take second place to a warm-up if it’s one or the other.

The Swim:

I was on instructions to find a strong swimmer and sit on them for the duration of the swim, preferably the leader or as close too. A solid plan which I was reasonably confident I could achieve (one of the top few at least). The wheels fell of the swim plan when I got zero warm-up. I know from experience that I will feel magic for about 200m swimming from cold and then I will hit an unseen wall and have arms of lead for about another 100m or so and then I will come good and cruise from then. The lack of warm up meant I hit the wall during the most important part of the swim, the trip to the first turn buoy. Couple this with being late to the start line and picking the wrong swimmer, meant I lost the lead bunch earlier and probably with it about a minute in the swim. I realised at about 500m that my draft was not cutting it and went round him and tried to bridge to the leaders but never quite made it and decided I was burning too many matches trying. So I buttoned off and swam the remainder at a more conservative pace. It seems the guy that I hoped would drag me round, dragged off me, he passed me at the end for the glory exit. I let him have it and floated on his feet for the last 200m. Exiting the water I was all about trying to relax, sucking in some air and calming down, running through the transition in my mind as I headed for the stead. Swim time 25:59 1^st age-grouper and 10^thoverall out. Solid time, with potential to improve with the right draft.

The Ride:

During the swim the heavens had started to open up and they were just warming-up for the ride. The ominous mention during race briefing of pulling us from the course in case of an electrical storm was in the back of my mind, it bucketed down and thunder and lightning joined in. The conditions made for treacherous conditions and on the second lap one of the casualties came rattling past me missing a few layers of skin and half of his rear drink bottle mount. I wasn’t having any of that and I passed him back. We passed each other a number of times during the ride and I knew he was coming each time because his broken drink bottle holder was rattling like mad.

For the first 20km of the bike I was struggling to find my rhythm and drop my heart rate to a more respectable level. For the last 70km I was still trying to find my rhythm but was struggling to get my heart rate as high as I wanted. I had pains in places that I hadn’t in the past in my quads and I couldn’t help wishing I could find the same powerful feeling I had during a training ride the previous weekend. There were a couple of sections on the bike where I felt awesome and flew past other cyclists, but the majority of the ride was an exercise in searching for the mental or physical trigger to get moving. I also think playing in the back of my mind was the demoralising 2:10 21km I had in my last race after pushing the ride. I wanted to have a solid run and wasn’t sure how hard was too hard on the bike. I think I went too soft.

The new stead courtesy of some old ladies front bumper was great and the borrowed race wheels were wicked. Throughout the ride the back wheel kept rubbing on the brake pad, I stopped twice to sort it out but it returned soon afterwards. I don’t know how much real time it cost me but the noise it was making sure was robbing me of my focus.

Nutrition was an issue throughout the bike and I have a feeling I didn’t get enough fluids in due to the need to pee that plagued me throughout. There was no way I was pulling over to go and could only squeeze out small amounts while free wheeling as there were no hills to relax on. I made a conscious decision that it could either come out or my bladder would explode and I probably didn’t drink enough because of it. I lost a lot of positions on the bike and I think that I have a much faster ride in me. I know the conditions were tough but I think I may be able to ride a good 5-10min faster with little effect on my run time…we shall see…we shall see…

I was glad to be coming in off the windy wet course after my third lap and hadn’t considered the effect that torrential rain may have on my run gear sitting on a towel in transition. I hadn’t imagined after the weeks weather predictions that putting my shoes in a plastic bag would be required, I think even on a 40 degree day I will be bagging my shoes none the less in the future. It’s not a very cheering experience wringing out your socks before putting them on then squelching out of transition with 21km to run…

The Run:
Despite the heavy shoes and wet socks, I felt strong as I headed out on the run. I was conservative over the first 3-4 km stabilising my heart rate and getting some carbs into my system. I early stab of the dreaded stitch gave me cause to worry but this came right and I started to feel stronger as the run progressed. The first 7km went by in 30min and I was happy with my pace and felt like the next 14km would be all good.

I again felt the need to pee during the run and was considering my options with regards to pit stops. I decided that stopping still wasn’t on the agenda and had a crack at ‘urinating while running at full speed’, the word on the street was that running and peeing was not possible. I am happy to say that it can be done…twice. Now they weren’t particularly reliving pees, but they certainly took the pressure off… one of my proudest moments… best followed by water at the next aid-station.

The second 7km went by in around 31min; it was about 14km in that I started to get concerned. Both my calves were sending me urgent warning signals that total crampage was about to ensue. I have had problems with cramp, in my calves in particular numerous times in races and training. I was seriously worried that if I cramped, that it would mean a catastrophic slowdown to walk or crawl for the remainder of the run. At 7km out that is a big chunk of time, even at 1km out its significant. Close to 5min is my guess between a solidly ran 1km and a hobbling walk. At this point I went into crisis mode. I adjusted my running style to be calf friendly (read: all glutes and quads) started to take on more fluids at aid stations and threw back a few salt tabs I had in my back pocket. I have never used salt tabs in training and I remember commenting pre-race “I know I should never try new things in a race but if I am feeling like I need the salt tabs that badly to take them without practice, the race is probably about to implode anyhow” and I think I was right. I have a feeling that without the salt tabs I may not have made it to the finish line. The last 7km went by in 33:30min and I was s**tting bricks the whole way. Every curb or corner was a possible game breaker and I was literally bargaining with my calves for the last 1km, that I would stop running and stand still or even lay down if they would just get me to the finish line. I have a feeling that some changes need to be made to avert this situation in future races. I am unsure if it is hydration, electrolytes, run form or a combination, but the last 7km my heart rate was dropping significantly and my engine had power to spare but cramp was my limiting factor. I think another 31min lap was on the cards. 100m from the finish a guy in my age group overtook me. I consulted with my claves on a sprint finish and they told me I could have a sprint/crawl finish photo or a respectable jog over the finish line. We agreed on the jog and let him go.

I was most happy with my run, I ran the same time I did in my last fresh 21km and only 3min off my PB. I think a sub 1:30 is on the cards in the next HIM or so, if my calves concur.

Post Race:
Once I had crossed the line I thanked my calves and thanked the timing chip remover for removing my chip and saving me collapsing trying to remove it myself. Then I was all about the caloric consumption. I polished off all sorts of junk food washed down with 1.5ltr of Gatorade and this was the pattern for the rest of the day. I am not sure how I managed to get in so much food over the course of a day but it was good to eat with abandon. I got a free massage from the race masseuse and enjoyed cheering on the other ETPA’rs, all of who were having great races. The rest of the day was taken up with a snooze in the arvo and lots of stretching. I have recently been using Skins compression tights in my recovery plan and I feel there are significant benefits in sleeping in skins the night after races and/or heavy run training days.

Thank yous:
Despite this being a B race, I think it’s important to thank the people that get you to the start line
A big thank you to:

Coach Mat Tippett, without his expert input I would be still a self coached, slower athlete and I think you are going to take me to my potential (did someone say Hawaii…?). I encourage everyone to invest in a professional coach, its money well spent. Check out www.etpa.com.au for coaching plan options.
The ETPA crew for the hours spent hurting together, as training is much more bearable with someone to hurt with.
Finally, Support crew (Fay) as she is an important part of “Team Duncan” and I would be lost without her expertise in the racing from the spectator side. Hope you had a good time too.

Jimmy D

Out.

The New Stead!

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:47:00 +0000

I know, I know, it’s been a while since my last post, which was my rant about my run in with the traffic. Update on this is that the body is fully recovered with only a few minor scars to show for it. More importantly, I have a new bike, care of (in part) the drivers insurance. I managed to get a good chunk of the cost of a nice upgrade bike, chipping in the rest myself. Here is a picture of the new stead.It’s a big step up from the old ride, in that it’s a dedicated time trial bike rather than what was essentially a road bike with aerobars. I was looked after really well by Anthony at CBD cycles in Melbourne (thanks), which made it possible for me to buy-up to this bike.

The Giant Trinity Elite comes stock with Zipp Flashpoints, I opted to swap those for a set of training wheels (har-har, yes I do need training wheels to stay on my bike….), as it made the bike affordable and I can pick and choose my race wheel combo next year when funds allow. The stock groupset is Shimano Ultegra, I have upgraded the front and rear derailers to Durace and had a set of carbon cranks fitted, to decrease weight and increase mechanical efficiency. I plan to upgrade my pedals as well next year, because as we know the biggest gains are made by decreasing the weight of rotating parts, and this is even more important with parts that move in bigger circles (i.e. wheel rims and pedals).

I’m happy with the colour, which is very important...

The setup is close to what I want, though I think a few tweaks are in order over the next week or so to get it how I would like it.

I am surprised that the saddle is not as comfortable as I expected. I have read reviews that rave about the Fizik Arione saddles, but I have to say my gooch (point of contact with bike saddle), disagrees at the moment. It is likely in part due to the more aggressive riding position, but I feel that the saddle on my old stead was more comfortable. I am going to withhold judgment until I get used to the overall position change, but the alternating burning and numb sensations in my gooch are not nice.

When it comes down to it I think I just need to HTFU (Harden The F**k Up).

I have a good feeling about the bike and I’m anticipating a significant improvement in my ride times due to the improved aerodynamics and weight of me and the bike and the psychological “look at me go fast on my red speed machine everybody!” factor. A set of nice race wheels will top it off nicely.

Training is generally going great, I am coming to the end of two “overload” weeks, injury free and coping. I say coping, as I am pretty tired and I’m noticing some carry-over fatigue each day, especially in the pool. I am working through in my head why I feel the fatigue most in the pool and the jury is out. I have a feeling that it reflects my lack of finesse in the water and that I muscle my way through the water with a background as a sprinter. I think that maybe if my technique was a little more solid I would be able to swim better when fatigued. I have a stroke correction workshop coming up soon, so hopefully I can continue to renovate my stroke and increase my efficiency in the water.

The coach says that training will ramp up again in the next few weeks and I say bring it on. I am looking forward to smashing it over the next three months so I can make a strong appearance in Tauranga in January.

Congrats to the guys and gals from ETPA that raced in the Cannibal Gold Coast Half Ironman last weekend.

43 days till Shepparton Half Ironman

90 days till Tauranga Half Ironman

97 days till the Wedding!!! Yikes…

It's a F'n warzone out there!

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 01:38:00 +0000

I am starting to settle after a particularly hairy morning this morning. Ten minutes into what was going to be a 4hr brick session today, I got hit by a car and my bike was totaled. I am luckily(I always find it funny people say 'lucky' in these situations), not too damaged. I have some bruises, aches and grazes but nothing serious at all. Thankfully, I was thrown away from the road and didn't go over or worse under the car. I keep picturing worse case scenarios.

The driver was a little old Vietnamese lady. I was riding well left on a two lane road and I was hit from behind. The driver's daughter tells me that her mother tried to avoid me, but her car doesn't have power steering and her arthritis makes it hard to turn quickly... Why am I struggling to drag up some empathy...

There was no squealing tires and she didn't stop till she was about 80m up the road. She just sat in the car, and I, after getting up and checking that I was in one piece and getting my bikes remains off the road, had to walk to her (I removed my bike shoes in case I had to give the driver the 'good news')and give her directions in handing over her drivers license, a pen and some paper. I took down her details and by the time I finished, I admit I felt a little sorry for her, because she looked like she might have a heart attack.

In the process of the crash I was thrown into my riding partner and his bike received some cosmetic damage also, and I think he took an aerobar in the back, which would have hurt. Thankfully his wife was able to come pick us up and take us home. Which I appreciated.

It sounds like my bike will be covered on the drivers insurance, which is a relief, I would hate to have to have battled with them to get a new bike. I only hope the insurance company gets it sorted quickly. Its only 71 days till Shepparton Half Ironman and I don't need more time off the bike.

The coach suggested a relaxed next 24 hrs and a visit to the osteopath ASAP, to make sure I'm running true. A fall like this morning's could cause problems over the next few weeks, if I have something out of alignment,

I haven't told Fay yet, she is at work and I think a face to face, standing up looking healthy, explanation would be best. Hope she lets me out riding again...

I just uploaded my heartrate monitor data to see how the old ticker enjoyed the action. I went from the cruising training heartrate of 120bpm to 178bpm in the space of 5secs. Obviously exciting stuff...

So ride careful out there kids, and don't think that your high-vis top is going to keep you safe. It's an F'n warzone out there.

Rolling along nicely

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:12:00 +0000

Training is ticking along nicely. I'm enjoying running without fear of knee pain, though I am definitely still hyper-sensitive. Hopefully this will pass. I am feeling good and can't wait to crank the intensity up and smash myself some, before Shepparton Half in 10 weeks time. Then I can 'iron out the wrinkles' and fly in January.

Don't have much more to say today.

Train hard!

Interesting read - Drug Test

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:07:00 +0000

I’m not sure if this article is common knowledge or not, but it’s new to me and I found it pretty damn interesting.

It was written in 2003, and it’s about a guy who appears to have been a pretty reasonable ultra-distance cyclist, who decided to experiment with performance enhancing drugs. Not to win a race or cheat; but to have the experience and to fulfil a host of questions he had about the physiological effects and performance gains that can result. He spent 8 months “on the junk” and tells all.

It’s one of those things that I might think “what if”, but would never contemplate going through with. Scary stuff!

Read it here:

Drug Test

Going slower to go faster

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:39:00 +0000

It seems to me that with a lot of sports, to make steps forward, sometimes a step backwards is required.

This is even more the case it seems in the more technique driven sports.

The thing that got his idea ticking over in my head was the current renovation I am doing on my swim stroke.

I come from a swimming background that spanned from around ten years old until I returned to competitive swimming for a season after “retiring” from triathlon at about age 18. I would like to think I was a pretty handy swimmer and I was able to be in the first two or three out of the water, or there abouts in the majority of the triathlons that I did.

I have found recently that I still swim pretty quick, compared to the age group triathlete population, however nothing like how I use to swim.

I have spent the last 18 months hunting for my old stroke, which use to see me to much quicker times in the pool. As yet I have not found it.

More recently I decided to stop hunting by feel and to start getting a little more scientific in my approach; I have been consulting with a number of sources and have started to develop my understanding of what good technique is.

Previously I was one of those athletes that didn’t care and didn’t want to know why, I just wanted to be told what to do and how to do it and don’t bore me with details. I think this is a real shame, because all the guidance and information that I had access to through some pretty stellar athletes/coaches in the past, is mostly wasted. I have little idea about the theory behind anything I did back then and have almost been learning from scratch this time round.

I have learnt that if I question why and research the theory, eventually it clicks, I have an “aha!” moment and I can apply the theory myself and generalize the concepts, rather than relying on someone else to hand it to me on a platter.

Back on topic – going slower to go faster. Bilateral breathing. I have been ignoring the message from almost every coach I have trained under to bilateral breath. When at my fastest, I only breathed on one side. However, recently I have followed the trail of technical inefficiencies in my stroke back to my one sided breathing (among other things – flexibility etc). I am not going to go into the technicalities of the problem here, as I find explaining swimming technique in writing similar to reading the articles in a penthouse, you really need to see it live to get whats going on and a picture is worth a thousand words. But the point I am trying to illustrate is that I am currently trying to breath bilaterally. I am finding this straight forward enough at easy to moderate pace, but when the pace is wound up, I feel short of air and find it hard to find the rhythm I am used to.

I am finding it easier over time, but I am having to swim slower at times to maintain what I feel will be a faster more efficient stroke once I have it nailed down.

Sometimes in the interest of going faster you have to take a hit in speed, check your ego and work on technique, at a pace that you can maintain, then start to wind it up again when you have it down.

A word of warning: I wouldn't recommend doing this too close to your 'A' race, as there may be reactions from your body to the new movements both injury and fatigue wise. Which you don't want in race season.

I am high maintenance

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:04:00 +0000

The two most common causes of injury in endurance athletes are, increase in training volume and/or increase in training intensity. I am testament to this, as I have experienced both this year since starting training in earnest for Ironman and as a result I've had a series of injuries. The increase in training has exposed the inadequacies in my body, it bio-mechanics and my ability to maintain it.

Injuries are par for the course in Ironman training and its not the injuries that I have the problem with. It is the cost financially that makes it hard to swallow. If I try to maintain the training volume required to get the performance I want, it is likely I will run the risk of continued injuries. The only way I can foresee training at the level I need to, is too invest large sums of time and money on maintaining 'the machine'. By this I mean regular massage, physiotherapy, podiatrist consults, and the list goes on, which can add up to $200+/week.

I am high maintenance.

"Slow down? Lower your sights?" you say. Not in my nature. Now, I am a huge fan of the enter to finish athletes, but I am not one of them. I understand that my first Ironman will be an exercise in finishing, but I want to finish fast.

I got into Ironman under no illusion that it would be cheap, however there is another important factor that makes this situation more difficult. My 'A' race this season is not triathlon related... I'm getting married in January to my race support crew (otherwise known as Fay), and no surprise it ain't cheap jumping the Tasman to tie the knot. This means all funds are currently being funneled into the blackhole that is 'wedding expenses', with the few odd dollars being funnel off to 'training and racing expenses'.

So, after much soul searching and consultation with 'the coach', it looks like the road to Ironman is going to be extended to a two year plan. This season is probably going to take in a couple of Half Ironmans, one of those being a race back home, The Port of Tauranga Half (which by huge coincidence is a week before the wedding! How convenient). The other looks like being Shepparton Half Ironman as a preparation race. I can't wait to race.

There are numerous positives to this decision and at my age I can extend the time frame by a year with no real problems (other than my lack of patience). A lot of people I have talked to agree, that a two year plan is probably more realistic and sustainable than one.

The take home message that I get from this is, that I can go balls out to race Ironman this season, probably carrying injuries all season, possibly having a disappointing race (and a budget wedding and angry support crew). Or, I can train and race Half Ironman this season, which will require less volume training (and cost less in general) and be better prepared physically and financially for the 2008/2009 season, to smash Ironman. I have checked my ego at the door (yes I managed to fit that line in)

Thats my positive spin on the matter and I am sticking to it...

Reading back over this post, it seems to have a negative feel and that wasn't the intention. I am fine with the fact that I am taking time to adapt to the Ironman training workload and I am fine that I will be racing Ironman next season rather than this. I'm really looking forward to smashing it, in the races I have planned this season.

Sunday morning ride with new kit

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 03:06:00 +0000

I cranked out a solid 3:30 on the bike this morning, on a hilly course. It was good to do a decent ride after the ups and down I have had on the bike lately. I had a small niggle at about 40mins, which I have learnt will pass completely if I keep going. It's not the same as the ITB pains I was getting, but seems to be a result of it or the rehab work I have been doing. It was pretty chilly one this morning and I was trialling some new kit. Now, I am a procrastinator at times, and despite it being spring (the tree outside with the pink buds on it says so, so Fay says), I went for my first ride with a new set of booties, gloves and a fleece neck warmer. One reason I hadn't got some sooner, was that the price of these items just seems ridiculous. Come on, $40-$60 for foot warmers?! But I stalked eBay until I found some at the right price, $18.00, sold! Now, if you haven't got booties and are thinking that the freezer bags in the shoes are doing the trick (as I did), you are missing out! My booties rock. I was of the opinion that cold feet were part of winter cycling, but my feet were toasty all morning. The fleece neck warmer was pretty successful too, it may have looked a little lame but my neck and face (I wore it cattle rustler style for the first 40min) were much warmer and I could talk using my lips this morning, which improves my speech no end. The gloves, I must say were a let down, they were supposed to be an upgrade of my old pair but the were more like a lateral-grade at best. Don't buy Trek 5x5 gloves at retail, they aren't all that. I am hoping they might stretch a little and allow more circulation which may have been the problem...

Enough about my new kit. I am enjoying training, the 5:00am starts are getting easier each day and the extra spare time in the AM means I can blog, do website admin for “the coach”'s website or play games without feeling guilty about other responsibilities. The true test it how much of an effort it is to get up for swim squad tomorrow morning.

By the way, weight update – 79.8kg (fluctuating by 1 - 1.5kg, but ignoring any over 80.0kg)

Oh, also looking like Ironman might be off the cards this season, may only do Half Ironmans this time round and go for the full next season. It's all to do with me being high maintenance, which I will explain later.

Sleep better by getting up early (I hope)

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:57:00 +0000

Today is a rest day and I am sitting here typing at 5:00am, due to the cunning plan I developed at the start of the week. I have been finding it a real struggle to get up some mornings, especially the 4:40am starts to get to swim squad. I have found that even when I get in 7-8 hours I still battle for the first 30min or so to get moving. Now, I know this is probably common for most folks, but I thought I would see if I could make some changes to decrease the chances of the dreaded, 'reset and roll syndrome' (reset, as in the alarm, for later). One of the things that I often tell clients (I work as a child and adolescent psychologist) with sleep problems, is that having a routine is very important to getting quality sleep. I have found lately, that I haven't been getting up at the same time on any two consecutive days. It can vary by up to three hours between a swim squad day and a rest day. I think this may be a big part of the problem. So, because I can't move swim squad to a later time, I have moved my waking time to an earlier one. I try to be in bed by 9:30pm at the latest, which isn't too bad as I just watch TV or surf the net anyway in the evenings, so I get 7-8 hours each night. Now, I haven't had overwhelmingly positive feedback on my plan from those I have deigned to share it with (non-believers!), but that doesn't usually stop me anyhow. One of the benefits of my plan is plainly clear, on non-swim squad mornings such as this morning, I have a spare 2 ½ hrs to ~~waste~~ use constructively. Another is that I can go to work half an hour early and finish the same in the afternoon. So far so good (it has only been a few days), but I will see how it goes.

Training is going pretty good, I can run pain free, I just have to avoid the “its all better, who needs stretches and strengthening exercises” thing and I should be all good. Last night I had a pretty intense magtrainer group session, and my knee didn't have anything to say at all, so fingers crossed.

Hopefully my new early to rise routine will also mean more time to blog too, win win for everyone.

Back on track and ITB links

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 04:26:00 +0000

I am two days into my first, what I guess is a full weeks training. It seems to be going well, tonight’s magtrainer session will tell. I have become quiet 'knee pain paranoid' lately and any sensation in my knee is analysed and monitored. I have not had pain as such for a while but I have had sensations which don’t seem normal or at least, I don’t remember having them in the past. I also have caught myself using my left leg to do all the work at times, which I can imagine would lead to all sorts of problems if I let it carry on. I was considering writing a post on ITB problems, but really my heart isn’t in it. To tell the truth after all the panicked research I have done into it recently, I don’t want to think too carefully about it. What I will do though is share a coupe of links that I felt were the most helpful and that made sense to me. They matched up with what the professionals I have talked to are saying as well as matching up with what other athletes who have experienced the problem have been saying.

This one is about ITB and rehab:
http://trifuel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7715&highlight=itbs

This is a site that has tonnes of great info on all sport related injuries and the rehab for them:
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/

Recovering from injury and Ironman training envy

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 06:03:00 +0000

I just got in from a 50min run, all be it a very easy paced one and I had no discomfort in my knee at all. Yay. I have had no problems at all this week with my knee and I think if I keep on top of my stretches and core strength exercises then I will be able to say goodbye to the ITB issues (touch wood). I have heard a lot about people having ongoing issues and I'm hoping that if I don't get lazy with looking after my body then I won't have further problems.

My build back into training will be a gradual one. My main problem at the moment is training envy. Its gotten to the point where I don't want to ask the guys I train with how their training is going or how far they have been going. It makes me feel like a wuss. It also makes me think about the training I haven't done and how it would have helped for the races later in the season. I guess I need to focus on getting as much quality training in between now and my next race, rather than focusing on the missed training. It seems to be that external motivation thing kicking in again. I'm all about the comparing with others and at the moment my is definitely smaller than yours.

Entered and Paid - Port of Tauranga Half Ironman

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 01:35:00 +0000

I have entered and paid for the Port of Tauranga Half Ironman!

The entries filled in just eight days, so lucky I didn't muck around. I missed out last year so I was entered within a few hours of it opening this time around. It should be great to race in front of my family and friends. If that doesn't keep me motivated nothing will. Now if I can just string together a few good blocks of training I will be all good.

Injury/training update #2

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 07:05:00 +0000

Its the end of another week of slowly but surely rehabing my knee. It has been reasonably successful, despite being slower than I would like. I got through a 30min jog yesterday and a 2hr spin this morning on the bike. I rode an hour, to watch some of the people I train with doing a half marathon or 10km run. Congratulations to everyone that ran. I was jealous to be stuck watching, which was made worse by uncontrollable shivering due to the cold. I was consolated by a plate of warm pancakes and some jelly beans, that the race organizers were providing for the runners. I think they meant to spectators to be fed too... Well thats my story and I'm sticking to it. I was concerned after last week, that the cooling off while watching the run would give my knee a chance to flare up and cause me grief on the way home. I am glad to say it didn't. Though for the first 10mins the shivering was so bad I almost shivered my self off the road a couple of times! I have my program for the next several weeks and its a long slow build back to full Ironman training program. I am looking forward to increasing the volume and intensity, so I can feel like I'm actually making progress rather than maintaining at best. Lets hope everything remains positive.

79.8kg!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 05:55:00 +0000

James' weight update... 79.8kg!!!!!!!!!! Thats all I have to say about that.

Injury/training update

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 08:21:00 +0000

It's a bit sad to be doing “injury updates”, but such is life at the moment. This weekend I got through a 20min jog on Saturday, followed by a 15min cold water wade. It was interesting to see how a little thing like the camber of the footpath, played such a big part in my pain levels. I got through 10min reasonably well, then started running along a footpath with an, I guess, “reasonable” down to the right camber. Its my right ITB that is giving me grief and almost immediately the pain increased. I clicked after about a minute and moved to the part of the path sloping the other direction and walla! The pain went away within a minute or less. It really illustrates how small things can make a huge difference and how functional the injury is. I guess for the next while I will be sticking to the left hand side of the road, at least until I get this issue sorted.

This morning I joined the 2hr Sunday group ride, to see how I held up on the bike. We have made some significant changes to my saddle position that seems to have helped. The ride went pretty well, but ended in a frustrating fashion. One of the group got a puncture which is a common occurrence and cant be helped (to tell the truth I enjoy the break, though I was missing the few kg of body fat this morning brrrr!). In the five or so minutes we waited it seemed the part of my knee that swells when irritated got a good swell on and for the last 15min I was in a good deal of pain. At this point there was no way I found to be rid of it. I think, for the next while. no stopping and ice and anti-inflammatories immediately are the order of the day.

I am feeling pretty positive, despite the niggles, a few more weeks and I can get back to smashing it. As of todays date there are 133 days till my first, what I'd consider serious race. Yes I am counting it down already...

James' 'Weight Update' #6

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:17:00 +0000

I have had a number of people asking how my weight loss is going and I thought I would give you all the goss. The skinny of it (pun intended) is that... No I didn't get under 80kg by July 1st. I am disappointed and I admit contemplated a sweat it out weigh in attempt. But I thought better of it, as it wouldn't have been in spirit of the goal. I just weighed myself and I tipped the scales at 80.5kg. I have been maintaining the strict caloric intact since last time I reported, but the down fall of the, lose weight to go fast goal, was the injuries I'm carrying that have basically stopped me in my tracks. As a lot of you Ironpersons will know, an ITB problem is one of the lamest injuries in the world. You strut around all day feeling like a box of birds, then you run for ten minutes then fall in a heap. Not only annoying, but, unimpressive compared to other more visual/ believable injuries. I almost feel like limping all day just to make sure everyone knows I'm injured and I'm not just blagging training. I feel a ITB education post coming on in the near future.

I'm now in serious rehab mode and will continue the weight updates, full steam ahead for the under 80kg goal at the end of... July?

Oh, by the way, a big thank you for responding to my request for comments, 'touch it' (interesting nickname) who was kind enough to show me I wasn't rambling to myself, cheers.

I Apologize, I have been neglecting you...

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:01:00 +0000

I am sorry I have been absent for the last week or so. It has been a combination of other projects taking up my time and injuries ruining my buzz. My Ironman training has been riding a rough road lately as I have mentioned previously, but hopefully with professional input and a solid rehab program, I will be back into it. I will endeavor to be more regular with my posting. It would be more encouraging if some of you guys start to give me some feedback through the comments function. I kinda feel like I'm talking to myself... hello? anybody out there? nuff said.

Will post again ASAP.

James' 'Weight Update' #5

noreply@blogger.com (James Duncan) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 23:31:00 +0000

This morning, post ablutions, my weight was 80.8kgs. Full steam ahead for the under 80kg goal at the end of June!