Nightmare, Gladys is sick.
When I was putting Gladys back together after the flight I noticed that the derailleur was loose. On closer inspection I realised that the bolts attaching it to the frame were loose. Uh oh, no they weren't, they'd been torn out. I tried tightening them up but only one bit, the other was threaded.
I could ride but only very carefully and got myself down to the mechanics at the expo. They said not to worry, it wasn't the frame that had threaded but the derailleur hanger and this could be replaced, phew I thought. Even better there was a massive Trek stand inside the expo.
The guys at Trek were amazing, I'm biased I know but you decide based on this...
They stripped the derailleur down and then set about finding a new hanger...this is where it all went pair shaped. I came back after registering for the race and saw a bunch of Trek guys looking very grave. They showed me the rear drop out where the derailleur hanger attaches, they had a high powered light shining on it and you could clearly see that the dropout was cracked right through to the bolt hole. (Gladys was so brave, she hardly said a word).
Stan, the main Trek guy that was dealing with it said he felt strongly that if they put it back together "It was likely to break during the race...but it might not". Being an optimist I said "I think it WILL last the race...but it might not"
There was much debate and then they blew my mind. They said they had a brand new medium size Speed Concept that they could lend me but unfortunately they were already lending it to another competitor, so they'd loan me a brand new Madone road bike and set it up as close to my bike as possible. I was so appreciative but I knew the bike fit was critical, I was here to compete not just complete, I thanked them profusely but asked them to just patch Gladys up and I'd risk it.
A while later they came back and said, the guy they were lending the Medium Speed Concept to is a little taller than me so they'd switch him to a Large and I could have the Medium. WOW!!!! We then started discussing the logistics, basically Gladys would need to be stripped down and things like the SRM transferred and because the stem was a different size the the whole issue of cabling came in especially as I had the Di2 and the loan bike had SRAM. They were prepared to do the switch but time just didn't allow the stem and bars to be changed. This brought the fit back into play. In the end I stuck with Gladys and asked them to patch her up and replace the damaged hanger, I'd trust Gladys to hold cracked dropout together.
Stan was brilliant, he patched her up, and took another hanger from a new bike, retuned the gears and he seemed quite optimistic that the job he'd done would hold provided I didn't hammer the gears during the race. How much did this cost me? And here's the sting...they all laughed when I asked. "Nothing buddy...just keep riding Trek!". NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Ironman Melbourne - Asia Pacific Championships
Steve Lumley has been coaching me since the beginning of the year which has certainly helped with motivation and the science behind what I've been doing is a great help, not just in understanding what I'm doing but it massively contributes to the motivation as I know that what I'm doing is proven, tried and tested.
Sunday is looking like a cool day compared to KL temperatures, with the forecast showing 20C with 14kph winds. This is Melbourne though so it's all subject to change at the last minute (several times).
Yes I am hoping to qualify for Kona and I'm quietly optimistic. However, the quality of the field is going to be phenomenal I have no doubt, I think the only harder place to go and fight for a hallowed Kona spot would be Germany. Either way, I've tried and failed at so called "easier" races so I shall just go and do my best but won't hold my breath come the results. No excuses though, I'm going there with intent!
Targets? Certainly I will be very disappointed if I don't get sub 10 hours. This is an Ironman though and anything can happen (usually to ones detriment). So goal "A" will be 9hr45 (anything below that will be a nice bonus but unlikely). Goal "B" will be sub 10hrs and goal "C" will be to improve my PB which will be sub 10hrs15.
Usually I have a whole host of other goals to make the day a success
whatever else goes wrong. This one I haven't, I don't feel I need them. This is purely a race rather than an "experience", I've done the hard work, if I've done enough then I'll achieve one of the three goals, if I haven't then it's not so much "back to the drawing board" but rather take this fitness and build on it for Challenge Roth in early July.
Wish me luck and see you on the other side! You can see how I'm getting on via www.ironmanlive.com my bib number is 990.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Sid and Seb climbing - Amazing stuff
I think my boys are growing up!!!! I'm so proud of them. School reports this week too, I couldn't believe the glowing reports they got - must be Shilpa's genes.
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| We arrived, I sat down, I turned around and Seb was halfway up the wall |
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| He is a natural, no fear, totaly awesome |
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| It was all over in seconds |
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| He needed a bigger challenge |
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| Sid I thought might be a bit more tentative, I was wrong |
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| Not quite as smooth as Seb but still pretty amazing |
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| Also to the roof in no time |
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| I pointed out to Sid someone's technique climbing an advanced wall, I was shocked to realize it was Seb!!!! |
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| He reached the roof now coming down like a pro |
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| Of course Sid had to climb the advanced wall too |
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| Sid got within an arms length of the roof, wicked |
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| Coming down the fast way haha |
KONY 2012
If you have not seen this video you will. Maybe not today, maybe not here but you will watch it.
If you have not heard of Joseph Kony, you will. Again, this post may not stimulate your interest enough to find out today but soon enough you will know a great deal about this man. The sooner you know about him the sooner you can do something to stop him!
Joseph Kony is about to become the most famous man in the world.
If you have not heard of Joseph Kony, you will. Again, this post may not stimulate your interest enough to find out today but soon enough you will know a great deal about this man. The sooner you know about him the sooner you can do something to stop him!
Joseph Kony is about to become the most famous man in the world.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Alice Smith Aquathlon - Podium Stars
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| Pre-race nerves (us not them) |
Come race morning they were pretty nervous but nowhere near as much as Shilpa and I, seriously, I've said it before but it's so true, I have NEVER been as nervous for one of my races as I am for Seb and Sid.
They've only just turned 6 so they were allowed to go into the under 6s race as all the kids are in the same year. It was a 25m swim followed for a 400m run.
The gun went off and wham they were away. Rohan (their great friend but arch rival) swam 25m probably faster than I could and was almost twice as fast as everyone else. Seb was 3rd out of the water and Sid 6th.
I sprinted to the field and the first turn of the run to see Seb leading the race (all those transition practises had obviously paid off). Rohan was biting at his heels with Sid already into 4th place (Sid probably had the fastest transition of the day).
I felt it was likely that the sprint for the line would be Rohan and Sid. I screamed to Seb, "Come on buddy, you're in 1st place, focus, focus, you can do this". I was so proud I wanted to cry. Sid was storming along and in training is faster than Seb but Seb was running like a man possessed and Sid wasn't making much ground on him. At that point I noticed a tiny little fella called Ben running with the smallest stride you've ever scene but he was closing in on Sid.
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| A man totally focused on his goal. |
Worse still Ben was going to catch Sid before the finish so Shilpa started screaming like a Banshee to speed up. This only made him wail more but at the last second she screamed "Look behind, look behind". He didn't stop wailing but he did pick it up just enough to finish equal 3rd with Ben.
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| Happy boys and happy Mummy and Daddy |
Sid then won some elastic laces in the lucky draw and Shilpa and I thought what a great result, Seb got second but at least Sid got something he didn't...sadly that was the end of Seb's day because he didn't get any laces and Sid's day was still ruined because Seb beat him. Haha, what do you do with 6 year olds?
On reflection though they both loved the race and can't wait for the next one in a few weeks time.
The TriTwins dynasty rolls on.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Brooks Half Marathon
The original plan was to knock out the first half of this race at a steady pace and then nail the second half with whatever I had left. That was before I over strained my right hamstring on a Tuesday night run. Wednesday and Thursday were about working out how to walk again so there was a big question mark over whether the race was going to happen.
Coach Steve in the first instance said no (Ironman Melbourne in two weeks) but warmed to the idea that I was going to be sensible and pull out the second things got iffy. So the new plan was to turn up, tootle round and do nothing more than that. If there was any sign of further injury pull out.
I'm not sure how I was going to pull out if I was miles away from the car at 6am in the morning but hey-ho that didn't turn out to be an issue.
I woke up at 4am and it didn't feel good. I was just about to get back into bed but thought, "No, that might just be an excuse to bail on an early start" so I thought I'd go to the stadium and start at least and pull out in the first 100m if things weren't looking good.
I was nicely early as Bukit Jalil stadium is quite close to my house but I didn't bank on the idiots collecting RM2 per entry for parking. Why not do it on exit like last year - NUMPTIES! It took me about 45minutes to get in and parked. Naturally I wasn't the only one and they had to start the race late by a few minutes.
I went to the back and as soon as the race started got into a tootling pace (no much option with so may people in front of me). After a couple of K I was delighted to see Arif running along side (Arif is also doing Ironman Melbourne). We chatted along, jogged at a comfortable pace, had a pee stop together, water stations...we were brothers in arms! I couldn't have asked for a better partner to take my mind off the very uncomfortable hamstring issue.At 22.9k (funny half marathon distance that) it was all over. Our hero Tey got some great snaps of us. I was even smiling and some have said I didn't try hard enough (you're right I didn't, I'm saving myself and my poorly leg until March the 25th).
On that note I'm reliably informed that my bib number for Ironman Melbourne is "990" so you can find me come race day on www.ironmanlive.com with that number or surname "Cross" if you're interested.
Back to the Half marathon, final comments - very well organised, great goody bag, brilliant to start and finish in the Commonwealth Games Stadium, huge amounts of watermelon, food drinks etc at the end, excellent stuff. Only gripes were the parking fiasco and the poorly measured course. There's just no excuse for this or inaccurately placed distance markers but organisers seem to get this wrong in most races.
I don't want to end on a negative though, it's a great race, the early start meant that it didn't get too hot so no worries about that. I'll be back next year no doubt.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
IRONMAN CAIRNS
Race to become part of global Ironman Series
Published Monday, March 12, 2012
Ironman will add Ironman Cairns to its 2012 lineup. Now part of the global Ironman Series, which features nearly 30 events and reaches more than 70,000 athletes each year, Ironman Cairns will serve as a qualifier for the toughest event in endurance sport, the Ironman World Championship.
“We are excited to add Ironman Cairns to our global list of events,” said Andrew Messick, Chief Executive Officer of Ironman. “This is the perfect opportunity to bring the Ironman experience to a part of Queensland that is one of the most beautiful places in the world.”
Ironman Cairns will take place on June 3, 2012. A qualifier for the 2012 Ironman World Championship, it will be a P-2000 level race and will offer a 100,000 EUR professional prize purse. Additionally, 40 Ironman World Championship qualifying slots will be available for age group athletes.
Simon says: - Blimey the evil empire is taking over the world haha. So in just a few years Ironman have gone from one race in Australia to four. Great stuff. I guess this is all part of the buy out of USM in Australia by WTC. It bodes well for Asia as they are earmarked to be the WTC wing that works on relaunching all of the Asian races. Let's hope so.
Published Monday, March 12, 2012
Ironman will add Ironman Cairns to its 2012 lineup. Now part of the global Ironman Series, which features nearly 30 events and reaches more than 70,000 athletes each year, Ironman Cairns will serve as a qualifier for the toughest event in endurance sport, the Ironman World Championship.
“We are excited to add Ironman Cairns to our global list of events,” said Andrew Messick, Chief Executive Officer of Ironman. “This is the perfect opportunity to bring the Ironman experience to a part of Queensland that is one of the most beautiful places in the world.”
Ironman Cairns will take place on June 3, 2012. A qualifier for the 2012 Ironman World Championship, it will be a P-2000 level race and will offer a 100,000 EUR professional prize purse. Additionally, 40 Ironman World Championship qualifying slots will be available for age group athletes.
Simon says: - Blimey the evil empire is taking over the world haha. So in just a few years Ironman have gone from one race in Australia to four. Great stuff. I guess this is all part of the buy out of USM in Australia by WTC. It bodes well for Asia as they are earmarked to be the WTC wing that works on relaunching all of the Asian races. Let's hope so.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Chrissie Wellington: I have got nothing to prove to anyone anymore
(Courtesy of Sofian Ismail, Donald McRae and The Guardian)
Triathlete charts her troubled journey from the despair of eating disorders to becoming the unbeaten ironman world record holder.
Chrissie Wellington, sitting cross-legged on a sofa, does not look like an iron woman on a raw winter afternoon. We've just walked in from a dark and windy park on the outskirts of London and, in a warm house filled by her laughter and animated conversation, the former civil servant seems endearingly ordinary. It's easy to remember that, exactly five years ago, just before she became a professional triathlete in late February 2007 and the most remarkable woman in sport, Wellington still worked for the British government as an adviser in international development with particular expertise in Nepal.
Yet, for all her friendly charm and supple intelligence, it soon becomes obvious that Wellington, who turned 34 last week, is ferociously determined. She describes what would seem like unbearable suffering to most of us as "discomfort" when coolly listing the demands of an Ironman race – in which an athlete completes a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike ride before running a marathon of 26.2 miles.
Wellington, who has won every single one of her 13 Ironman competitions, holds the women's world record of 8hr 18min 32sec – which is 32 minutes faster than the previous record which had stood for 14 years. Perhaps the simplest way to explain her extraordinary endurance is to underline the fact that, immediately after her draining ordeals in the water and on the bike, Wellington can run a marathon in 2 hours and 44 minutes.
She has won four world championships – but Wellington is even more impressive when revealing the corrosive insecurities of her past. "The times and number of victories I've managed matter less than the continual surprise I feel. It's so empowering to defy your own perceptions of what is possible and to keep on opening doors within yourself that you didn't know even existed. Looking back five years ago this month I would never have predicted anything that has since happened."
Wellington looks at me with an even gaze as, more softly this time, she repeats one word again: "Never."
And then, after a long pause, she opens up the most deeply personal facets of her complex personality to the wider world. "We all have talents that, sometimes, we never quite fulfil. We're all scared, deep down, but maybe we just need to lay it on the line and explore our abilities and just not be afraid of failing. But I know it's hard."
Wellington is about to publish a riveting and often startling biography and the imminent exposure taps into these more complicated emotions. "I'm such a contradictory character" she says. "I can be confident in my ability but at the same time, I can lack so much confidence. I guess I exemplified that when we walked back from the park and you said you liked the book. That made me so happy. I crave that. It's not enough for me to be proud of what I've achieved. I still want the approval of others."
That human need once became, for Wellington, dangerously consuming. "I haven't revealed it before," she says, taking a small breath before talking about her past eating disorders. "There is still a stigma and so I swing between wanting to talk about it and being ashamed because to me it's still tantamount to weakness. But every week I receive letters from women and young girls. They don't know I've suffered from eating disorders but they explain how they're suffering from these same afflictions. I've got a message in my inbox now from an American girl saying: 'I don't know where to turn, can you help me?' She's a triathlete."
Wellington looks moved, if distressed, until she straightens her shoulders and says she is ready for her life to change once people understand the depths from which she emerged. "When I first started in sport I did it for purely selfish reasons – to be as good as I could be. I still have that desire but the more I do it the more I realise I can do something else. Hopefully, I can show people what is possible."
She enjoyed a comfortable middle-class childhood in Norfolk and then achieved a first-class honours degree in geography. And yet, with no knowledge of the sporting greatness within her, Wellington was so beset by insecurity that she went out of her way to change her body-shape – and ended up in the grip of anorexia and bulimia.
"The victims of such illnesses are often very ambitious, outwardly successful young women who pursue these ideas of control and achievement," she says. "We're driven, compulsive, obsessive, competitive, persistent and seek perfection. That can be channelled incredibly negatively."
Wellington was saved by her family. "My parents' reaction got to me," she says, "especially my dad. He is less outwardly emotional but when I saw he was near tears looking at me I understood how worried they were. But it was really my brother who made me face the truth. His tough love really worked."
She has now reached the point where, without vanity, she can talk about "loving" her own body. Rather than focusing on her outward appearance, Wellington can celebrate all her body has achieved – in conjunction with an exceptional mental strength. "Sport has given me a different perception and respect for my body. I cannot judge its success by whether I can fit into a pair of skinny jeans. I look at other women and, yes, they're beautiful with stereotypically wonderful figures but I can think, 'Yeah, but you haven't won what I've won.' I might not be perfect but I can love my body now."
Wellington came to the tortuous world of Ironman as an amateur jogger – who discovered by chance that she loved running. She ran her first marathon at the age of 25, in London in 2002, and surprised herself by finishing in 3hr 8 sec. Five years later, she decided to quit her government job and become a triathlete. Wellington chose to work with the world's most successful but controversial triathlon coach.
Brett Sutton's infamy centres on the fact that he once had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl he trained. In later years, as an adult, she made a formal complaint and Sutton was charged. He argued that the affair had been consensual but the judge still accused Sutton of "abusing [his] role [as Australia's national triathlon coach] to an inexcusable degree." Sutton received a suspended two-year sentence.
"It was unforgiveable at the time," Wellington says of Sutton's behaviour. "But Brett repented. He said to me, 'I despise myself for the suffering others have gone through for what I did.' Some will choose never to forgive him. Others do. But Brett is not the cold mercenary that is usually depicted. He has an incredible emotional intelligence.
"On the first Monday we started working together we went for a swim and he said, 'I can see you've suffered from an eating disorder.' I thought: 'How the bloody hell does this paunchy little man know?' He can read me like a book and developed an understanding very quickly of my personality – my impatience, my inability to rest my mind, my desire for perfection. He summed me up in one sentence. You want to be different, yet you crave to be normal. It's true. I didn't want to be like the other girls. I wanted to be better than them. But I wanted to be one of them."
In some of the book's most gripping pages, Wellington details how she and Sutton fought for control. Recounting his demands that Wellington, a self-confessed "control-freak", become "supine like a slave", there are vague echoes of a sado-masochistic relationship. Does such a description sound overblown to her?
"No," Wellington says. "Some of the problems I had, the worries and fears in the first six months with Brett, were due to the fact I didn't trust him. I was questioning him constantly and that's so draining. It was only when I allowed him to take control that I could feel that sense of liberation."
Sutton shouted at Wellington and treated her cruelly in training. How could she bring herself to trust him? "Away from training he had a warm, caring and sensitive side. But he could be cold and callous and in front of the other athletes he was very harsh. He was either going to make me or break me."
Wellington emits a bleak little laugh. "Those thoughts went through my head when he shouted at me that, 'You're weak, you'll never be successful.' Well, yeah, I was crying into my goggles but the other part of me said, 'I'll show you, you bastard. I'm going to prove to you that I'm not weak.' I needed that but it was so liberating handing the reigns to Brett. It was definitely right at that point and it made me the athlete I am. Could I do it now? Probably not because Brett taught me most of it anyway so I don't need him now – but I've also built on what he taught me and learnt from others.
"Brett was hugely influential in my life. No other coach would have done what he did, in 2007, when he threw a rookie who had never done any long-distance triathlons, into the world championships in Kona. Brett had seen something special in me. He knew long before anyone else that I could do it."
Wellington shocked the Ironman world by winning – and beating her nearest rival by five minutes. Yet her triumph last year, in the same world championships, transcended all expectations. She began the race with a damaged pectoral muscle which she'd torn two weeks earlier. She was grazed and bruised and had been to hospital just a few days before the race. Wellington was told it would be a miracle if she even finished.
She was forced to swim more slowly than usual and, also struggling on her bike, she began the marathon 21 minutes behind the leader. Wellington scrunches up her face. "Normally, I've not suffered much more than discomfort. Maybe my discomfort is someone else's debilitating pain. But, this time, I got it. This was bad pain. Persistent and deep, deep pain."
Wellington still ran the marathon in 2 hours 52 minutes and 41 seconds – and won by almost three minutes. "Around Christmas last year," she remembers, "Brett called me. He hasn't trained me for years but he said, 'You used to doubt if you could win a race under duress. You wondered if you would crumble. Now you know. You've got nothing more to prove.' It's true. That's why I have maybe completed the journey. I'm not retiring but I'm going to take a break for a year or two."
Wellington will work on her charities and in the media, and possibly train exclusively for next year's London marathon where she believes she could run "2.20 something".
But Wellington will also sit back, for once, and savour a new truth. "I'm content," she says as late afternoon gives way to a black and freezing evening. "I'm happy. I've got nothing to prove to anyone anymore – not even to myself."
A Life Without Limits by Chrissie Wellington is published by Constable on Thursday, priced £18.99
Triathlete charts her troubled journey from the despair of eating disorders to becoming the unbeaten ironman world record holder.
 |
| Chrissie Wellington says she is going to take a break for a year or two from triathlon. |
Chrissie Wellington, sitting cross-legged on a sofa, does not look like an iron woman on a raw winter afternoon. We've just walked in from a dark and windy park on the outskirts of London and, in a warm house filled by her laughter and animated conversation, the former civil servant seems endearingly ordinary. It's easy to remember that, exactly five years ago, just before she became a professional triathlete in late February 2007 and the most remarkable woman in sport, Wellington still worked for the British government as an adviser in international development with particular expertise in Nepal.
Yet, for all her friendly charm and supple intelligence, it soon becomes obvious that Wellington, who turned 34 last week, is ferociously determined. She describes what would seem like unbearable suffering to most of us as "discomfort" when coolly listing the demands of an Ironman race – in which an athlete completes a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike ride before running a marathon of 26.2 miles.
Wellington, who has won every single one of her 13 Ironman competitions, holds the women's world record of 8hr 18min 32sec – which is 32 minutes faster than the previous record which had stood for 14 years. Perhaps the simplest way to explain her extraordinary endurance is to underline the fact that, immediately after her draining ordeals in the water and on the bike, Wellington can run a marathon in 2 hours and 44 minutes.
She has won four world championships – but Wellington is even more impressive when revealing the corrosive insecurities of her past. "The times and number of victories I've managed matter less than the continual surprise I feel. It's so empowering to defy your own perceptions of what is possible and to keep on opening doors within yourself that you didn't know even existed. Looking back five years ago this month I would never have predicted anything that has since happened."
Wellington looks at me with an even gaze as, more softly this time, she repeats one word again: "Never."
And then, after a long pause, she opens up the most deeply personal facets of her complex personality to the wider world. "We all have talents that, sometimes, we never quite fulfil. We're all scared, deep down, but maybe we just need to lay it on the line and explore our abilities and just not be afraid of failing. But I know it's hard."
Wellington is about to publish a riveting and often startling biography and the imminent exposure taps into these more complicated emotions. "I'm such a contradictory character" she says. "I can be confident in my ability but at the same time, I can lack so much confidence. I guess I exemplified that when we walked back from the park and you said you liked the book. That made me so happy. I crave that. It's not enough for me to be proud of what I've achieved. I still want the approval of others."
That human need once became, for Wellington, dangerously consuming. "I haven't revealed it before," she says, taking a small breath before talking about her past eating disorders. "There is still a stigma and so I swing between wanting to talk about it and being ashamed because to me it's still tantamount to weakness. But every week I receive letters from women and young girls. They don't know I've suffered from eating disorders but they explain how they're suffering from these same afflictions. I've got a message in my inbox now from an American girl saying: 'I don't know where to turn, can you help me?' She's a triathlete."
Wellington looks moved, if distressed, until she straightens her shoulders and says she is ready for her life to change once people understand the depths from which she emerged. "When I first started in sport I did it for purely selfish reasons – to be as good as I could be. I still have that desire but the more I do it the more I realise I can do something else. Hopefully, I can show people what is possible."
She enjoyed a comfortable middle-class childhood in Norfolk and then achieved a first-class honours degree in geography. And yet, with no knowledge of the sporting greatness within her, Wellington was so beset by insecurity that she went out of her way to change her body-shape – and ended up in the grip of anorexia and bulimia.
"The victims of such illnesses are often very ambitious, outwardly successful young women who pursue these ideas of control and achievement," she says. "We're driven, compulsive, obsessive, competitive, persistent and seek perfection. That can be channelled incredibly negatively."
Wellington was saved by her family. "My parents' reaction got to me," she says, "especially my dad. He is less outwardly emotional but when I saw he was near tears looking at me I understood how worried they were. But it was really my brother who made me face the truth. His tough love really worked."
She has now reached the point where, without vanity, she can talk about "loving" her own body. Rather than focusing on her outward appearance, Wellington can celebrate all her body has achieved – in conjunction with an exceptional mental strength. "Sport has given me a different perception and respect for my body. I cannot judge its success by whether I can fit into a pair of skinny jeans. I look at other women and, yes, they're beautiful with stereotypically wonderful figures but I can think, 'Yeah, but you haven't won what I've won.' I might not be perfect but I can love my body now."
Wellington came to the tortuous world of Ironman as an amateur jogger – who discovered by chance that she loved running. She ran her first marathon at the age of 25, in London in 2002, and surprised herself by finishing in 3hr 8 sec. Five years later, she decided to quit her government job and become a triathlete. Wellington chose to work with the world's most successful but controversial triathlon coach.
Brett Sutton's infamy centres on the fact that he once had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl he trained. In later years, as an adult, she made a formal complaint and Sutton was charged. He argued that the affair had been consensual but the judge still accused Sutton of "abusing [his] role [as Australia's national triathlon coach] to an inexcusable degree." Sutton received a suspended two-year sentence.
"It was unforgiveable at the time," Wellington says of Sutton's behaviour. "But Brett repented. He said to me, 'I despise myself for the suffering others have gone through for what I did.' Some will choose never to forgive him. Others do. But Brett is not the cold mercenary that is usually depicted. He has an incredible emotional intelligence.
"On the first Monday we started working together we went for a swim and he said, 'I can see you've suffered from an eating disorder.' I thought: 'How the bloody hell does this paunchy little man know?' He can read me like a book and developed an understanding very quickly of my personality – my impatience, my inability to rest my mind, my desire for perfection. He summed me up in one sentence. You want to be different, yet you crave to be normal. It's true. I didn't want to be like the other girls. I wanted to be better than them. But I wanted to be one of them."
In some of the book's most gripping pages, Wellington details how she and Sutton fought for control. Recounting his demands that Wellington, a self-confessed "control-freak", become "supine like a slave", there are vague echoes of a sado-masochistic relationship. Does such a description sound overblown to her?
"No," Wellington says. "Some of the problems I had, the worries and fears in the first six months with Brett, were due to the fact I didn't trust him. I was questioning him constantly and that's so draining. It was only when I allowed him to take control that I could feel that sense of liberation."
Sutton shouted at Wellington and treated her cruelly in training. How could she bring herself to trust him? "Away from training he had a warm, caring and sensitive side. But he could be cold and callous and in front of the other athletes he was very harsh. He was either going to make me or break me."
Wellington emits a bleak little laugh. "Those thoughts went through my head when he shouted at me that, 'You're weak, you'll never be successful.' Well, yeah, I was crying into my goggles but the other part of me said, 'I'll show you, you bastard. I'm going to prove to you that I'm not weak.' I needed that but it was so liberating handing the reigns to Brett. It was definitely right at that point and it made me the athlete I am. Could I do it now? Probably not because Brett taught me most of it anyway so I don't need him now – but I've also built on what he taught me and learnt from others.
"Brett was hugely influential in my life. No other coach would have done what he did, in 2007, when he threw a rookie who had never done any long-distance triathlons, into the world championships in Kona. Brett had seen something special in me. He knew long before anyone else that I could do it."
Wellington shocked the Ironman world by winning – and beating her nearest rival by five minutes. Yet her triumph last year, in the same world championships, transcended all expectations. She began the race with a damaged pectoral muscle which she'd torn two weeks earlier. She was grazed and bruised and had been to hospital just a few days before the race. Wellington was told it would be a miracle if she even finished.
She was forced to swim more slowly than usual and, also struggling on her bike, she began the marathon 21 minutes behind the leader. Wellington scrunches up her face. "Normally, I've not suffered much more than discomfort. Maybe my discomfort is someone else's debilitating pain. But, this time, I got it. This was bad pain. Persistent and deep, deep pain."
Wellington still ran the marathon in 2 hours 52 minutes and 41 seconds – and won by almost three minutes. "Around Christmas last year," she remembers, "Brett called me. He hasn't trained me for years but he said, 'You used to doubt if you could win a race under duress. You wondered if you would crumble. Now you know. You've got nothing more to prove.' It's true. That's why I have maybe completed the journey. I'm not retiring but I'm going to take a break for a year or two."
Wellington will work on her charities and in the media, and possibly train exclusively for next year's London marathon where she believes she could run "2.20 something".
But Wellington will also sit back, for once, and savour a new truth. "I'm content," she says as late afternoon gives way to a black and freezing evening. "I'm happy. I've got nothing to prove to anyone anymore – not even to myself."
A Life Without Limits by Chrissie Wellington is published by Constable on Thursday, priced £18.99
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Nooooooo.....
(Courtesy of Allan Malcolm)
I actually shouted out "Nooooo...." in my office as I watched this, a bit embarrassing but totally justified under the circumstances.
I actually shouted out "Nooooo...." in my office as I watched this, a bit embarrassing but totally justified under the circumstances.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Friday, February 03, 2012
ONLY A MAN WOULD ATTEMPT THIS
(Courtesy of Olga)
Just try reading this without laughing till you cry!!! . . can't be done! Pocket Tazer Stun Gun, a great gift for the wife. A guy who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Tazer for their anniversary submitted this:
"Last weekend I saw something at Larry's Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized Tazer. The effects of the Tazer were supposed to be short lived, with no long term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety...?? WAY TOO COOL!
Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home... I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button... Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time, I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.
Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two AAA batteries, right? There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target.. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and then thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?
So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and Tazer in another. The directions said that: a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; and a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries. All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference (loaded with two itsy, bitsy AAA batteries); pretty cute really, and thinking to myself, 'no possible way!' What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best.
I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side so as to say, 'Don't do it stupid,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny lil ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad.. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and... HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. WHAT THE... !!! I'm pretty sure Hulk Hogan ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs! The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.
Note: If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a Tazer, one note of caution: There is NO such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor! A three second burst would be considered conservative! A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. * My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. * The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. * My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. * My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. * I had no control over the drooling. Apparently I had crapped in my shorts, but was too numb to know for sure, and my sense of smell was gone. * I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head, which I believe came from my hair. * I'm still looking for my testicles and I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return!
PS: My wife can't stop laughing about my experience, loved the gift and now regularly threatens me with it! If you think education is difficult, try being stupid!"
Just try reading this without laughing till you cry!!! . . can't be done! Pocket Tazer Stun Gun, a great gift for the wife. A guy who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Tazer for their anniversary submitted this:
Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home... I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button... Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time, I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.
Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two AAA batteries, right? There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target.. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and then thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?
So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and Tazer in another. The directions said that: a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; and a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries. All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference (loaded with two itsy, bitsy AAA batteries); pretty cute really, and thinking to myself, 'no possible way!' What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best.
I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side so as to say, 'Don't do it stupid,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny lil ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad.. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and... HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. WHAT THE... !!! I'm pretty sure Hulk Hogan ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs! The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.
Note: If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a Tazer, one note of caution: There is NO such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor! A three second burst would be considered conservative! A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. * My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. * The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. * My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. * My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. * I had no control over the drooling. Apparently I had crapped in my shorts, but was too numb to know for sure, and my sense of smell was gone. * I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head, which I believe came from my hair. * I'm still looking for my testicles and I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return!
PS: My wife can't stop laughing about my experience, loved the gift and now regularly threatens me with it! If you think education is difficult, try being stupid!"
Monday, January 30, 2012
Malaysia's First Astronaut
Look who came to visit Sid and Seb's school last week...Malaysia's first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. How cool was this for the boys?!!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
So You Wanna Be a Triathlete?
(By Nick Clark • Clark Endurance Training and courtesy of Active.com)
Fact: You will not become efficient at swimming, biking or running overnight. This is NOT an easy sport.
Check your ego at the door because chances are someone fifty pounds heavier than you will lap you in the pool. Not to mention she will be ten or fifteen years older than you, too.
You will be passed on the bike many times, and you will never be the fastest runner in your town.
You will have early morning workouts. Really early.
You will plan your weekends around your swim, bike and run.
You will be up while others are sleeping.
You will be training while others are sitting.
You will discover others who also follow this blood, sweat and tears cult.
You will eventually get a flat tyre...and have to change it all by yourself.
No matter what you hear, triathlon is NOT an inexpensive sport.
Warning, it is extremely addictive, hence the impulse spending on wetsuits, bikes, running shoes, aero bars, aero helmets, speed suits, power meters, GPS heart-rate monitors and many other “gotta have” items.
You will hate swimming more times than you like it for the first year.
You will suffer through road trips with whiny fellow triathletes.
You will suffer setbacks.
You may experience an injury.
You will develop a love/hate relationship with a foam roller and ice baths.
You will at some point realize you need a coach.
You will hate swimming for the first year.
You will wear tight clothing.
You will not like how this tight clothing fits or looks.
Your age will take on a whole new meaning.
You will discover a whole new meaning for tan lines.
Food will become an extremely important part of your life.
You will learn new words such as GU, cadence and brick.
You will hate swimming for the first year.
You will spend more time on your bike than on your couch.
You may lose a friend or two because you spend too much time swimming, biking and running, and they could care less about your heart rate training, foam rolling pain or 200km bike ride.
You will learn patience.
You will be humbled.
You will start to realize you are paying money to put yourself through pain and suffering, but for some odd reason, you LOVE it.
This sport called triathlon becomes a part of you. You start to plan your entire year around sprint, international, half iron- or full iron-distance races. Your vacations become racing, and you start to realize that this could become a life-long adventure.
Many people settle for things in life. They settle for a crappy job, marriage, friends, food, place to live and overall fitness and health. Those who desire more or those who want more out of life than a drive-thru window and boring sitcom, will choose triathlon or an activity that makes them happy—an activity that will change their life.
Triathlon will change your outlook on life, your career, your marriage, your goals, your friends and many other things you thought you had figured out. It’s not just crossing a finish line or going home with a boring finisher medal. It’s the countless hours that got you to that point—a moment in time that you will NEVER forget, a moment that you will discuss with your family and friends for hours if not days after the event. These discussions will most likely be about how you could have done better. At what point could you have swum faster, biked harder or ran more efficient? This is what will go through your head every day until you get the opportunity to suffer again.
So you wanna be a triathlete? Enjoy the ride and train hard!
Sign up for your first event or your 100th, just sign up.
Check your ego at the door because chances are someone fifty pounds heavier than you will lap you in the pool. Not to mention she will be ten or fifteen years older than you, too.
You will be passed on the bike many times, and you will never be the fastest runner in your town.
You will have early morning workouts. Really early.
You will plan your weekends around your swim, bike and run.
You will be up while others are sleeping.
You will be training while others are sitting.
You will discover others who also follow this blood, sweat and tears cult.
You will eventually get a flat tyre...and have to change it all by yourself.
No matter what you hear, triathlon is NOT an inexpensive sport.
Warning, it is extremely addictive, hence the impulse spending on wetsuits, bikes, running shoes, aero bars, aero helmets, speed suits, power meters, GPS heart-rate monitors and many other “gotta have” items.
You will hate swimming more times than you like it for the first year.
You will suffer through road trips with whiny fellow triathletes.
You will suffer setbacks.
You may experience an injury.
You will develop a love/hate relationship with a foam roller and ice baths.
You will at some point realize you need a coach.
You will hate swimming for the first year.
You will wear tight clothing.
You will not like how this tight clothing fits or looks.
Your age will take on a whole new meaning.
You will discover a whole new meaning for tan lines.
Food will become an extremely important part of your life.
You will learn new words such as GU, cadence and brick.
You will hate swimming for the first year.
You will spend more time on your bike than on your couch.
You may lose a friend or two because you spend too much time swimming, biking and running, and they could care less about your heart rate training, foam rolling pain or 200km bike ride.
You will learn patience.
You will be humbled.
You will start to realize you are paying money to put yourself through pain and suffering, but for some odd reason, you LOVE it.
This sport called triathlon becomes a part of you. You start to plan your entire year around sprint, international, half iron- or full iron-distance races. Your vacations become racing, and you start to realize that this could become a life-long adventure.
Many people settle for things in life. They settle for a crappy job, marriage, friends, food, place to live and overall fitness and health. Those who desire more or those who want more out of life than a drive-thru window and boring sitcom, will choose triathlon or an activity that makes them happy—an activity that will change their life.
Triathlon will change your outlook on life, your career, your marriage, your goals, your friends and many other things you thought you had figured out. It’s not just crossing a finish line or going home with a boring finisher medal. It’s the countless hours that got you to that point—a moment in time that you will NEVER forget, a moment that you will discuss with your family and friends for hours if not days after the event. These discussions will most likely be about how you could have done better. At what point could you have swum faster, biked harder or ran more efficient? This is what will go through your head every day until you get the opportunity to suffer again.
So you wanna be a triathlete? Enjoy the ride and train hard!
Sign up for your first event or your 100th, just sign up.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Inner Peace
(Another corker from Disco Dave's Mum)
I'm passing this on because it worked for
me today.
A Dr. on TV said to have inner peace we should always finish things we start & we all could use more calm in our lives.
I looked around my house to find things I'd started & hadn't finished, so I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiuminun scriptins, an a box a chocletz. Yu haf no idr how fablus I feel rite now. Sned this to all who need inner piss. An telum u luvum!
I'm passing this on because it worked for
me today. A Dr. on TV said to have inner peace we should always finish things we start & we all could use more calm in our lives.
I looked around my house to find things I'd started & hadn't finished, so I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiuminun scriptins, an a box a chocletz. Yu haf no idr how fablus I feel rite now. Sned this to all who need inner piss. An telum u luvum!
Friday, January 06, 2012
The Top 20 Rules for Faster Triathlon Swimming
(By Joel Filliol courtesy of oveindergaard)
The most popular post on this blog is a 2007 post on swimming, which is mainly a link to another blog post from The Triathlon Book. Over on ST there has been a lot of chatter about swimming for triathletes. And Rappstar, Paulo and Coach Daz amongst others have weighed in on the topic.
Without further ado:
The Top 20 Rules for Faster Triathlon Swimming
1. Conditioning trumps drills. Technique matters, but the way most athletes try to improve technique doesn't work. Get fitter, and your ability to hold good technique improves. It takes a lot of work to develop aerobic conditioning in your upper body. If you think you are already swimming a lot but are not improving, swim more and keep at it. There are no shortcuts.
2. Traditional drills don't work. The type of drills and the way that most triathletes do them don't actually have any material effect on swimming technique.
3. Swim more often. Frequency is the best way to improve your swimming. Also see rule #4
4. Do longer main sets. You can't expect to swim fast and be fresh on the bike if you rarely do main sets with the same or higher volume and pace than you expect in the race. For short course these should be at least 2km, for IM 4km, or more. And that looks like 20-50x100, not many short broken sets adding up to 2-5km.
5. Don't over think it. Don't under think it. Be engaged with what you are doing in the water, and use tools to help get a better feel for the water. But don't over think every stroke, and suffer from paralysis by analysis. Swimming fast is about rhythm and flow, when good technique becomes automatic.
6. Increased swim fitness translates to the bike and run. Being able to swim harder, starting the bike both fresher and with faster riders is how that works.
7. Deep swim fitness allows you to swim on the rivet. See rule #6. Most triathletes don't know how to really swim hard for the duration.
8. Include some quality in every swim. If you are swimming less than 5x per week, having easy swims is a waste of time. Always include quality, from band, to paddles, to sprints, in every swim.
9. Don't count strokes. See rule #2. The objective is to get faster, not take fewer strokes.
10. Learn now to use your kick but don't spend a lot of time with kick sets. Kicking is about stroke control and body position, not propulsion for triathlon. Kick fitness doesn't matter.
11. Use a band frequently. The best swimming drill there is. Do short reps with lots of rest at first. Both propulsion and body position will improve.
12. Use paddles with awareness of engaging lats. Paddles are primarily a technical tool to take more strokes with better mechanics, the result of which is learning how to use your prime swimming movers: your lats.
13. Keep head low on breathing and in open water. Head down, feet up. It's a common body position error.
14. Do many short repetitions for stroke quality. It takes fitness to swim with good technique for long durations. Start shorter, and swim faster. 50x50 works wonders. Don't have time to do a 2500m main set? Drop the warm up and warm down.
15. Learn to swim with a higher stroke rate. This takes conditioning. It will pay off on race day, and particularly anytime swimming in a group and in rough conditions.
16. If you need to write your swim session down on the white board or paper, it's too complicated. Keep it simple.
17. Find a good masters programme. Long main sets is a good sign. Swim with others to challenge yourself. These are the exception rather than the norm, unfortunately.
18. Don't use swim tools as a crutch. Paddles and bull buoys are tools with specific uses. Don't reach for them out of simple laziness, because the set is hard.
19. Do use swim tools when you are very fatigued, and will otherwise swim with poor quality. See Rule #18.
20. Dry land and gym can help swimming for some via improved neuromuscular recruitment. Use body weight and tubing not machines.
Bonus: Love swimming if you want to get faster. Embrace the process of getting faster in the water. Chlorine sweat is a good thing.
Follow the rules above to swim faster, and ultimately to be a faster triathlete. Enjoy.
The most popular post on this blog is a 2007 post on swimming, which is mainly a link to another blog post from The Triathlon Book. Over on ST there has been a lot of chatter about swimming for triathletes. And Rappstar, Paulo and Coach Daz amongst others have weighed in on the topic.Without further ado:
The Top 20 Rules for Faster Triathlon Swimming
1. Conditioning trumps drills. Technique matters, but the way most athletes try to improve technique doesn't work. Get fitter, and your ability to hold good technique improves. It takes a lot of work to develop aerobic conditioning in your upper body. If you think you are already swimming a lot but are not improving, swim more and keep at it. There are no shortcuts.
2. Traditional drills don't work. The type of drills and the way that most triathletes do them don't actually have any material effect on swimming technique.
3. Swim more often. Frequency is the best way to improve your swimming. Also see rule #4
4. Do longer main sets. You can't expect to swim fast and be fresh on the bike if you rarely do main sets with the same or higher volume and pace than you expect in the race. For short course these should be at least 2km, for IM 4km, or more. And that looks like 20-50x100, not many short broken sets adding up to 2-5km.
5. Don't over think it. Don't under think it. Be engaged with what you are doing in the water, and use tools to help get a better feel for the water. But don't over think every stroke, and suffer from paralysis by analysis. Swimming fast is about rhythm and flow, when good technique becomes automatic.
6. Increased swim fitness translates to the bike and run. Being able to swim harder, starting the bike both fresher and with faster riders is how that works.
7. Deep swim fitness allows you to swim on the rivet. See rule #6. Most triathletes don't know how to really swim hard for the duration.
8. Include some quality in every swim. If you are swimming less than 5x per week, having easy swims is a waste of time. Always include quality, from band, to paddles, to sprints, in every swim.
9. Don't count strokes. See rule #2. The objective is to get faster, not take fewer strokes.
10. Learn now to use your kick but don't spend a lot of time with kick sets. Kicking is about stroke control and body position, not propulsion for triathlon. Kick fitness doesn't matter.
11. Use a band frequently. The best swimming drill there is. Do short reps with lots of rest at first. Both propulsion and body position will improve.
12. Use paddles with awareness of engaging lats. Paddles are primarily a technical tool to take more strokes with better mechanics, the result of which is learning how to use your prime swimming movers: your lats.
13. Keep head low on breathing and in open water. Head down, feet up. It's a common body position error.
14. Do many short repetitions for stroke quality. It takes fitness to swim with good technique for long durations. Start shorter, and swim faster. 50x50 works wonders. Don't have time to do a 2500m main set? Drop the warm up and warm down.
15. Learn to swim with a higher stroke rate. This takes conditioning. It will pay off on race day, and particularly anytime swimming in a group and in rough conditions.
16. If you need to write your swim session down on the white board or paper, it's too complicated. Keep it simple.
17. Find a good masters programme. Long main sets is a good sign. Swim with others to challenge yourself. These are the exception rather than the norm, unfortunately.
18. Don't use swim tools as a crutch. Paddles and bull buoys are tools with specific uses. Don't reach for them out of simple laziness, because the set is hard.
19. Do use swim tools when you are very fatigued, and will otherwise swim with poor quality. See Rule #18.
20. Dry land and gym can help swimming for some via improved neuromuscular recruitment. Use body weight and tubing not machines.
Bonus: Love swimming if you want to get faster. Embrace the process of getting faster in the water. Chlorine sweat is a good thing.
Follow the rules above to swim faster, and ultimately to be a faster triathlete. Enjoy.
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Swim technique...PAH!! Gimme the toys
(By Brett Sutton courtesy of www.urban-ninja.co.za)
Simon says: - An interesting article...basically what I take away from this is don't over think it, just put in the work.
Of late I have been fielding a barrage of questions by age groupers, who have improved their triathlon swim by using the old put all the swim gear on Sutto principle, but also from coaches asking when do we then transition into more full swimming with out all the swim ‘toys’. Yet, the more I point out to the athletes and coaches that open water swimming is different than pool swimming the more I point out swimming 3.8 km in a wetsuit is different to pool swimming the more I point out that technique is not the major concern the more doubters I seem to create. Most of the enquiries are good nature and just trying to come to grips with getting faster. In addition, most of them, no all of them have said yes they have seen good improvement in their triathlon swims. So, why the wish to change what works?
It’s a tough gig going against the mob or peer group in any thing, and even I fall victim to it myself. As a coach, you always doubt and ask yourself is there a better way. For the coaches, I say the hardest thing in coaching is to find a method that is not recognized by the hordes and stick with it. If I fall prey to the pressure when I invented the method and am an Olympic level swim coach, I acknowledge how tough it is for almost all others.
But the strength of my swim program was rammed home to me while on camp with a few of our true believers, who have improved their swim immensely since ditching the technique method for the toys method. First, Bella and Stephen Bayliss were back in England after the birth of their pride and joy Charlie and were caught in a situation of no pool facilities. The Baylisses took up a plan of attack as they could only swim for 1 hour every 2nd day. In the highlands of Scotland, not a swim hub, only swimming every other day each session would be dive in and go hard. Now this is not very scientific, but sessions might be: one hour of sometimes non-stop swimming or 100s short rest or 4x 1km and all workouts done with gear on for the swim and all these with virtually no warm-up or swim down. Bella’s idea of swimming is starting all out with pull buoy wedged in tight. Don’t try and take it off her! So the Baylisses’ turn up at camp and both are flying versus the other professional triathletes in camp. In the water, Steve was looking like a whirling devil, and Bella bitch slapping the water with her paddles with every stroke showing it and everyone else who’s boss. Their times were as fast as ever, and Bella has just delivered Charlie only three months ago. Meanwhile another 47 min non-wetsuit IM swimmer joined the fray in the form of Mathias Hecht. Now Mathias’ stroke makes Stephen look like Michael Phelps, it is off balance, breathes on the wrong side, gets nearly as many strokes in as Stephen. He is self-taught without a swimming background and has trained on his own for most of his career. But another interesting thing, I think Mathias sleeps with a pull bouy between his legs just as with Stephen and Bella he puts it in before he dives into the pool and it doesn’t come out the whole workout. While on camp, the Spanish coach approached me and remarked to me one day (while theses sluggers were going after it with a Swiss kid called Andreas who lets it fly too),“ coach , they don’t look that good but I been timing them and they been lapping in at 1:10 per 100m.” I said. “yes, not so fast. But he come back with “But, they been doing it straight for near over 1 hour now.“ And there is the rub. While it might not look pretty or fast, over an hour it is deadly effective. Yes, the idealist will say but wouldn’t they go faster with that perfect swimming technique. But the realist in me says, THEY DONT NEED TO GO ANY FASTER in an Ironman triathlon.
Swinging into short course ITU races, well yes then they will need super technique. But actually No that also is a misnomer. Most rave about the Brownlees swim, but again anyone who takes the time to see them swim or train will realize that they are not that fast over 50 meters. Yes, I would bet good money that 40% of the men they beat out the water every race would smash them over 50 meters. But these Yorkshire boys are happy to get into the melee and fight to the front and do swim workouts that mean they keep their stroke-rating the whole 1500. It is about swimming 1500 meters in open water fast not 50m in a pool. The contentious Harry Wiltshire, who also was one of the slowest 50 men in my squad, in open water took every race out on the feet of the leader around the first buoy. It didn’t matter who was at the front whether Ben Sansom, Richard Stanard, Craig Walton, or whoever, Harry would get creamed over 50meters but by the first buoy there he was all over them. Sorry Harry, but I reckon even if Grant Hacket was leading Harry would be all over his arse like glue the whole way. Just ask Gomez, in openwater Harry was and is unstoppable. He too could just put that pull buoy in at the start and I would say, “Harry,1hr strait or 5000 m whichever comes first.” Harry would hit 5km before the hour everytime.
People, I can only tell you the way it is. You race in a wetsuit most of the time. Get the paddles on, pull buoy between your legs and just get after it. As Bella says, “I used to spend an hour and a half fussing about trying to do all the perfect technique contortionist things in the water gliding and stretching. But once I just got in, got on with it, stopped thinking about technique, and just thought about nothing more than putting on the gear and giving it to myself. I improved by 15 minutes over 3.8K.” I try to educate and tell people, but they just don’t listen. So, I say to all the doubters that have done this and improved their swim, hold the line. I say to all the coaches out there stop looking for clues: if they are improving then it is working. If it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it!
Simon says: - An interesting article...basically what I take away from this is don't over think it, just put in the work.
Of late I have been fielding a barrage of questions by age groupers, who have improved their triathlon swim by using the old put all the swim gear on Sutto principle, but also from coaches asking when do we then transition into more full swimming with out all the swim ‘toys’. Yet, the more I point out to the athletes and coaches that open water swimming is different than pool swimming the more I point out swimming 3.8 km in a wetsuit is different to pool swimming the more I point out that technique is not the major concern the more doubters I seem to create. Most of the enquiries are good nature and just trying to come to grips with getting faster. In addition, most of them, no all of them have said yes they have seen good improvement in their triathlon swims. So, why the wish to change what works?
It’s a tough gig going against the mob or peer group in any thing, and even I fall victim to it myself. As a coach, you always doubt and ask yourself is there a better way. For the coaches, I say the hardest thing in coaching is to find a method that is not recognized by the hordes and stick with it. If I fall prey to the pressure when I invented the method and am an Olympic level swim coach, I acknowledge how tough it is for almost all others.
But the strength of my swim program was rammed home to me while on camp with a few of our true believers, who have improved their swim immensely since ditching the technique method for the toys method. First, Bella and Stephen Bayliss were back in England after the birth of their pride and joy Charlie and were caught in a situation of no pool facilities. The Baylisses took up a plan of attack as they could only swim for 1 hour every 2nd day. In the highlands of Scotland, not a swim hub, only swimming every other day each session would be dive in and go hard. Now this is not very scientific, but sessions might be: one hour of sometimes non-stop swimming or 100s short rest or 4x 1km and all workouts done with gear on for the swim and all these with virtually no warm-up or swim down. Bella’s idea of swimming is starting all out with pull buoy wedged in tight. Don’t try and take it off her! So the Baylisses’ turn up at camp and both are flying versus the other professional triathletes in camp. In the water, Steve was looking like a whirling devil, and Bella bitch slapping the water with her paddles with every stroke showing it and everyone else who’s boss. Their times were as fast as ever, and Bella has just delivered Charlie only three months ago. Meanwhile another 47 min non-wetsuit IM swimmer joined the fray in the form of Mathias Hecht. Now Mathias’ stroke makes Stephen look like Michael Phelps, it is off balance, breathes on the wrong side, gets nearly as many strokes in as Stephen. He is self-taught without a swimming background and has trained on his own for most of his career. But another interesting thing, I think Mathias sleeps with a pull bouy between his legs just as with Stephen and Bella he puts it in before he dives into the pool and it doesn’t come out the whole workout. While on camp, the Spanish coach approached me and remarked to me one day (while theses sluggers were going after it with a Swiss kid called Andreas who lets it fly too),“ coach , they don’t look that good but I been timing them and they been lapping in at 1:10 per 100m.” I said. “yes, not so fast. But he come back with “But, they been doing it straight for near over 1 hour now.“ And there is the rub. While it might not look pretty or fast, over an hour it is deadly effective. Yes, the idealist will say but wouldn’t they go faster with that perfect swimming technique. But the realist in me says, THEY DONT NEED TO GO ANY FASTER in an Ironman triathlon.Swinging into short course ITU races, well yes then they will need super technique. But actually No that also is a misnomer. Most rave about the Brownlees swim, but again anyone who takes the time to see them swim or train will realize that they are not that fast over 50 meters. Yes, I would bet good money that 40% of the men they beat out the water every race would smash them over 50 meters. But these Yorkshire boys are happy to get into the melee and fight to the front and do swim workouts that mean they keep their stroke-rating the whole 1500. It is about swimming 1500 meters in open water fast not 50m in a pool. The contentious Harry Wiltshire, who also was one of the slowest 50 men in my squad, in open water took every race out on the feet of the leader around the first buoy. It didn’t matter who was at the front whether Ben Sansom, Richard Stanard, Craig Walton, or whoever, Harry would get creamed over 50meters but by the first buoy there he was all over them. Sorry Harry, but I reckon even if Grant Hacket was leading Harry would be all over his arse like glue the whole way. Just ask Gomez, in openwater Harry was and is unstoppable. He too could just put that pull buoy in at the start and I would say, “Harry,1hr strait or 5000 m whichever comes first.” Harry would hit 5km before the hour everytime.
People, I can only tell you the way it is. You race in a wetsuit most of the time. Get the paddles on, pull buoy between your legs and just get after it. As Bella says, “I used to spend an hour and a half fussing about trying to do all the perfect technique contortionist things in the water gliding and stretching. But once I just got in, got on with it, stopped thinking about technique, and just thought about nothing more than putting on the gear and giving it to myself. I improved by 15 minutes over 3.8K.” I try to educate and tell people, but they just don’t listen. So, I say to all the doubters that have done this and improved their swim, hold the line. I say to all the coaches out there stop looking for clues: if they are improving then it is working. If it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it!
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