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| Kona 2013 |
I'm sitting here finding it hard to believe this journey has been going now for
20 weeks and only has four more weeks remaining. The excitement and the nervousness are unbelievable! It is really starting to hit home about what I am about to do. I am actually going to the world championships of one of the hardest one day sports out there. Not only am I just going, I’m hoping to compete in the probably the strongest age group there is. It wasn’t all that long ago that the thought of doing an ironman seemed impossible.
Now it is basically what I live to do. The last five weeks have been super mentally and physically challenging. I have had some amazing training days when I have felt great and been flying. On the other side I have had just as many days that have been super tough and my legs just haven’t been there. These days are much more mentally harder to deal with than physically. Physically tough is just dealing with the pain and some might say I love it. Mentally tough is much harder to deal with especially when you are super fatigued at times. As soon as I get any mental doubts I just look back at my training dairy from past races. Generally I find the same thing happened in the past but my effort and speed on the bad days now are still better than on my good days before New Zealand, so after I look back and see this, it brings back my confidence. Im not flying right now but Im still running and riding pretty good on flat legs. Mat Tippett tests my physical and mental barrier.
In the last eight weeks of training I have completed in total 120 hours with 83km swimming, 287km running and 2000km on the bike. In the same period leading into New Zealand it was in total 93 hours 75km swimming 230km running 1229 on the bike. This is basically nearly a third more on the bike and running so I can’t wait to freshen and up and see what my legs are like.
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| S.T.C Swim Taining session with Etpa |
Also it was great to see the Shepparton Tri Club and Elite Triathlon Performance Australia join up for the first time two weeks ago. It was awesome to see so many S.T.C members
get behind the club and turning up for the first training day. Also I had my first M.T bike training sessions last night with the club at Guysy house. Was great to train with some other people especially on a day when I was finding hard to get motivated. The group atmosphere help push you through and once I left I felt like I was on cloud nine again.Race Specific Phase
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| Yeppoon 70.3 |
To start it off I traveled to Yeppoon 70.3 in Queensland which I used as a training lead in race. Every thing had been going great leading up to the race until two days before when on a training run I got a niggle in my calf which I was really worried about as my calves have been a problem for me running in the past. On the day of the race my calf was feeling ok so I planned to try the run but any sign of a problem I was out. The day started out being awesome. For the first time I got out the front on the feet of the lead pack in the swim and stayed with them until the end. I stood up looked at my watch 28m 30s and I was with all the lead bunch of eight so I had no need to chase to catch them on the bike. I ran in T1 pretty excited, grabbed my bike and when I went to jump on, I noticed my tyre was down. My tyre had blown out in transition. I lost a lot of time because at this stage I was more pissed off than in a hurry to fix it. In total it cost me 6 minutes which is not a very impressive tyre change. Finally I was on the bike and away I went. I had a good strong bike on the worst road I have ever ridden on. I hopped off and didn’t know where I was positioned but started my run and was feeling good. At about the four km mark I felt a little niggle in my calf so that was it I was out. I was never going to risk it. At the end of the day I was very happy with the swim and ride and think the flat tyre was a blessing as it put me out of the race for a top three position so I didn’t do anything stupid and made it easier to pull out of the run.
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| FIrst open water Swim still winter |
I have been working hard on my swimming and I actually surprised myself at Yeppoon when I got out with the front pack of my age group. My plan of training two days a week with Jed Mackin I think was a good one and has helped push me along. I was hoping as I improved, I would be able to hold his feet more but the only problem I think is that he has improved at a higher rate and is a swimming machine. I have started open water swimming in the lake and even got in there during the last week of winter which showed super stupidity or dedication not sure which one.
On the bike in the last five weeks I have moved from the indoor trainer and out on to the road doing a longer threshold effort. This has been physically and mentally challenging as each week goes by, the fatigue sets in and trying to reach my target get harder. At
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| New Garmin Vector Pedals |
first I think it has all gone to crap then once I talk to Mat and think rationally I understand why. One of my sets is a five hour ride with 30 min threshold efforts, only two days after doing a massive seven hour Sunday Brick session. When I am riding and can’t hold my power target I get disappointed but when I look back and think rationally to even get close is pretty amazing after smashing myself to pieces only two days before hand. Finally after a long time waiting, Garmin finally released the Vector power pedals. Thanks to Hilly and Leigh at Leigh Egan Cycles who got me one of the first Pair s to hit Australia. This is going to make life much easier as now I can swap to race wheels and still be able to work with a Power Meter.
All in all I think Mat Tippet at ETPA has done his job well. Mat has pushed me many times just to the point before I break. When I look back on my training before New Zealand compared to the way I have trained for Kona, I would never have believed some of the thing I have done were even possible. Although when I am doing them I am often still disappointed with myself for not hitting the set targets but I know if I did hit them, Mat would probably just set them higher! A lot of times it has been a day to day conversation with Mat and I totally share with him the roller coaster of the ride I am on. I’m sure before he rings me; he sometimes wonders which Jason is going to be on the end of the line. With only four weeks to go now I think I am right at the place I need to be. I only have one last massive four day training camp with the ETPA crew this weekend which will be great to actually train with some other people after basically 20 weeks of solo training. Then at last it is time for my taper to begin and freshen up the mind and body for the exciting last few weeks ahead.
Once again I would just like to thank my family, friends and especially my sponsors Shepparton Tri Club, Leigh Egan Cycles, Physiohealth and Elite Triathlon Performance Australia for their support. Without these amazing teams none of this would be possible.
