3.3.12
Bike time
Tobes is out on the bike now and looking good. Having a hard time taking photos. Think he is in first 100 or so with a big group. About 8 minutes off age group leader. There is a 400m run from swim up a big hill. Must be fun for the legs
1.3.12
Should that be Half IM NZ
The full Ironman has been canceled on Saturday and a half has been planned for Sunday. Looks like I'm going to have to go through this all over again to get a chance at my second Ironman
Toby
Toby
Ironman tough or Ironman stupid
I've made it and all settled now bikes in transition all the gear is ready to go just chilling giving my body the last bits of recovery.
Now its just a matter of relaxing and letting be what will be. You may be aware that the current forecast for Taupo tomorrow is around 50mm of rain and winds up to 80kmh. So there is a fair chance that the swim will be canceled and it becomes a bike/run. I don't know at what point they make the decision on the whole race as there still seems to be a lot of disc wheels rolling into transition which could be entertaining tomorrow with those winds.
All this aside I'm in great shape with everything I can control all in place. Full marks to the volunteer that took me around the transition stepping me through the process of IM Taupo as all of the IM transitions are a little different. In fact everyone we have come across so far has been so friendly and helpfull.
So as this is just a short post I'd like to thank everyone for their support and the huge efforts of my support crew that has come over to watch me race and I will go in-depth on these people in my post race report. Bianca once again will be attempting to update this blog along the way tommorow inbetween trying to stay dry and warm.
Thanks again
Toby
Now its just a matter of relaxing and letting be what will be. You may be aware that the current forecast for Taupo tomorrow is around 50mm of rain and winds up to 80kmh. So there is a fair chance that the swim will be canceled and it becomes a bike/run. I don't know at what point they make the decision on the whole race as there still seems to be a lot of disc wheels rolling into transition which could be entertaining tomorrow with those winds.
All this aside I'm in great shape with everything I can control all in place. Full marks to the volunteer that took me around the transition stepping me through the process of IM Taupo as all of the IM transitions are a little different. In fact everyone we have come across so far has been so friendly and helpfull.
So as this is just a short post I'd like to thank everyone for their support and the huge efforts of my support crew that has come over to watch me race and I will go in-depth on these people in my post race report. Bianca once again will be attempting to update this blog along the way tommorow inbetween trying to stay dry and warm.
Thanks again
Toby
My new volunteer buddy
About to check the bike and all the gels in
The IM 2012 flag everyone signs
19.2.12
Looks Like I’ve Nearly Made it Again
It’s mostly all behind me now, not going to make any major improvements in fitness now. It’s time to focus on do the final preparations to my body to get it to the start line at its current full potential.
That’s probably the most philosophical way to look at the current situation but the reality is that I feel like I’ve pretty much nailed most of my key training and a definitely feel better prepared and more experienced to have the rematch at Ironman that I owed myself.
For those guys that are interested my main key week of training involved twenty nine and a half hours with reasonable weeks in the lead up weeks as well. During the longer rides a continued to grow in confidence that I’ve done all the right things as I seemed to get stronger the longer I went over five hours. The Runs my legs just kept on going holding a constant pace and no signs of weakness. To top things off the swim has improved through some technique changes that I’ve implemented on myself.
All this aside the one thing that made a difference to this prep was a small paragraph that changed my outlook on training. While out doing some run training with Daniel and Robin, Robin mentioned to me that Triathletes and especially Iron distance Triathletes get too caught up in distance and or time and this means that they do “too many junk k’s”. This made me stop and think and I had a light bulb moment, I had succumbed to this mindset. From that moment on I made every session have a key important part and made sure I did that to the best of my ability to make it count and to cut out the “junk k’s”. This didn’t mean that I stopped doing long stuff, it transformed my long stuff to aiming for quality and not going out for a free ride amongst the bunch but doing a bit in the bunch for a social catch up then 70% to 80% by myself with nowhere to hide. Doing my long runs to really work to hold my pace as the runs got longer and stay mentally focussed and upbeat. As you could imagine my resurrected frame of mind really rings true when put into the shorter high intensity training whether it be on the stationary bike grunting away in the living room. Or continually having to try to run down Daniel in our run training not knowing if I’m going to throw up or shit myself at the end of every effort. It all made sense to me now with this re-kindled interest in hurting myself for the greater good.
On the topic of everything else involved in this expedition I’m felling quite relaxed as I haven’t left anything to the last minute and have all plans in place to get to the race relaxed and as ready as possible. Having the experience behind me now of numerous half’s and IM Aus things are second nature of knowing on what’s required to get the bike myself and all my gear ready to compete in such an event. I’m sure that I’ll get a few distractions that I’ll have to sort out because of the travel but hopefully I’ve got most bases covered.
For everyone wanting to follow the progress on March 3rd Bianca will be doing the job of super WAG and hopefully posting up some fresh pictures and updates during the race also the race site is www.ironman.co.nz and there could possibly live streaming through www.ironmanlive.com . The race starts from 7am in NZ which is 4:30am Mt Gambier time. Thanks to all that followed me this time around and all that have helped me get to this stage I’ll keep some posts coming once I arrive but for now its time for me to go and enjoy the Taper
Cheers Toby
WAG Bianca's race day attire
30.1.12
Long time between drinks
It's been a long time between drinks but have got around to doing another post. Training has been going well with all of the signs heading in the right direction.
Australia Day saw me compete in only my second race for this season with a sprint distance event. I took this opportunity to take the step up out of the age group ranks and have a crack in the Open Division. Overall I couldn't be too disappointed with my efforts, for once I actually felt a few race nerves when a couple of real fast guys turned up to race and I had visions of being lapped.
The swim went well for the first 300m, I kept on the tail of the bulk of the field until I got held up at the first turning can and fell off the back and couldn't quite get back on. Usually I try to keep a wide berth into the first can but knowing the swim was going to be faster this day I just swam the direct route which had a bit to do with this.
Out of the swim I still ran into transition with a couple of my competitors only 20m in front of me. Made the most of the clear roads for the first lap as there was 680 competitors to come out of the water and make their way onto the course. Then the incident that sort of put an end to my day happened, 300m up the road I was making inroads to a couple of my competitors when a car pulled onto the course causing one of them to T-bone the car at 45 to 50 kph. As I rolled up to the crash a couple of guys had already stopped so I continued on with the race. But seeing the whole thing unfold in front of me took the edge off of me for the day. Next thing the blokes I'd passed earlier had caught up to me. That fired me up a bit to lift the tempo again but by then the course had got a bit congested and made it harder to get through the turns but I still managed to pull away again.
Onto the run with out my pace tool (GPS watch) due to a hectic bike dismount all I could do is push myself on feel I felt pretty comfortable. As it was if the accident didn't occur I probably would of started the run with two other guys and that would of made for a good run time being pushed all the way. It wasn't until someone caught up to me that I had to push myself and I pulled away again quite easily so that shows I still had plenty left in the tank.
Overall I have to be happy as I haven't got much race time under the belt this year and I just enjoyed racing again and it's still 4 or 5 mins faster than I've done that course in the past.
It was also a great chance to get away and Bianca and I had some great travel and accommodation buddy's in Ange, Danny and Brayman. Topping off the day by spending the rest of the Australia Day soaking up the hottest 100 with a few refreshing ales in a very relaxed atmosphere
Looking to the future my biggest weeks of training are coming up that will hopefully set me up with all the components I need to complete my Ironman goals. Looking back over my previous Ironman lead-up I do believe I'm in a better position with my strength and an par with my fitness components, but only time will tell if these this is correct. So if you see me out on the road over the next couple of weeks give me a wave or honk I'll probably need the encouragement with the workload I got coming up. If any interesting news comes up I'll make sure I get a post up to keep you all informed will probably give everyone an update on my feelings after this big upcoming block of training.
Cheers
Toby
Australia Day saw me compete in only my second race for this season with a sprint distance event. I took this opportunity to take the step up out of the age group ranks and have a crack in the Open Division. Overall I couldn't be too disappointed with my efforts, for once I actually felt a few race nerves when a couple of real fast guys turned up to race and I had visions of being lapped.
The swim went well for the first 300m, I kept on the tail of the bulk of the field until I got held up at the first turning can and fell off the back and couldn't quite get back on. Usually I try to keep a wide berth into the first can but knowing the swim was going to be faster this day I just swam the direct route which had a bit to do with this.
Out of the swim I still ran into transition with a couple of my competitors only 20m in front of me. Made the most of the clear roads for the first lap as there was 680 competitors to come out of the water and make their way onto the course. Then the incident that sort of put an end to my day happened, 300m up the road I was making inroads to a couple of my competitors when a car pulled onto the course causing one of them to T-bone the car at 45 to 50 kph. As I rolled up to the crash a couple of guys had already stopped so I continued on with the race. But seeing the whole thing unfold in front of me took the edge off of me for the day. Next thing the blokes I'd passed earlier had caught up to me. That fired me up a bit to lift the tempo again but by then the course had got a bit congested and made it harder to get through the turns but I still managed to pull away again.
Onto the run with out my pace tool (GPS watch) due to a hectic bike dismount all I could do is push myself on feel I felt pretty comfortable. As it was if the accident didn't occur I probably would of started the run with two other guys and that would of made for a good run time being pushed all the way. It wasn't until someone caught up to me that I had to push myself and I pulled away again quite easily so that shows I still had plenty left in the tank.
Overall I have to be happy as I haven't got much race time under the belt this year and I just enjoyed racing again and it's still 4 or 5 mins faster than I've done that course in the past.
It was also a great chance to get away and Bianca and I had some great travel and accommodation buddy's in Ange, Danny and Brayman. Topping off the day by spending the rest of the Australia Day soaking up the hottest 100 with a few refreshing ales in a very relaxed atmosphere
Looking to the future my biggest weeks of training are coming up that will hopefully set me up with all the components I need to complete my Ironman goals. Looking back over my previous Ironman lead-up I do believe I'm in a better position with my strength and an par with my fitness components, but only time will tell if these this is correct. So if you see me out on the road over the next couple of weeks give me a wave or honk I'll probably need the encouragement with the workload I got coming up. If any interesting news comes up I'll make sure I get a post up to keep you all informed will probably give everyone an update on my feelings after this big upcoming block of training.
Cheers
Toby
Myself, Ange and Helen pre-race
Coming out of the swim
My biggest fan of the day being all patriotic with the lamington and hat
Coming into the finish line
Coming into the finish line
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