A Few Thoughts

Saturday arrived so I went for a run, it was only about 14km but it was my first run back after having a couple of weeks off at the end of the domestic season. My wife Deb works on Saturdays from about 8:30 to 4pm so its a great day to do my long stuff, a ride with the boys or a run on my own.  Being that our domestic season has just completed and I have signed up for a couple of half marathons, (Run Melbourne Half mid July, and Sandy Half in August) I thought that I would use the next few weekends to get some longer runs in.

The wind was cool and the sun was out - my run is known as the 15 +/-.  Why, I hear you say - well the story goes that before GPS watches were all the rage, a group of local triathletes used to do the run and it was 'guestimated' that it was around 15km.  Once a gps watch became the norm, the run turned out to only be around 13km but instead of renaming it to the 13 or 14km run, it was named the 15 +/- .

Anyway, the run starts at the IM Melbourne swim start, weaves its way through Sweetwater Creek and then winds its way through to Mount Eliza Village.  The run has a trail run feel about it as you end up going up and down some steps on and off the beach and then back down Olivers Hill.  Being the first run back I wanted to take it nice an easy so stayed between 5:30 and 6 mins per km pace.  Finished the run back at the IM Swim start location and felt pretty good and glad to back out on the road.

One of the things I really enjoy about going for a run on your own is that  you get time to think about things.  As I made my way around the bay, I started to think what was ahead of me for the next 9 months or so - I must admit that I felt a shudder run down my spine as I thought of IM Melbourne 2013 and the challenges ahead.

 On the Friday I put a bunch of Navy trainees (and myself) through a series of challenges on the High Ropes Course.  The High Ropes course comprises of around 15 elements of varying degrees of difficulty and are set at about 90 feet off the ground.  Personnel use abseiling equipment and the whole idea of the day is for people to push themselves outside of their comfort zones.  I can tell you personally that when you are standing 90 feet up on a stand only wide enough for your feet and the wind is whipping you around, you very quickly find yourself outside of your comfort zones.

The focus of the day is to develop team-work among the young trainees and to break down any barriers that may exist.  The trainees are told that once they get to sea on an operational warship, they have to work as a team and that they may find themselves in situations that they have never been in before and they have to be prepared to push themselves.

Not sure if I mentioned this before but the reason the Navy is mentioned is that I did a little over 22 years in the Royal Australian Navy from 1976 to 1998 and then after 14 years as a civilian, I donned the uniform again but this time as a Reservist.  As I type this blog, I am currently working at the Navy's main training base HMAS Cerberus located in Crib Point, Victoria.  I am due to return to my civilian employer WorkSafe Victoria mid Jun 2012 but I am hoping that I can stay with the navy a little longer so as to not compromise my IM training.

Being the 90 or so feet off the ground brought back memories of my time onboard the Sail Training Ship (STS) Young Endeavour about 20 years ago.  Young Endeavour was a gift from the British government to Australia to mark the bicentenary of the discovery of Australia.   The then Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawk said that the ship would be used by the youth of Australia and that it would be crewed  by the Royal Australian Navy.  As a serving member of the Navy at the time, I did 2 trips on her as a member of the Navy crew.  12 males and 12 females embarked for a 10 day voyage of self discovery.  Standing atop of a moving sail mast and standing atop of the power pole on the high ropes course was a very similar experience.

All of this as I said was about challenging ones self and pushing yourself to a place where you haven't been before - somewhere that I will certainly find myself over both the IM training period and come race day itself.  Having run a few marathons previously and having now completed a couple of Half Ironman races, I am a great believer that whilst you need to be physically fit to compete, you need to also be mentally fit to complete.  If you are not strong mentally and the body starts to give out, you could find  yourself in a whole lot of  hurt.  Think strong and you will be strong.

Race Day Mantras
One of our club members (Sami) who competed at IM Melbourne 2012 mentioned that she had 5 mantras that she kept repeating to herself throughout the race.  These mantras helped Sami maintain her focus and direction.  As I rounded a corner today during my run, the Frankston Pier come into view and this again returned my thoughts back to IM Melbourne 2013.  I then started thinking about a Mantra that I could use during the race - here is the one that came to me today:

"The pier holds no fear"

"The ride will be my guide" and

"The run is all about fun"

Now, I am not sure if this works or not but it worked for Sami, so thats good enough for me.  For now my race mantra is 'I think I can, I think I can, I think I can'.  If I come up with any more or if you have one that works then feel free to share it.

Sunday tomorrow - Sleep in -  do an hour on the wind trainer then spend the rest of the day with my better half and so some domestics.

Until next time and happy training,

Gary

This is me running around Lake Burley Griffin in our nations capital, Canberra in December 2011.  This was the first Ironman 70.3 race that I had competed in and my 2nd attempt at the Half Ironman distance of a 1.9km swim, a 90km ride and a 21.1km run.

This race took me a little over 6 hours to complete, 6:09 to be exact and given the weather conditions of the day and another thing that happened which I will talk about later, it was a very pleasing result.

Canberra 70.3 was my 'A' race which means it was to be my main race of the 2011/2012 season, so all of my training was geared towards this race.  Throughout the season I had competed in a few sprint distance races and also a long course (2km/80km/20km) race in Geelong in February.

Fast forward to March 2012 and the inaugural Asia Pacific Championship race, otherwise known as Ironman Melbourne arrived.  This was a huge event for Melbourne and the sport of triathlon and the best thing about this race is that 2 of the 3 legs, Swim / Bike take place in my local suburb of Frankston, Victoria.

I am a member of the Mornington Peninsula Triathlon Club which is located in Frankston, Victoria.  I have only been in the sport for 2 seasons and when I started out I was looking for a club that I could join so that I could learn about this new sport.  Here I was just turned 50 years of age and starting a sport that most people take up in their 20's.

My first triathlon ever was at Mordialloc in the summer of 2009/10 and it consisted of a 200mtr swim, an 8km ride and a 3km run. The swim was in surf like conditions, the ride was in a blustery headwind and the run wasn't much better.  I finished the race in around 35mins and I thought what the hell have I got myself into and a second later I thought, is that it, is it over already - I wanted more.

A work colleague who had been involved in the sport for a few years and was the person who introduced me to triathlon came down and watched me do my first race.  After I crossed the finish line, he said 'well done' now how about we do a Half Ironman race in November - I said what's a Half Ironman ?? So 8 months later I lined up in Shepparton, Victoria for the Half Ironman race (1.9km/90km/21.1km).  I finished this race in a little over 6:40mins.

So now I am here about to race my first full Ironman distance race, why ? Well, after assisting as a volunteer at the inaugural race and watching so many people achieve their dream in finishing, I have to give it a go.  As I type this, the race is 332 days away, its seems like its years away, but the time will past quickly.

I will start training back with my training crew in the next few weeks and along with some other IM Virgins, I will begin my training and my journey to Ironman Melbourne 2013.

So follow my ups and downs, see how my training is going, and just general info about what will no doubt be a very very big challenge.

This video clip  and in particular the people in it are my motivation and inspiration.

Until  next time,

Gary