Hi Everyone!
Another post for your reading pleasure. Thank you to everyone who has sent me messages after Bintan. It really means the world to me to receive your messages of support. I just wanted to say that I didn’t mean for the last race report to sound like I was unhappy or unsatisfied. I had a blast at the event and am proud of my result. Since returning though, the focus has shifted to Sunny Coast 70.3. I actually cannot believe that it is next weekend. I am excited to head back to the Sunshine Coast or as I like to call it ‘God’s Country’ and am even more excited to catch up with so many friends, especially Mike Robinson and the Taupo crew (Matho, Scottie, Cam, Simon and Azza.) I took a week off after Bintan (mostly forced because I had to help my Grandad relocate over 1000kms and it took a few days to get him there) and was back into the training on Monday. I was fresh and ready to really put in some high quality work in the lead up to the event. I mean by this point, the fitness is there. It is more about tapping a little speed to make sure I am sharp on race day. Monday came and I was right back into it a hard run of 30 minute warm up followed by 20x3 min around race pace with a 1 min recovery jog in between. The run turned out to be 27km and I thought that after a week off I would be fresh and ready to go. Now normally I am a person who really struggles to reach the same speeds in training that I do when racing. I can run a half marathon at around 3:40 pace but in training running faster than sub 4 min pace can be really challenging. Despite this, I felt quite good and pretty much nailed the session. The problem was that it cost me more than I realised. On Wednesday I had an easy 2-hour ride followed by an easy 1 hour run. Guess what happened? The same feeling I had in Bintan happened to me. I was tired, lethargic and just could not push the pace when I wanted to. I literally averaged 6 min/km for the run. That is seriously slow for me even on an easy run. It made me a little concerned. Anyway, all of this background brings us to yesterday and I had an appointment with my Dietitian, Chloe Mcleod (you can listen to the episode of my podcast we recorded with her here.) We discussed Bintan and what went wrong – not enough pre-fuelling or hydration. We discussed how to prepare better for Sunny Coast next weekend – enough pre-fuelling and hydration and then the conversation turned to how I was tired again so quickly after having a week off. Now I know from my own experience as a coach and trainer that people lie, A LOT! However I am a big believer that if I want to get the most out of a service I pay for I need to be as honest as I can. I explained how I have been tired so much of this year, a lot of my sessions I have struggled through and that lately I have not even had the energy to pay attention to my diet. A look came across Chloe’s face and I knew she was about to say something I didn’t want to hear. “Tim, I think you might be overtrained.” As soon as she said it I was speechless. It actually made sense and she asked what my training schedule was like. I told her what my coach was giving me and she said that was normal, was I doing anything extra? Pause…. Here is where that honesty thing comes in (see what I did there – I created some sizzle earlier than brought it back later in the post!) The answer was yes. I had started to increase my training without even realising it. If I had a 3-hour bike ride, I would do 4. If I had an 18km run I would do 20. As soon as I started admitting it I was instantly embarrassed with myself. I cannot believe I had done this again. I wrote about how last year in the lead up to the World Championships I got in a little bit of trouble from my coach about doing this. Well looks like I started doing it again. Then the more I thought about it I realised exactly when the damage was done. A few weeks ago I went for a long ride. I thought it would be about 160km. For me that is right about the limit I can ride easily. I t will hurt me but I will bounce back quite quickly. This day I rode 190km. The worst part though was that because we were running late we basically rode the last 70km as hard as we could. I was already starting to struggle and this really forced me to dig deep. I think it took a bigger toll than I realised. Suddenly it all started to make sense. The half marathon had been a struggle, my training had been a struggle, I was distracted at uni and the Bintan run was less than my fastest. I had dug into my reserves and not allowed myself to recover properly. Basically I did the thing that I get angry with my athletes for doing. In my defence I didn’t realise I was doing it at the time. But once it was highlighted I had nowhere to hide. We came up with a plan on how to get better quickly to make sure it doesn’t impact my Sunny Coast race. I also made a vow to myself. I have 100% faith and trust in my coach and I will do only what he gives me from now on. Ok, sometimes if my friends are going for a ride I might join them. But no more adding extra kms because I think it is better. I know it isn’t. So there it is, I have written it down now. I promise you all that I am going to be a good boy. I am going to follow my program like a saint (I know Momo will like to hear that) and get back onto my meal plan. I suppose I am treating this post almost like a mini exorcism. BE GONE thoughts that more is better. I will learn to train smarter, not longer and ultimately I will improve because of it. So here you go gang, another chance to learn from my own mistakes. Do as I say not as I do will become a redundant expression. I mean how can I consider myself worthy of telling other people what to do if I do not do it myself. Get a good team around you, LISTEN to them and remember to TRI!
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Hi Everyone!
I heard you asking for it and I aim to please so please find enclosed my edge of your seat race report for Bintan 70.3! Before we get into the finer details let me say that despite not achieving the result I wanted and expected, I am incredibly pleased with this race. I hate having to write about all of the excuses why I didn’t manage to achieve a certain outcome and today I really don’t think I will. That is simply because I am not entirely sure what went wrong. What I do know is that I gave the race absolutely everything I had to give. If you can’t be happy with that then what can you be happy with? Bintan is a significant event for me. I raced in 2015 and qualified for the 70.3 World Championships. It was also the 1st time I ever managed to make the podium at a race. In 2015 when I raced I also had a pretty bad crash with 5km left of the bike course. If you want to read about that race you can find my race report here. So needless to say, there were lots of feelings going into the race. I remember the race being very hot but also very pretty. I wanted to make sure I was as well prepared as possible and get in some quality training before Sunny coast as well so the decision was made to spend 10 days in Phuket at Thanyapura before the event to get used to the heat. The training there was great and I was feeling pretty confident. I even managed to record an amazing episode of my podcast with Chris McCormack (You can find the episode here.) If anything, the only negative I have about Phuket was that it actually wasn’t that hot and was quite wet. I was still feeling quite confident about the event. I was swimming, riding and running very well. I was determined to achieve my ‘mini’ goals for the race: to swim well, to ride higher power than usual and to try and run sub 90 minutes in the heat. BEFORE We arrived in Bintan on Saturday Lunchtime before the event and I went through my usual process of a little ride and run. I had had a few late nights before arriving and I was suffering from the usual pre-race nerves that I hate. I remembered a beautiful little spot by the ocean that I had found last time and went there to settle myself down and reflect on what was going to happen on Sunday. It worked. I was calm and in good spirits about the race. A few miscommunications with my friend Momo meant that I had a mini panic attack when I thought she had missed the last shuttle to the race with her bike but it turned out she was already there and we all managed to get checked in and ready to go. I went to bed the night before the race surprisingly calm and actually slept really well. I woke up on race day early and also had a mini panic attack when I realised I had to run to make the bus. No breakfast, although Dez got me a mini croissant when she arrived. I set up transition and was feeling confident. I was ready to race. I really wanted to have a solid hit out and obviously, this time not crash. I made my way out of transition and saw a number of my friends. I wished them all luck and made my way to the start. THE SWIM The Bintan swim is perfection. Warm water, they said 29c so no wetsuit. Clear with next to no waves and you swim over coral so you can see fish underneath you. It was a very clear morning so sighting was going to be easy. The only slight issue with the swim was that it is very shallow for a while. I positioned myself at the front and to the left as I breath to my right and waited for the gun to go. I noticed the sunrise might be a slight issue for sighting on the way back but I would cross that bridge when I got to it. They counted us down and I was feeling really good. The gun went and I ran like a madman into the water. It was a combination of running, duck diving and swimming for a little while. I was with a few people who were quick into the water then as soon as I started swimming I did not see another competitor in my age group again. I was completely solo and it suited my needs. I wanted to focus on some of the technical changes I have made to my stroke and swimming by myself allowed me to do this. I have learned that I do not put enough power into my pull and my arm leaves the water too soon. So I focused on really loading up my arms and getting maximum propulsion from each stroke. As I passed the first turn buoy my watch buzzed. I am not a huge fan of Garmin products because they just don’t last and have stopped working on me in the swim countless times. This time however it had decided (apparently on its own) to give me 500m splits. I was shocked to see they were all under 7 minutes. Each time it buzzed I would check and one of them was even under 6 minutes! I was FLYING. I had absolutely zero dramas in the water and seeing my times made me super confident. All of the swim work I had done was paying dividends. I turned the final buoy and started running, diving and swimming my way into the shore. I noticed the watch buzz a 4th time (2km) while I was still swimming. As I exited the water I checked my time and I was still well under 30 minutes. BOOM! First goal achieved. My total swim time was 29:26 (my Garmin measured 2121m and an average pace of 1:23 – STOKED) T1 I ran into T1 and knew I had swum hard. My heart rate was crazy high and I was dry retching. I had once again left my shoes attached to my bike which meant it was run in, strip off my swim skin, put on helmet, glasses and race number and leave. I was in and out in a flash with a T1 time of 1:34 (Fastest in the Age Group) THE BIKE The bike, oh the bike. If you read my race reports you will know I have had a few ‘dramas’ in recent times. Flat tyres, issues with valve extenders. Fuck it frustrates me. I spend SO much time working on my bike so I am still waiting for an event to really nail the bike leg. I started the ride and noticed that my hydration system was spilling a bit which is pretty standard. I got on and had a smooth mount. As I rode I was still feeling the effects of the swim. My HR was high and I wasn’t comfortable. I made it out onto the main road and tried to get my head in the game. I passed a few riders quite early then settled in to what would become a pretty much solo ride. I think it took me a good 10km before I was settled and then the bike course become quite undulating. It is a beautiful, honest bike course with the majority of roads smooth and fast. However, I think for the first 30km there were next to no flat sections. I was either climbing or descending. My power was a bit all over the place. I was also concerned because there was still a hell of a lot of liquid spilling from my hydration system. When my first 30km split came through I was at 48 minutes. 3 minutes behind the pace I wanted to be at. At the same time though, the course had started to open up and I was able to really TT some beautiful long stretches of road. My power was where I wanted it and my speed was higher than expected. I was genuinely becoming concerned at the 30km mark by the fact my hydration system was still splashing me. I was checking to see if there was a problem when I realised the top was dry? I suddenly realised that the hydration system had not been leaking for ages. What was splashing on my legs was my own sweat from my upper body (what a sexy image hey.) It was hotter on the bike than I anticipated. But at the second 30km split I was back on track. I knew I would need to push the pace a little bit if I was going to post a decent bike split. The back end of the bike saw us ride along the coast where the wind was high. I managed to pass a number of female pros. One of the highlights for me was as I passed a female pro her police escort left her and started escorting me through the little villages. It made it much easier. I also LOVED the local support, all the kids screaming for us as we rode past. I spotted one young boy on his bike and as I rode past him I yelled, “come with me, come with me!” He replied, “Yes mister” and pumped his little legs as hard as he could. I think I will remember that moment for a long time. I also knew I was getting towards the big climb up and descent down to my 2015 crash site. I was still riding hard (perhaps a little too hard) but made sure to be careful on the descent. As I passed the crash site I screamed out at the top of my lungs “YEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAA” and made my final approach to T2. My final bike time was 2:20:39, a little bit slower than I wanted but the course was much tougher than I remembered. T2 I had a smooth dismount (the volunteers were impressed) and ran my bike in. I spotted what looked like 4 bikes already on the racks in my age group area. I was either 4th or 5th place at this point. I got in and put on my shoes and socks, grabbed my hat full of goodies and was on my way. My T2 time was 1:23 (again the fastest in the AG.) THE RUN Everything was looking good. I had swum well, ridden well and was expecting to run well too. I 100% believe I was capable of running a 1:28ish run on that course in those conditions. The triathlon gods however had other plans for me on Sunday. One of the first things that I do when I leave T2 is take a Revvies caffeine strip. These can be a little tricky to open and on Sunday I basically could not do it. I seriously think it took me a km to get it in my mouth. I should have seen the writing on the wall. My legs were not too sore but fuck me I felt lethargic. My pace was around 4:20 at the start, which I thought was about right to begin with. I decided to go out super conservative and build. The opposite happened however. By the 4km mark I was really struggling. I could feel my hamstring ready to cram so I shortened my stride and really tried to focus on what I could control. I was tired, hot and my body would not cooperate with my mind. Despite this, I noticed I passed a few other competitors in my age group. I was sure I was on the podium somewhere at this point and thought that if I just kept myself in control I would eventually come good. I now realise I had run myself into 2nd position about 6km into the race. I was so sure that I was going to come good that I danced my way past the stage at the end of my first lap and high-fived Vince as I ran past. I was hurting but at least I was still in control. I had realised that the race was no longer about a good time so instead I wanted to focus on my place. Just keep doing what you are doing because everyone is hurting. I took in as much liquid as I could and tried everything I could think if to stay cool. At the 15km mark I realised one of the other guys I had passed was getting closer to me so I really tried to hold my form and pace. By this point I was really starting to struggle. I was hot and just exhausted. I have had races where my body was fucked or in pain or needed to walk. I wasn’t experiencing anything like that. I just wanted to lay down and sleep. I think at about the 17km mark I realised I was in real strife. I knew if other people passed me I would not be able to react. That is exactly what happened. At 19km I was passed and I couldn’t do anything about it. Inside the last km it happened again. All I wanted to do was quit but I was so close. I have faced much worse than this before and managed to keep going. I focused on my feet and was in the hurt locker so badly I did not notice my mate Vince at the finish chute. I raised my hands in relief, crossed the line and finally got to lay down (collapse.) My final run time was 1:42:28 and my finish time was 4:35:32. I was 4th place in my age group and 21st overall. AFTER I was a proper mess. I was assisted by 2 people into recovery where I could not really make sense of what was going on. I got my bearings and headed for the ice baths. I managed to meet and congratulate some of the other competitors which was fantastic. I then started to come good and made my way back out onto the course to cheer my friend Momo home. I had an absolute blast cheering on other athletes and even managed to get in a sneaky beer. I wasn’t disappointed with my performance. I was happy that it was hard. It was a perfect opportunity to learn and I think I learned a lot. Earlier in my racing career you can read about how my mind always got in my way. I am proud of the fact that I am now able to silence those voices when they start to make noise. They say 4th is the worst position to come because you are just off the podium and for me, in recent times, I have made a bit of a habit of it. I do not believe I had a podium worthy performance so I am at peace with coming 4th. In fact, to run so poorly and still finish quite high is something I am quite proud of. The race has given me lots to be happy about before my next race. I was delighted to see Tim Ballintine, who I had the pleasure of getting to know at Thanyapura dominate the age group and win. Expect big things from him in Kona this year. I think that ultimately I am excited by this race. Sunny Coast is a race I always try and put my best foot forward at and I am thinking that if I can deliver the sort of swim, bike and run that I am capable of I could be delivering a significant PB on September 10. I think the issues I had on race day are also part of the allure of this sport. Another riddle that I need to try and solve. I am an optimistic guy and that is probably why I am being positive. One of the things that frustrate me with triathletes is that we always have an excuse why things went wrong. I think on Sunday I did not have any excuses. I put forward the best performance I was capable of delivering on that day in those conditions and ultimately, it wasn’t good enough. I am ok with that, it is all you can ask of yourself ultimately. So I have my head held high. I didn’t crash, I didn’t quit and I still posted a decent time. I am still chasing that perfect race and if I keep having imperfect races that are pretty quick who knows? Maybe that perfect race will deliver me a time of 4:05… I can’t recommend racing in Asia highly enough, it is hard brutal and fantastic so rip in and as always remember to TRI! Hi Everyone!
I haven’t done one of these for a while, probably because I haven’t really had a race in a while either. Guess what! No issues, problems or stories of woe this time either. The great thing about running races is you don’t really rely on much ‘gear’ except for your shoes and clothes. This means the pesky problems I have suffered in a number of recent triathlons weren’t an issue for me yesterday. I raced the Blacktown Running Festival Half Marathon. I have now raced this event for the last 3 years and it has become a good sort of ‘start of season’ indicator as to where my fitness and ability is at. Not only that, but it is a relatively cheap race to enter which is incredibly well organised. Basically I just really like this event. I am extremely familiar with the course as I do a lot of bike riding on the path that the run takes. It is also a bit of a novelty to run the way I usually ride. I think the main reason why I like this race though is that it gives me a bit of a taste of competition at a time of year that I don’t really get much. It is funny to admit, but despite this race being of little consequence, it is still a race. Now I am happy to admit that I am not that motivated by beating other people. I am however, incredibly motivated by beating myself. I think that racing other people is a great way to push yourself to do better than you did last year and as you train more the people you are surrounded by when you race become better thus pushing you harder as well. So I decided that I wanted to not only beat my PB at this event, I wanted to take minutes off it. I know how well I have been running this year and I was sure that I would be able to take at least 2 minutes off my PB of 1:19. So yes, despite this race being of little significance I still wanted to put my best foot forward. e Here is where I fall into that standard endurance athlete cliché though of complaining about all the reasons why I failed to do so. For me, I have no excuses, no one to blame except myself. The weekend before the race I went for a pretty long bike ride. 190km to be exact and I’m not talking about a leisurely ride through the country either. It was hard and made even harder by the fact that we were running late and had to go as hard as we could for 2 hours to try and make it back on time. This was followed up with a hard interval session the next day. Great training that I know will benefit me in the future (even if I did go a bit longer than I was meant to.) But I realised on Monday the error of my ways. One of the issues with overtraining is that you can put yourself into a ‘hole’ where it takes a long time to recover properly. I was in it. I think my coach knew it too because I had a very easy week of training (and I wasn’t told off for riding too far on Saturday.) But I did all I could to recover in time for the race on Sunday. The day before the race I went for a short ride and I could feel that I had plenty of energy to use. I was optimistic for the run on Sunday. On Sunday morning I had no issues getting up. I didn’t feel tired and by all accounts it looked like perfect running weather. I was feeling happy and confident about the race. I knew a number of people at the event and Dez had even managed to make it, coming home early (and not drunk) from a wedding the night before. Dez signed up for the 10km – also for the third year in a row. I was happy to see my coach, Ben and his wife Brooke were both there. Benny had hurt his leg playing soccer the day before and wouldn’t be running. We had a good chat and I did a bit of a warm up. The legs were still a bit stiff but that’s pretty normal for me these days. I got ready and made my way to the start area. I squeezed my way towards the front. I saw a guy I recognise from parkrun called Tom who I know is an incredible runner and thought, well I know I cant run faster than him so I will position myself just near him for the start and waited for the gun. Before I get into the race itself, there was something else significant about the run. I have been trying a new pair of race flat shoes from Mizuno, the Wave Sonic. It is a much stiffer shoe that my usual Hitogami race flat and I was keen to see how it felt over 21km. I had tried to use it on a long run a few weeks earlier with extremely sore legs and it had not been a wise decision. I really really like this shoe and have been contemplating making it my 70.3 race shoe as well. So I wanted to see how it performed. Now back to the race. The race starts with one and a half laps of the athletics track before leaving the sports complex and heading up to the run path. I am notorious for going out to hard and was really determined not to do it again this year. As the gun went I went out and there were maybe 4 other people ahead of me. I picked 3 of them off without too much effort before the end of the one and a half laps and started my way out onto the path. Tom, the eventual winner had already put a few hundred metres on me by this point but he is literally classes above me which meant I wasn’t too fussed at all. The path itself is very hilly. Nothing to long or steep but just constant ups and downs which makes it quite hard to settle into a rhythm. I saw that my first km was 3:19 so I realised that once again I had gone out to hard. It was also the only km of the entire race that I was going to find easy. I realised early on that while I was running pretty well I had no rhythm. It was also hard work to maintain the pace. I also realise that I couldn’t hear any other runners near me. I learned a long time ago to never look back. I will always wait until the turn around to see where my competitors are. I knew I was in second place and this was exactly how things went last year as well. I was waiting for the other runners to pass me at around the 6km mark as they did the year before. My first 5km split was 18:20 and then my first 10km split was 37:50. I also got a pleasant surprise to see Ben at the 7km mark on the course that helped to lift my spirit. At the turn around I saw that there was a fairly significant gap between the runner in third place and myself and an even bigger gap between me and first. Then after the turn around I saw all the other runners coming the other way, many of who cheered me on and encouraged me. Then I was by myself again. As I passed Ben at the now 14km mark he told me to push it home now and I wanted to say “I’ve been pushing it for 14km” but didn’t have the energy. The last few kms were horrible and my pace was really starting to suffer. I saw my PB slipping further and further away until I realised I would struggle to make it under 80 minutes. I then decided to just focus on the race itself, I was in 2nd place and might be able to hold on to it. The last km I gave it everything I had and as I ran into the stadium for the last 300m I was basically sprinting. But it was pointless, the clock ticked over 80 minutes and I finished with a time of 1:20:13, 5 seconds slower than the year before. I was very tired and getting 2nd overall was pretty good but I was pretty annoyed with myself for not running better and falling apart a bit at the end of the run. I found out there was even prize money. I won money for a race for the first time in my life. I really didn’t expect it and it certainly perked me up a bit. I think the thing that I missed during the race though was that sense of competition I had been craving. I ran solo for maybe 20.8km. The majority of that time I was completely by myself. I had no other athletes around me to push me to run faster and at times I found my mind wandering. I think that isolation coupled with the fatigue from the week before are contributing factors to my slower than expected time. Later in the day, Dez could tell I was a bit frustrated by the result and I said to her, ‘hey, at least we know it is true that when I say I would rather come dead last and go fast than win (even though I came 2nd) and go slow.’ Am I disappointed or after sympathy? Hell no! I still held 3:48 pace for 21.1km and managed to score $800 in the process. It was a novelty to race with my coach there and Brooke also managed to pick up 2nd in the women’s race too. I think if anything I am frustrated with myself because I keep making silly mistakes that I know I shouldn’t. I have gotten it into my head somewhere along the line that more is better. I need to be smarter with my training. It is also funny because we recorded an episode on my podcast about self-sabotaging where I laughed at some of the things I have done and it seems like I have gone and done it again. Still, to run fatigued and drop a 1:20 is not something I will ever complain about. It used to take me that long to run 10km so I know things will keep improving. Congratulations to the winners of all the races and a huge thank you to Blacktown City Council for putting on an amazing event that I will continue to keep racing and trying to deliver a proper result. I was also extremely happy to see that the Wave Sonic was a fantastic shoe to race in. I am still not sure if I will use it a triathlon because I do not know how easily I will be able to slip it on my feet in transition but I will probably test it out at a smaller race later in the year. Do as I say and not as I do and the thing I always say is remember to TRI! Hi Everyone!
Do not adjust your screens! Yes, yet another post from between my ears has made it’s way onto the interwebs for your reading pleasure. You’re welcome or maybe I’m sorry? Anyways, I did say that I want to make the most of my uni break to pump out a few of these bad boys and I am if nothing else, a man of my word. I was recently listening to a podcast talking about ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’, the famous fight between Mohammad Ali and George Foreman. While I had heard the name and was obviously familiar with the legend of Ali, I knew very little about the specifics of the event. One of the main things that I learned (and found super interesting) was Ali using a technique called the ’rope-a-dope.’ This technique saw Ali get Foreman in close and then lean on the ropes around the ring. Ali would then let Forman punch the crap out of him. Ali was a genius! By leaning his weight onto the rope the majority of the impact (google some details about George Foreman, the guy was a beast) was absorbed by the ropes leaving Ali relatively unscathed. By employing this technique, Ali let Foreman punch himself to exhaustion and ultimately Ali won. So you may be a little confused at this point. Has Tim run out of triathlon and weight loss things to talk about so now he is trying his hand at boxing? Well you see, this my dear reader is what I like to call an analogy. Over the weekend I endured one of the hardest weekends of training I have experienced. The volume wasn’t crazy. In fact I only really did 2 sessions. But the intensity was high, very very high. On Saturday I rode with a friend and training partner of mine who is a better athlete than I am. Charlie pushed the pace on our ride so much so that I was on Struggle Street from about 50km of the 160km ride. When I thought we were just about finished, Charlie decided we would add an extra 30km on (needless to say he is an Iron Man.) This broke me. I finished the ride barely holding on and was shaking from low blood sugar. I then backed it up on Sunday with another hard bike ride. I did not want to do it. I did not know how I was going to do it. But, I did it and I did it well. But if I thought I was tired on Saturday, Sunday afternoon was even worse. The weekend finishes and I wake up on Monday morning to the news that I have a long hard run to complete. 20 minute easy warm up then 16 lots of 3-minute intervals at race pace with a minute jog recovery in-between. I could barely walk, how the hell was I going to run. I procrastinated and did everything I could to get the body ready. I even stood in an extra hot shower to try and warm up my legs before the run. I started the run and the warm up was hurting. I told my self to shut up and kept going. The first few intervals I was running quite quickly but I could feel the effort it was taking. Man, I still have 13 of these to go. By the 7th and just as I was about as far from home as I would go I had to stop. My legs were throbbing. I was not having much fun and my pace had dropped right off. I took a minute to regather my thoughts, I remembered why I was doing this and also told myself that if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. I stopped briefly after the next few intervals but then as I passed number 10 I started to find some rhythm again and low and behold, my pace increased and the last one was actually one of the fastest. So I mentioned an analogy. Well here it is. Over the weekend, my body took a beating. On Saturday it was my training partner who gave me a touch up. On Sunday it was the workload. But come Monday I was able to bounce back even when I thought I wouldn’t be able to complete the set. I think that is what training for performance is all about. Allowing your body to absorb the majority of the impact, the load, the pain and the suffering. Then after you have allowed it to carry the burden your mind is able to take over and get the real work done. I managed to complete the run set through sheer willpower. I told myself I could do it. I believed I could do it and guess what happened? I did it. I even managed to make it to swim squad after the run and felt like I swam very well. So remember that when you are training, the whole point is to lean on your body and allow it to take the impact for you. It is meant to be hard, it is meant to be uncomfortable but it is also the point. Then after you have taken all that your body thinks it can take let the mind take over and get that last little bit out of you. It isn’t always easy and most of the time your mind will be the first thing to go. But I’ll tell you what. I know that next time I am racing and hurting and hating it. When I think I can’t go any harder, I am going to remind myself of that weekend where I smashed myself for three days in a row and managed to finish just as strongly as I started. Remember that we train hard so we race easy and as always, remember to TRI! You can also check out the latest Think Fit which is all about goal setting and success and failure Hi Everyone! (What a dramatic title this week) Two weeks in a row! What is going on! I know, I know, I have been a bit sporadic with my posts of late but I have a bit of free time while I am on uni break and thought it was a good idea to post again. Plus, I have something to write about this week too (which always helps). I had an experience last week with an athlete that I used to coach where basically I realised it was time for us to both go our separate ways. This was not an easy decision to be made at all. This was one of the athletes I had been working with for the longest time. I was and continue to be super invested in their success. But I came to the realisation that I was no longer able to assist them and that their best bet would be to try working with someone else. A new approach might kick start their journey again and get them back on track. I think coaching has become one of the greatest things that I have ever fallen into. I mean this; I never intended to become a coach (and still consider myself a student of coaching as well.) It just sort of happened. The pride and joy I have in my athletes success and the pain and frustration I feel for their failures is something I never would have expected. I mean it is so easy to get caught up in what you are doing as an athlete. It would be easy to assume that you only have the energy and focus for what you are doing. But this is not the case. I have experienced so many high’s seeing those I coach exceed their expectations. I have however, also had plenty experiences with those who fail to meet mine or their own. I think this is where coaching can get tricky. Yes, it is a service that people pay for and it is good to be professional. But when coaching you tend to experience people at their most vulnerable and it can be quite difficult not to develop a genuine relationship with them. If there are any coaches out there who have learned not to do this then please let me know. One of my athletes who has also turned out to be one of my closest friends and I have come up with a system where there is ‘Coach Tim’ and ‘Friend Tim.’ But look as long as things are working there isn’t really a problem. It isn’t until things start to go wrong that the closeness can become an issue. My Mum has always encouraged my siblings and me. I think if I called her up now, a semester from finishing my law degree, and said, ‘Mum, I decided that I actually want to join the circus as a lion tamer’ she would be the first one to say ‘You would be the greatest lion tamer the world has ever seen.’ Now as her son, I know that this is the parental bias thing but as a person without children I have never really experienced it myself. That was until I started coaching. Now don’t mistake me. I am not a pushover. I write challenging programs to get the best out of my athletes and when sessions are missed, I am not afraid to ask why and say that the excuse is not good enough. But what I have started to struggle with are the athletes (and there have been a few) who start to make skipping sessions a habit. There are only so many times you can encourage an athlete to get focused again and get back on track. I always question what is going wrong, if it is timing; I ask for a new schedule and adapt their program to meet their availability. If it is the intensity, I back it off to a level they are comfortable with and start to build again. Basically, whatever they tell me is the limiting factor I try and accommodate it. Now this isn’t an opportunity for me to write about what an amazingly service-minded and capable coach I am. Instead, what you start to identify is the athlete who is a lost cause. Now I use the term lost cause nervously here because I don’t want people to think I am saying that these people are hopeless or anything like that. What I mean is that there are some people that I work with who you just can’t write a program for. The first person I ever started weight loss coaching with approached me about a plan. From day one (I think from memory it was a 45 min walk) would not do the sessions because they were too busy. I tried so many different things like fitting their sessions into their lunch break, selecting classes at their gym after they finished work or even made the intensity slightly higher and the session shorter so they could do it before work. But every week when literally NO sessions were done I asked, ‘what is the problem?’ I asked them if they had made any changes from before they started working with me, getting up earlier, going to be later, anything? The answer was no. So if they knew they didn’t have time (they did) before starting with me, how were they going to fit in time to train after they started paying me? That relationship lasted 4 weeks and was a waste of both of our time. But back to the point I was trying to make. Some athletes I think we both know when things aren’t working and it might be time for a change (a good tip is to stop coaching someone when they don’t pay you!) But then there are others who you have that paternal bias for. No matter how much they struggle or inconsistent they are you believe that they are going to work it out. Well that is what happened to me last week. I realised that I was not going to be able to assist this person anymore because ultimately, they needed to want to help themselves. Now it is easy to say that you want to do something or you want to make a change. Watch, I want to play the piano. But in reality, I am not going to give the piano the attention it requires to actually learn how. I may pay someone for lessons and tell my friends I am learning the piano but the reality is I am not. I spoke to another person (coach) I know about this athlete multiple times and asked what to do and the conversation ended up at, ‘if they are happy to keep paying you, write the plan.’ I couldn’t do that. So instead, I made a call and decided to stop coaching the person. I refunded their money for July and suggested they try a new approach. I believe that this was the right thing to do for both of us. The relationship had obviously become stagnant. It was a cycle of training hard for a week then slipping to the point of doing nothing and this had been the case for over a year. There were constantly obstacles and hurdles that had to be managed. Some of these were incredibly legitimate but others were not. It was causing me increased frustration and I can only imagine how demoralising it must be as an athlete to keep missing sessions and have it cause stress. So I did what I didn’t want to do because I thought it was the best and most responsible thing to do. I like to think that if things ever became stagnant or were no longer working with my coach he would do the same. In fact, I would like to think that the majority of coaches out there would as well. The problem lies though in the place where the professional and friend line is blurred and one or both parties is unable to separate them. I think that may be the case here. I was accused of not supporting the athlete because I ended the coaching relationship, which upset me. But I am confident that I actually did what I did to support them. Maybe in time they will see it too. So that is my little tale of what has been happening with me. It was a tough decision to make but I do not regret making it. The coach, athlete relationship is a two way street and has to work for both parties. Remember this and as always, remember to TRI! Remember to tune into Think Fit where this week we discussed the biggest fitness excuses we have and did use Hi Everyone!
I. HATE. WINTER! Yes I can already hear all of you people in the really cold parts of the world (like Melbourne) saying “but you don’t even know what cold really is!” and yes this is true. Sydney has a relatively mild temperature and yes I know I am being a sook. But hey, I never said I wasn’t. I always reply with the fact that I did my cold time. 2 years in the Arctic wastelands of Norway mean that I should get a lifetime of warm weather right? In reality it isn’t that bad here. It is just a case of me being a massive sook. But enough about the weather and how soft I am when it comes to the weather. A friend of mine who I met through sport posted the other day about how her and her husband are going through IVF treatment at the moment and how she is balancing this whilst still training and racing etc. I found the honesty and rawness of it really struck a chord with me. I think it is maybe because it is a similar approach to that which I take when writing, being as honest as possible, even when it isn’t easy. Here is the link to Kelly’s post if you want to have a read. I think the main thing though about that post is that it really made me realise that everyone, regardless of your ability, weight or progress has his or her own relationship with fitness. Some people make it central to their life, while to others it is an afterthought. Regardless, I have come to realise that everyone has some sort of relationship with it. This has been reinforced even more since I started my podcast (yes, another shameless plug!) As the show grows and grows people from all over the world are reaching out to Robo and me to share with us their stories. I think as a person who has gone down the weight loss path it is very easy to forget that there are people dealing with a whole manner of other challenges. Losing weight and having the before and after image is actually relatively easy. Ok, it isn’t easy to lose weight and keep it off. But what I mean is that it is probably the most socially acceptable and ‘popular’ fitness change that you can experience. While I have always been aware of some of the health challenges that people face I guess I never truly understood just how similar my experiences are to other people facing completely different challenges. At the same time though their experiences (I am actively trying to avoid using the term journey) are in many ways completely different. I have had people who suffered serious issues with eating disorders and being too skinny share their experiences with me. The challenges they faced of needing to put weight on being restricted by the fear of being judged or not being ‘good looking’ anymore literally blows my mind. I mean I think, as a person who tried so hard for so long to lose weight the thought of struggling with putting weight on would have seemed almost laughable. I am a bit embarrassed to be honest that I have restricted myself so much to my simple weight loss bubble. It goes beyond weight though. People who I know and are very close with have overcome injury in order to reach their goals. Something that again would seem quite simple like, get better then start again is a completely ridiculous approach for a person who can barely walk. I have one friend who overcame a serious injury and was starting to really perform only to suffer a completely different (and ridiculous) injury which set them right back to square one. To see that person start from scratch with the same determination they had all along almost doesn’t compute with me. Come on, you have probably read some of my posts complaining about how I feel rubbish after taking a few weeks off. I do not know how I would go if I had to start all over again or if I even would. It is a completely different story to a fat kid getting in shape but man it is just, if not more impressive. Then there is another friend of mine. This friend is gay. Now to me, being gay is not a big deal at all. My Godfather is gay and I have known him my entire life. In some ways I feel incredibly lucky because I can never remember a time when I thought that being gay was weird or a problem. To this day, I struggle to understand why people have a problem with it. But this friend has made me aware of some of the issues they have had to face in their pursuit of fitness as well. Again, these are things that I never would have thought of. They are serious challenges and hurdles which need to be overcome on a daily basis for the people facing them and unlike myself, they don’t get a before and after photo at the end to show everyone their progress. I guess the point I am trying to make is that in recent weeks I have had more and more people reach out to me and share their story with me. This has made me realise that fitness and sport and health are not just something that I do. They are central to my life. I have worked incredibly hard to get where I am today and to see other people face challenges I literally could not imagine makes me realise that they are incredible things to pursue. Some people will often say to me that I am lucky to be in good shape and it usually pisses me off. I am not lucky, I work hard, I make sacrifices. But now I am starting to see it. I am lucky. I am lucky to have made my health and my performance one of my priorities and a cornerstone of my life. I think next time someone tells me that I am lucky I will agree with them. I will then try and encourage them to get lucky to. People come to health from all different cultural, ethnic, sexual or disadvantaged backgrounds. But ultimately we all pursue a goal that unites us. I realise as I am writing this that it sounds a little preachy which I hate. But man, if you are reading this and think you have it bad or that your situation is special or unique I am going to hit you with a truth bomb. There are many others that are dealing with things just as difficult and challenging as you are. How you deal with them is up to you. Get some perspective, make your health a priority and remember to TRI! You can also download my podcast on ITUNES or via direct download Hi Everyone,
Another semester in the bag and man did this one take it out of me. I guess as readers of my posts you probably noticed as my blogs have become less and less frequent over the last few months. Never fear! I am determined to get back into doing what I love to do and writing these posts more often. As I have mentioned, they are a great opportunity for me to put down what I am thinking and feeling. Other than uni being full on I have been working hard on getting my podcast going and have been blown away by the number of people who are getting on board and listening. I have also, as you are no doubt aware, been getting back into my training. After my Challenge Melbourne disaster, I was talking with my coach about my goals for the upcoming year and I said the goal is no doubt to start focusing on the 4:05. I felt confident that it was no longer a question of if I was going to do it, but more a question of when. Then I started training again. To say that my return to training was something I was looking forward to would be an understatement. I enjoyed my break, but I am so determined to reach my goal that I wanted to get started as quickly as possible to give myself the best chance of achieving it. I knew the process from last year. We start easy and we slowly build. It is frustrating but ultimately I know it worked. So we started easy. As proof of my dedication to the cause, I made he decision to skit Cairns 70.3 because the timing was completely wrong (and I had an exam to work on.) But ‘Old Tim’ would have gone and done it anyway and not worried about the consequences. So to my progress, I have been back training for over a month now and to be honest, it has been hard, really hard. It has been much harder than I expected it to be. Let’s be honest, training for a fast time is always going to be hard. There are countless hours spent sweating, cramping, hurting and wishing you were doing anything else. But as hard as the training has been physically, I have found it harder psychologically. I am a bit of an analyst. I love to look at numbers for trends and indicators. I am very aware of where my swim, bike and run pace (or power) is at any given time. Now I know what sort of numbers I was capable of before my last race. I also accept that taking a break would have a slight impact on them. I just didn’t realise how big an impact it would have. This is where we get to the title of this post, I have become my own worst enemy. If you look back to one of my previous posts I wrote about how I wasn’t feeling entirely like myself. I think in hindsight this played a part in it. With the exception of my swimming, everything else was significantly worse off than it was before the break. Rationally I knew this was going to be the case. I also rationally know that base training is not going to have too much of an impact on improving top end speed or power. But there have been a few times where I have wanted to ‘dig deep’ and I have been found wanting. There just isn’t anything in the tank to give. I am a huge advocate of not comparing yourself to others. Whether this is how much you weight – may I add that I have also been struggling to drop those extra kgs I put on during my break – or what your training looks like compared to others. You need to focus on your own journey and your own progress. I really believe this is true. But what do you do when the person you are comparing yourself to is… well… yourself? I have never experienced this level of frustration in self-comparison before and it has been a real struggle to deal with it. At times I have worried myself that I maybe pushing myself too hard trying to catch back up to where I want to be. I know I have had the conversation with some of my athletes about not rushing back. But when you are in it, it can be difficult. I suppose it is at times like this where it is important to have faith in the person guiding your ship. I am lucky to say that I do. I have faith in the program being put together for me by my coach. This has been the thing that has helped to keep me relatively in check. I know there is a plan and while I may not be able to see the forest from the trees I ultimately don’t have to. By having faith in the plan I am able to calm myself down when I am feeling particularly frustrated. But hey, it doesn’t change the fact that I am frustrated by my loss of fitness. On a call last week we were talking about how athletes are competitive and I was trying to explain (or defend myself) that I am not that competitive with other people (except for my brother). Ok, if I am racing and there are people around me I want to beat them. But I do not go into races focused on my competitors. But I was reminded that it is possible to be competitive with yourself and this is something that is incredibly true. I am my own biggest competitor and while it is what gets me out the door when I am tired or cold or bored. It can be difficult knowing exactly how your competition is performing or knowing how poor your performance is compared with your competition. I can’t help where I was - it has been and gone. I can’t click my heels together and suddenly be back to the same level that I was. What I do have control over is where I am going. I know what it takes to get where I was and I guess this helps me to understand what I need to do to get where I am going. I need to show that prick who is the boss and remind myself why I do this. Understand the process, don’t worry about what your competition is doing and remember to TRI! You can download Think Fit HERE Hi Everyone!
My apologies about the slight delay since my last post, as my assault across all mediums continue I am struggling to feel the creative juices all the time. In fact, in general I just haven’t been feeling like myself much at all lately. I have been back into training for a few weeks and if anything I am feeling worse now than I was during the break from training that I took. Basically I just don’t really feel much like myself. I joined a swim squad a few weeks ago and am so frustrated by how shit my swimming is going. Times that I would usually crush are currently impossible to me and I don’t know what to do about it. The same goes for my bike riding. My watts and speeds are down every time that I ride and I hate it. It isn’t just my training though. Lately I just haven’t felt much like myself at all. How do you fix a problem when you don’t know what the problem is? I always pride myself on my dedication and determination to everything that I attack. Not recently though. I am struggling to pay attention at university, I have started and not finished several books and this is genuinely the 3rd attempt at writing a post I have had in the last few weeks (I promised myself I would finish this one.) But the problem I am having is that I don’t know the reason for all of this. I know last year when I restarted my training there were some interesting side effects as my body readjusted to the load but nothing like this. I was even relieved when one of my courses decided to give us a take home exam at the end of the semester the same weekend as Cairns 70.3. It gave me an excuse not to race so I transferred my entry to Sunny Coast in September. I suppose this is a good opportunity to show that I am not superhuman or luckier than other people. While I am a highly motivated and determined person with big goals, I also struggle sometimes as well. It is how I choose to deal with it that will determine how long it goes on. I have mentioned that my training is not great at the moment and is causing my quite a lot of frustration. I am however, still getting it done. I know deep down that this is a phase and the sooner I can get back to normal routines the sooner I will get back to being my usual shit-talking self. I also know that if I chose to feel sorry for myself and do nothing I would take longer to feel like me again and when I did get back to business I would be disappointed with myself for not getting my training done. So what is the point of this post? I can even feel myself losing interest as I am typing right now. <I paused and drank a coffee>. I guess what I am trying to do is actually more for myself today than it is for you, the reader. Maybe I am hoping that by typing this stuff down and forcing myself to reflect the answer will become clearer. I think part of my problem is that I am not great with change and there are going to be some great changes in the next 12 months. I also think I am questioning my ability to ever reach my goal time of 4:05. I think a combination of these factors is making me feel like a bit of a screw up too. I know my wife gets angry with me when I say that I feel like a screw up who is wasting his time. But hey, as I love to say, this is my bloody blog so I get to say what I want. I have been down before so I know this is really just a phase. But knowing something doesn’t always make it easier to deal with. Lucky for me, this is not the first time I have felt like this either. I think past incidents of feeling useless, fat and slow have given me some good tips to help myself get back to normal. I am going to focus on the things that I am in control of. Step 1, I need to get my diet back in check. With weddings and trips there has been a lack of self-control and a little too much self-indulgence. Step 2, I need to find an event. Not a big triathlon or anything but I want to find a smallish, local running race, preferably a half marathon. I am hoping that this will get me out of my funk a bit and give me some incentive to train a bit harder. Step 3, acknowledge that this is just a phase but not take it for granted. I am obviously feeling like this for a reason. So I need to work out why that is and try and fix it. As I said, I am a huge believer that it is ok to not be ok all the time and while I am far from being too bad, I am uncharacteristically flat. I am quite happy to talk about not being at my best and I hope that other people who have it much worse than I do are able to as well! I also hope some of you guys have had the chance to listen to some podcast episodes. I really feel like me and Robo are starting to find our groove and the episodes are getting better and better. It wont matter how many podcasts I record though, I will keep writing these blog posts, more for myself than anything else. Find the episodes here: https://goo.gl/wYVasJ Don’t be afraid to admit you aren’t doing great and remember to TRI! Hi Everyone! No this isn’t a post about flashing my man junk at poor onlookers because let’s face it, no one wants to see that. No no no. This is a post about putting myself out there because, ultimately, that is something that I do on a regular basis. The funny part about how much I put myself out there is that before all of this started, I was surprisingly shy. I mean I have always been quite confident and enjoyed public speaking. But going through some of my own posts here on my blog as well as the photos I have shared on Instagram, 2 or 3 years ago, I never would have dared. The reason I wanted to start this blog was once I started to get a bit faster at triathlon people started to ask me questions. Lots of questions! It made me realise that maybe people were interested in what I had to say. I have always liked to write and thought that if I could put my thoughts down somewhere it might help to answer the questions I was getting asked to people who like me, were too afraid to ask them. I literally had zero expectations when I started this site and am constantly humbled by the number of people who read my random thoughts and ramblings and who reach out to me with their kind words. If you have been reading my posts for a while now you will be aware that is hasn’t always been positive. I have been accussed of some horrible things and had people say things about me and to me that have left me hurt and shocked. But to be honest, this experience has turned into one of the best things I have ever done. Early on, one of my good friends Jo Jo told me that my blog had become a sort of journal for me and she is exactly right. Writing these posts is something that helps me to vent my frustrations, realise my stupidity, look at my own faults and appreciate the things I have done well. I have lost count of the number of times I have written a post and decided it was no good or too angry or too sad to post and deleted it. The very few times that I have forced myself to publish an article I wasn’t completely comfortable with the response has reminded me how fantastic this community of healthy, active people I am proud to be part of really is. When I started this blog I made a promise (mostly to myself but also to you the reader) that I always wanted to be as honest as I can. I have strived to keep the bullshit to a minimum and to call it as I see it. It might not always be the popular opinion or choice but hey, I am who I am. I mentioned before that there has been some negativity and cruelty directed my way. The first time it happened to me it had a real impact on me. I thought I was just trying to pass on my experiences and opinions to others to help people realise that to live healthy isn’t unobtainable. But that cruelty also taught me an important lesson that has made me a stronger, more confident person today. I have now realised for quite some time that no matter how hard I try, I am never going to make every person happy. So I gave up trying. Instead I try to make one person happy (two if you include my wife) and that person is me. Now I am not saying I go around disregarding the thoughts and feelings of other people. I mean that as long as I am confident that I have good intentions and try to be the nicest person that I can be then that is all that matters. This is where my next endeavour comes into it. Unless this is your first time reading one of my posts or you have never seen any of the posts I put on Instagram you will know that I have started a new podcast. To me, even writing this stuff down is relatively safe. I am able to edit things, correct the spelling and if I need to, make changes. Podcasting however is about as real and raw as you can get. I mean, yes technically you can edit the bejesus out of the audio but as I have tried to explain, that isn’t my style. I want the podcast to be real and honest but I also want it to be a really good opportunity for people who read my posts or know me online to get to know me a little better (without the help of spellcheck and all the swear words that I use.) I couldn’t have picked a better person to start the show with. Robo is a guy who I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to meet. We have so many things in common but still so many differences. Now while this may sound like another blatant attempt to get people to listen to the show it isn’t really my intention (but seriously, please do listen!) I just want to explain why I have decided to do this . It is like my blog but in audio and much much less polished. So yes, if you do like the things that I write, even if you don’t normally listen to podcasts, give the show a go. If nothing else it might give you a little more insight into who I am and why I do and love the things that I do. As always, starting something new is quite scary and I have found myself a little too obsessed with watching the download numbers. But as I mentioned, putting myself out there has led to so many positives (and a surprising amount of negatives) so what is the worse that can happen? But that’s enough of me patting myself on the back about what a legend I am (really not what I am going for here.) I just think it is important to take the time to acknowledge all of the strangers who have taken an interest into a kid from Sydney who never thought he would be able to get skinny. So from me to each and every one of you, thank you. and remember to TRI! If you click here you will be taken to ITUNES to download the podcast Hi Everyone!
A different location for today’s post, I’m sitting on board a flight to Melbourne where I am looking forward to seeing some comedy shows and celebrating my Dad’s 60th birthday (he really turned 57 but any chance to give him shit!) Packing for the trip in the early hour of this morning was surprisingly simple and it took me a little while to work out why. For the first time in over 12 months I was not packing any training gear. Do not adjust your screens. No need to re-read what I wrote. It is true. I am not taking any training gear with me. Why would I deny myself the opportunity to train in Australia’s second best city? (Another little dig there) The answer is that I am taking a break for training and it is probably going to be harder than some of the hardest training I have ever done. Challenge Melbourne has traditionally been the race that ends my racing season and this year was no different… Except for the fact that the race moved from late January to early April. This meant that I had to move my break back a little further than I would normally have had it. In fact, I probably would have already finished my two week break if I was a good, obedient athlete. After the race was over I was inundated with uni work and literally did not have the time or energy to train. So for four days after the race I did nothing except eat, sleep and study. Then we had the Easter weekend and the weather was so good. I went for a ride. I honestly didn’t really think too much about it, but in hindsight I think I actually did. My coach had told me many months before that there was a planned rest period after Melbourne and I was kind of hoping that he had forgotten about it. No such luck. The next day I ran Parkrun. Again this is maybe more of an indicator that I am a bit weird, but in my mind, Parkrun isn’t a workout. I consider it more of a social outing. So I would happily do one on a rest day and not think about it. Anywhoo me and Ben started planning out the next 12 months. My goals, target races etc. I told him my next big goal is to really start focusing on hitting that magic 4:05 70.3. We worked out where my splits need to be. Maybe a 25 or 26 minute swim, a 2:15 or lower bike and a 1:20 run. This allows for maybe 2x2 minute transitions and there you go. If only it was that easy. So apart from deciding on the goals we also discussed which races I want to do. One of the races I want to do is Bintan 70.3 in August. Ben suggested I skip that race and actually extend my season until Cairns 70.3 then take a break. Perhaps the Asian race wasn’t the best idea. But I want to do a race in Asia, I try and do one every year and I want to race Bintan without crashing. So long story short, my rest starts now and I am expecting to line up in Bintan in August. Knowing the sort of people who read my post (there are a surprisingly large number of you) some would think two weeks off training would be amazing. Others would not understand what I am worried about. Others will know exactly how hard this is going to be. The timing of it all works out pretty well. I am on uni break and have plenty of other things to be working on. My coaching business is really starting to pick up with a decent number of athletes coming on board. I have also started working on something that I am incredibly excited about. Me and one of my best mates, Mike Robinson (yes I know I talk about him a lot) have started a podcast. We called it Think Fit and recorded and released our first episode last weekend. I am really drawn to the medium of podcasting because I listen to so many myself. I also know how many people out there are looking for information. The podcast is primarily focused on weight loss and fitness but that literally could mean anything. The main thing though is we want to keep things simple and fun. One of the golden rules we have with each other is we will keep doing the podcast (even if no one listens) as long as we are having a good time doing it. The main reason I mentioned the podcast (apart from trying to get you all to listen to it – DO IT) is because I am the ‘technical’ person and I didn’t realise how much work goes into editing and mastering the audio. So the fact that I am about to have some extra time up my sleeve will also be very handy. The other reason that this little break is well times is because one of the uni subjects I am studying this semester, International Children’s Law is a behemoth of a subject. There are literally thousands of pages of readings. Thousands! This little break will allow me the chance to catch up and get on top of those readings. Here is the thing though, the first few days, maybe the first week are going to be great. Extra time, relaxing when I can, not travelling with my bike, how god does that sound! Then after a while I will start to get restless, then frustrated, then cranky. I will be convinced I have put on all the weight I lost, that I am going to be slow and never reach my 4:05. All of this stuff will start to drive me crazy. These conversations will happen in my head daily. My poor wife is the one who will probably suffer the most as I become moody and sulky and sometimes angry. But it is all part of the process. I am really going to make a point of sticking to the coaches orders and make sure I am really on top of my nutrition. I am going to take the time to meditate and try and prepare myself for what is to come because it isn’t going to be easy. So when you are out for your ride or run and are having the time of your life, spare a thought for poor old Tim. I know that the break is important and I am going to do it. I just know I am not going to like it. I am going to put in one last little plug for my podcast (bloody listen to it already!) but we really want to get people involved with the show. So if people want to email us questions, ideas or thoughts they can send the email to [email protected]. If you think that email is a little old-school then you can also interact with us on Twitter or Instagram (@thinkfitpod.) So enjoy your training, listen to my podcast and remember to TRI! |
TimI lost 50kgs though triathlon and completed the 2016 70.3 World Championships. Aiming to hit 4:05 for a 70.3, the same time it took me to complete my first Olympic Distance Triathlon. I want to bring as many new people to the sport as possible. Whether you are fit and active or want to make positive changes to your life. Archives
July 2020
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