Kia Ora team,

Before I start, I want to firstly state that I am in no way downplaying a worldwide pandemic and the impact it has had, however this post is about what I have focus on to ensure I maintain a positive mental and physical health.

As Penny and I begin our 6th week of home isolation as I was in Australia prior to NZ’ national lockdown it was been interesting talking to different coaches and hearing the impact COViID-19 has had on the athletes they coach and how it would seem in a matter of weeks with unknowns on when our next race might be, people have pulled coaching until further notice.

No matter what stage of your training you’re in, as athletes we are often faced with uncertainty and I believe it is within these moments that you can identify individuals who have a strong purpose (Your why/goal) or individuals who without a certain event are unsure of what they should focus on and as such pull back.

Now whatever stage you are personally in, I believe it is essential to ground yourself in moments of unknown’ and focus on what you can control, in moments like this, I feel it is essential to maintain some level of normality and use your relationship with your coach for guidance.

As an athlete it is important to think of a coach as your mentor, as their focus may be on figuring out how they may best support you through the changes and assuring you of a plan to support your short, mid and long terms goals. Wither it is a short (a PB), Mid (a race) and long term (achieve a distance, race or qualification) goals are essential to have which support us in navigating through injuries, race cancellations or in our current state a global pandemic.

I was meant to be packing my bags this week in preparation to do my third Ironman this season at IMOZ (Port Mac), so my goals/ambitions have actually had to move out 12-19 months which in hindsight, is a big positive knowing what we can build on my last two races.

In the first week of my lock down I reached out to my coach Simon Cochrane from Athletic Peak in Hamilton, New Zealand and arranged a hour Skype session to identify our new goals considering the circumstances and with it the focus.

This catch up identified the below new goals to keep me focused;

1. Short Term Goal (March > August 2020): Use this opportunity where we are forced into lock down to restructure my nutrition to focus on dropping 5 kg’ which has been hard to focus on during my Ironman training, focus on fundamentals such as swimming technique and strength with swim cords, plus general leg and core strength and a big area of opportunity is building my high end bike and run threshold strength.

 

1. Mid Term Goals: This will consist of local races once the restrictions have been lifted and we know what the 2020/2021 schedule will look like.
   
   
2. Long Term Goals (2021 and beyond: This remains the same “Chasing that Kona Reality” (Qualifying for the IRONMAN world champs however; we have also included an ambitious goal to go sub 9 hour at IMNZ in 2021 hence the new artwork with the hashtag #Projectsub9

As you can hopefully pick up from the above, each goal is structured to support me in achieving my long term goals and to get us started we have set a few key benchmarks for each which I am accountable to, I need to give a massive shout out to my BFF Charli on designing this posts image which I have ordered on a canvas for my training room to be my constant reminder of my long term goals.

Well that’s enough from me rambling on about my cup half full approach to the situation we face however, I hope it does support you with either staying on your path or, rebuilding it.

As always, if you need to someone to reach out comment below, message me on Instagram @KiwiTriathlete or press the contact me on the panel above.

Until next time.

Robo

Kia ora everyone, well what a start to 2020, after three months since my full ironman at IM Busso in December I found my self-lined up again at IM Taupo for the third time and what a near perfect conditioned day!
 

• Swim: 58.09 hour
• Bike: 5.04.55 hour
• Run: 3.22 hour
• Finish time: 9.31.09 hour

Since August 2019 I have knuckled down and been training as I committed to three key races, IM Busso in December 2019, IM Taupo in March 2020 and IM Port Mac in May 2020 as I continue to chase my #konareality but as you know by now with a pandemic sweeping the world our 2020 race schedule looks to have come to a halt (at least for the southern hemisphere) until 2021.
 
But for now, onto my race report for IM NZL.. yeah I know, what a slacker, it’s been a month but hey.. better late than never and… great things take time right (That’s what I keep saying about getting to Kona lol)
 
Like always, a shout out to my coach Simon Cochrane owner of Athletic Peak for continuing to build my training blocks and keeping me focused on the goal at hand.


So onto my race results and comments of each discipline to keep you entertained.

Swim

Time: 58.09
Avg Heart Rate: 150
Pace p/100m: 1:32
Cadence rpm: 38

I have never gone under 1 hour at Taupo so to swim 58 minutes it continues to show much work I have invested in my swimming and how comfortable I felt in my Blue Seventy Helix.
 
Oh god how I love a mass start, so much better than a rolling start, the build-up of anticipation waiting for the Army’ gun to fire is intense and then all at once arms and legs are kicking at 120+% to get going and find fresh water over the first 200m.

I felt really good for the first 30 minutes until I experienced the worst feeling ever as pressure built up in my head from my goggles being on too tight from a last minute panic adjustment when I jumped in the water, I tried to push through it but looking at my heart rate data until I fixed them properly with 10 minutes to go, I probably lost a good two minutes of time but was stocked to come out of the swim 4th in my age group.
 
With a quick transition I was then out on the bike.

Bike

Time: 5.04.55 hr
Avg Heart Rate: 156
Watts: 222
Normalised Watts 230
Cadence: 82

Helmet ‘check’ Bike ‘check’ try not to screw up while jumping on bike with bottles at the back of the seat…. Fail…. Stop… push off… and go!
 
Heading out on the first lap I felt composed and held myself back as at times I found myself pushing 70.3 watts getting caught up in the race and forgetting about my own race, however, quickly reminded myself that 180km is a massive distance and should not be underestimated even when you are feeling fresh, you would be best to hold back for the second lap and hold your watts vs fade as it makes all the difference.
 
I went through the first lap in 2.29 holding 229 watts and a NP of 236 which is spot on for what I was hoping to achieve and on the second lap I did it in 2.35 dropping to 214 watts with a NP of 222.
 
At about 120km I started to experience a sharp pain in my left side just above my hip which slowly but surely, made it hard to hold aero position for extended periods and eventually difficult to activate my core and drive up the hills coming home dropping three minutes on the climb vs the first lap.

Throughout the bike I focused on getting in fluid and consuming Pure sports gels from a bulk gel bottle which makes it easier (and less sticky) than single packets and my OSM bites. The key difference for me was getting on the bike and getting straight into my nutrition plan (since you are already in an hour into the race).

Run

Time: 3:22
Avg Heart Rate: 155
Ave pace min/km: 4.50
Cadence: 88

Everyone will know how difficult the three km off the bike is in an Ironman when you have 39km to go, the crowd cheers make you light on your feet as if you have just started the race and you have not been swimming/ biking for the last 6 hours.

As I completed the first lap I averaged 4:39, this was below my target of 4:35’s but I knew I had to listen to everything, no longer will I let the numbers came control my race but be more of a guide as I listen and feel my heart beat as I know what I can hold and what feels comfortable.

As I ran by 2 mile bay Penny, Mu mand Dad were there cheering me on which was awesome to have the race broken down in my head to different supporters, the awesome foot traffic team, the Sweat 7 aid station and Wharewaka point which is my favorite section of the run.
As expected my pace dropped off over the second and third lap but the intensity picked up as fatigue kicked in, at this stage we have been out there for 7+ hours which takes its toll.

On the last lap as I passed two guys in my age group I heard Simon in the back of my head telling me this is when the race truly starts as I gritted my teeth running next to a fitter radio athlete from my age group up a hill and as soon as he started walking up the hill I knew I had him and it gave me a boost, maybe to much of a boost that I almost cramped (LOL) but reminded myself to stray relaxed and finished the last half of the run strong (but slow) to be greeted down the finish chute by family and friends who welcomed me home :)

Looking back on the run this is where I let my nutrition plan slip and other than pure, water and eventually coke I had no gels which no doubt didn’t help maintain

Total

Time: 9:31:09 hour
Average Heart Rate: 154
Age Place: 9th
Overall Place: 45 out of 1,166 people

Overall despite that I am left chasing my #Konareality I am damn proud of my performance and on the positive note of not achieving it, it has only left me hungrier as we start planning and building now for next year.
 
I want to thank everyone who was there cheering me on, it makes a massive difference out there and I can’t wait till I am at it again!

"Nihil Boni Sine Labore" - Nothing is achieved without hard work
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