2012 ITU Olympic Distance World Champs

October 24, 2012

On Monday the 22nd I raced the ITU Age Group World Champs Olympic Distance  in Auckland.
Here are the full results for both that race and the Sprint Distance which was just before it that morning.
You probably know some one who took part.  Massive event!

http://www.triathlon.org/results/event/2012_itu_world_triathlon_grand_final_auckland/1796

Some brief thoughts on the race, why I did it and where I'm headed from here.

Us folks here in NZ qualified for the race on the same exact course last November so we knew what we were preparing for: tough sea swim (they are never short in NZ...... ) tough hilly, windy bike course, flat run (not short either..... ).
I was pretty fit for the qualifying race and ran just over 40 minutes.
So my private hopes for this race were to take a year to prepare and in doing so:
- swim 1+ minute better
- ride 2 minutes better and
- run 3 minutes better
That should have put me in the mix for the podium and as it turned out would have been just short of winning.
My run was 38 flat which although was not what I hoped for was still the best 10k off the bike that I've run since '05 world champs.

So all in all a very pleasing performance to conclude a very long build-up, and that's very satisfying.
Since I included some different prep than I have been using over the last 15 years I'll detail that in my next post.  Trying and learning new things keeps this sport fresh for me and I'm optimistic that there are a few more decent performances to come.
  Still on the bucket list are some Ultramarathons and some Ironmans, so the goal over the coming NZ summer is to get in some decent long runs in the hills here to build towards those.
  There's also the 70.3 in Auckland mid-January, Motatapu Off-Road Tri in March and a ton of bike races all the way until May, starting tomorrow with the prologue for the 5-Passes Tour this week-end.
Plenty to keep me busy and good reason to keep the beer fridge well-stocked
Cheers,
Scott

More great stuff from T-Nation.

October 2, 2012

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/iron_evolution_reflections_part_1

Great perspective on the "why" of training for the mature athlete.
Folks like me who've been in the sport of Triathlon for 30 years can relate to his feelings and reasons for continuing his love affair with his vocation.  Brilliant stuff!
Cheers,
Scott