Hi Guys,
Results have been published. I picked up the win in a seasons fastest time of 51:14. Top 3 were:
1st Bevan Leach 51:14
2nd Craig Shafer 51:44
3rd Charles Rodgers 51:52
Nice hit out and definitely a good tester to start the season. I've been back into the pool regularly and I am starting to feel like I can 'grip' the water finally. Running is going well with builds up to 2hr45min feeling good. Training is going well for the focus on the Hawaii qualification at Port Macquarie Ironman. Next up is the Oceania and Australian Championships in Huskisson on the 21st February. This will be a good indicator of my fitness and a final testing ground for Port IM. Racing will probably be done with no taper and in a semi-fatigued state.
Cheers,
Bevan.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Monday, 25 January 2010
First Win of 2010 - Maitland District Sprint Triathlon
Hi Guys,
I raced the Maitland Clubs January Sprint Triathlon on the 24th January (this past weekend). It was to be a great test hit out after doing some running specific weeks with little riding or swimming. No aero bling, race wheels, heart rate monitors, or power output - just go hard and go for as long as possible.
Results will be published soon but it looks like I came in with the win in a low 50mins for the Sprint Triathlon. Great volunteers/organisers and nice to see a lovely breakfast put on post race for competitors. I'll post the times etc and top placings once they are up. I need to log more swimming kilometres, the bike was good and the run is progressing well. First time I have felt like I was running fast with good momentum after the dead legs and double run days of late. Good to get a win at the first race of the year.
Great little race and they welcome along all plus they have two kiddies races to get them into the sport that were great to watch.
Cheers,
Bevan.
I raced the Maitland Clubs January Sprint Triathlon on the 24th January (this past weekend). It was to be a great test hit out after doing some running specific weeks with little riding or swimming. No aero bling, race wheels, heart rate monitors, or power output - just go hard and go for as long as possible.
Results will be published soon but it looks like I came in with the win in a low 50mins for the Sprint Triathlon. Great volunteers/organisers and nice to see a lovely breakfast put on post race for competitors. I'll post the times etc and top placings once they are up. I need to log more swimming kilometres, the bike was good and the run is progressing well. First time I have felt like I was running fast with good momentum after the dead legs and double run days of late. Good to get a win at the first race of the year.
Great little race and they welcome along all plus they have two kiddies races to get them into the sport that were great to watch.
Cheers,
Bevan.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Prototype Testing for 'endurance Junkie'.
Over the past six weeks I have been testing the first 'endurance Junkie' triathlon suit prototype. "WOW" is all I can say about the new materials and advanced ideas of design on this suit. For a first prototype it is one of the best I have seen and tested. I am proud to be a part of the development of this new brand of triathlon suit and apparel. Testing of the second prototype starts soon leading to a nice new suit for Ironman Port Macquarie to be unveiled. Unfortunately being a confidential prototype I am unable to post any pictures, but I will get some up pre-Port IM on the final race suit.
It is great to see some new innovative ideas within triathlon design and materials. An example of the benefit of this suit was that I completed a 2hr run in normal gear and then switched to the suit for another 1hr run to make it a 3hr session. With dead legs after the 2hrs session, I found 15-20 minutes of running in the suit had my 'legs' returning and I was able to run at a faster pace for the back end of the session. Great news for that last part of the marathon and the whole distance of the Ironman.
Cheers,
Bevan.
It is great to see some new innovative ideas within triathlon design and materials. An example of the benefit of this suit was that I completed a 2hr run in normal gear and then switched to the suit for another 1hr run to make it a 3hr session. With dead legs after the 2hrs session, I found 15-20 minutes of running in the suit had my 'legs' returning and I was able to run at a faster pace for the back end of the session. Great news for that last part of the marathon and the whole distance of the Ironman.
Cheers,
Bevan.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Canberra 70.3 Report
Day started with a rush to transition due to taking a little too long to get all the gear from the lovely York Apartments we were vacating and getting a sick athlete (me) and sick bub ready for a long day. Poor Sam. Managed to get in with a small amount of time to get everything organised. All done as they were calling the last guys out of transition for lock up as I was trying to inflate my tyres. Unfortunately my connector for the disc blew apart and left me with a flattened back wheel. Luckily the guys from shimano service said they'd fix it for me as I was escorted out of transition by the officials. Well, a great start to the day hoping that they would remember to fix the back wheel.
Got a good position at the start line and short swim warm up felt a bit chesty but ok. With the gun and the usual argee-bargee but managed to get away with a couple of guys whom I assumed where Sam Hume, Brad Campbell and other elite age-groupers. Immediately felt the chest and sinuses making it hard to breathe. So I had to change tact and breathe every stroke rather than my normal bilateral breathing. Made it a bit harder and lost some ground on a couple of guys but for the most came out in the top 3/5 so all going well. Swim 27:30.
Bike became a one man TT which is how I like it. I sat on my power and went a bit by feel also as the HR was a bit high due to sickness but only a little. Whole ride passed people and never once got in a group/person to rotate legally with. Which was perfect as it gave me a good individual data for analysing for the coming Port Ironman. Went well on the hills and long straights. Need to spend some more time in the TT bike saddle but this will come with summer blocks of training. Good nutrition strategy and completed the bike with plenty of energy left in reserve. Bike 2:33:08.
Good start to the run and plan was to sit in 145-155bpm and hold the whole way. Canberra is relatively flat for the run and a great race for pacing practice. After 3km I found that my HR was all over the shop. My sinus/sickness was playing up a bit even though I was feeling good energy wise. I was unable to get the HR out of the 90-120bpm range unless I pushed it and then it would shoot up to above 175+bpm. I check the HR strap and it was fine and reading well. Obviously things were not right due to the sickness so I made the decision to ease into a 120bpm pacing and try to hold off some guys. I dropped a large amount of time from the 8km to home doing this but still managed to grab 5th place. Run 1:39:28. Total of 4:39:21, 5th in age, 31st overall.
Post race the sickness flared up but the body was good. In all, a good hit out and fairly easy on the body for a high end result in approx 800-1000 competitors. I raced to a quicker time than the Port Half Ironman on a harder and longer course with an easier run pace due to sickness. All good indicators that the training is coming along.
Leaving transition I was approached by a guy, Duncan Blake, who offered up his spare aerobar forearm holders to me. This was great as mine had cracked and they do not make replacements any more. Looks like I will now have a working set of aerobars and can get that much needed time in the TT bike saddle in the lead up to Port IM.
Cheers,
Bevan.
Got a good position at the start line and short swim warm up felt a bit chesty but ok. With the gun and the usual argee-bargee but managed to get away with a couple of guys whom I assumed where Sam Hume, Brad Campbell and other elite age-groupers. Immediately felt the chest and sinuses making it hard to breathe. So I had to change tact and breathe every stroke rather than my normal bilateral breathing. Made it a bit harder and lost some ground on a couple of guys but for the most came out in the top 3/5 so all going well. Swim 27:30.
Bike became a one man TT which is how I like it. I sat on my power and went a bit by feel also as the HR was a bit high due to sickness but only a little. Whole ride passed people and never once got in a group/person to rotate legally with. Which was perfect as it gave me a good individual data for analysing for the coming Port Ironman. Went well on the hills and long straights. Need to spend some more time in the TT bike saddle but this will come with summer blocks of training. Good nutrition strategy and completed the bike with plenty of energy left in reserve. Bike 2:33:08.
Good start to the run and plan was to sit in 145-155bpm and hold the whole way. Canberra is relatively flat for the run and a great race for pacing practice. After 3km I found that my HR was all over the shop. My sinus/sickness was playing up a bit even though I was feeling good energy wise. I was unable to get the HR out of the 90-120bpm range unless I pushed it and then it would shoot up to above 175+bpm. I check the HR strap and it was fine and reading well. Obviously things were not right due to the sickness so I made the decision to ease into a 120bpm pacing and try to hold off some guys. I dropped a large amount of time from the 8km to home doing this but still managed to grab 5th place. Run 1:39:28. Total of 4:39:21, 5th in age, 31st overall.
Post race the sickness flared up but the body was good. In all, a good hit out and fairly easy on the body for a high end result in approx 800-1000 competitors. I raced to a quicker time than the Port Half Ironman on a harder and longer course with an easier run pace due to sickness. All good indicators that the training is coming along.
Leaving transition I was approached by a guy, Duncan Blake, who offered up his spare aerobar forearm holders to me. This was great as mine had cracked and they do not make replacements any more. Looks like I will now have a working set of aerobars and can get that much needed time in the TT bike saddle in the lead up to Port IM.
Cheers,
Bevan.
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Canberra 70.3 Triathlon and Leach Early Xmas
Hi Guys,
Sam, Frankie and I are heading up to Canberra this weekend for the Canberra 70.3 triathlon and an early Xmas with the Leach family.
The Canberra 70.3 has a great field lined up as it is the final race in the Australian Half Ironman Series and also a qualifier for the ITU World Long Distance Championships in 2010 in Germany. I will be using it as my last big training run to test out a few things before I knuckle down into my build up to the Australian Ironman in 2010. It is one of the toughest courses in Australia and normally can break a few of the packs up. Run by some great guys, Nick Munting and Graeme Hannan, it is one of the races I love doing in Australia.
The trip could be interesting as both Sam and I have picked up Frankie's sickness. Should make it a fun trip down in the car. It is starting to get bad so I will just have to see how it is race day to determine how hard I can push. I am already having great difficulty breathing and the heart rate is terrible on light exercise. But I will race no matter what albeit at a lower level so that no damage is done.
Cheers,
Bevan.
Sam, Frankie and I are heading up to Canberra this weekend for the Canberra 70.3 triathlon and an early Xmas with the Leach family.
The Canberra 70.3 has a great field lined up as it is the final race in the Australian Half Ironman Series and also a qualifier for the ITU World Long Distance Championships in 2010 in Germany. I will be using it as my last big training run to test out a few things before I knuckle down into my build up to the Australian Ironman in 2010. It is one of the toughest courses in Australia and normally can break a few of the packs up. Run by some great guys, Nick Munting and Graeme Hannan, it is one of the races I love doing in Australia.
The trip could be interesting as both Sam and I have picked up Frankie's sickness. Should make it a fun trip down in the car. It is starting to get bad so I will just have to see how it is race day to determine how hard I can push. I am already having great difficulty breathing and the heart rate is terrible on light exercise. But I will race no matter what albeit at a lower level so that no damage is done.
Cheers,
Bevan.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Port 70.3 Wrap up
Well, I had a good hit out at Port. Drove up/back with Andy Sawatske from High Tide Photography who took some great shots as usual of the Port 70.3 athletes.
Race day came and had a couple of athletes I help out that were racing with differing objectives. It was great to see them both going well in the end with one having a great race dropping time on a build week towards Busso IM and the other placing 4th on only a couple of light jogs after a very bad lower leg injury.
Personally my race day went well in regards to the training and data collection for my build towards Port IM in March 2010. I got enough information to be able to find training grounds around the Newcastle region to suit the race and build.
I swam ok but at a comfortable pace so that I worked slowly up to the lead groups. Just couldn't bridge the last gap to the pro's who had a head start. Too busy in a wrestling match with people who do not know how to swim straight and draft properly. I was happy to lead the groups that I swam through and bridge up. Still work to do on top end speed but strength was there. Time to up the distances in training and get regular speed work in. Time: 23:49.
Slow transition, lost places, not normal for me.
Bike, aim was to sit in my wattage 290-350 with a comfortable heart rate. Took a lot of control as first part of course was hilly so had to back off normal pace and as such groups got time on me. However, sitting on the wattage I worked my way up through the groups into the top 10 and picked up a couple of pro's I couldn't shift. Slowly bridging up to main group in 3-8th positions when the CPU from the powermeter wasn't there. Had to do a u-turn and go looking for it, found it approx 1-1.5km back. This was the main reason for the race as I needed that information to train for the next 5 months. The CPU worked so I plugged it back in and got on with the job. This happened before the last portion of the first lap before the hills so a bad position for it to occur. Lost a lot of time [ post race checked my splits on CPU (2:25 including both transitions and continue over so approx low 2:20's) vs the race 2:32 so a good 7mins plus lost]. Sat on wattage and over next loop rode back up into the top groupings and back to near 10th?? Dragged a few people through but didn't worry just got the info. Passed a big pack that I dragged for a while with 20+ people in it to near the end. I was happy with the ride as was working but comfortable and a pace I could keep going for the IM.
Run, got off with a chance to consolidate top 10/15 overall and win age or stay with the plan and run IM pacing to get the training information. Sat at required 150-155bpm HR with the plan to test different drink combo's/salt each lap. In the first 2km I got swamped by guys from the 20+ group. It was hard not to go with them and 'race' but I was there for a different reason. Slowly I built into each loop getting faster (or it felt like it) with the same HR. Although I lost a large amount of placings, I got the information I needed re the HR vs pace vs course layout to train for the IM rather than flooring it for a placing with no help for the IM training. I could have continued running and completed a marathon at that pace. Time: 1:45. Overall time 4:41hr 56/750 [with 7mins (7-10mins actual lost) off from bike CPU lost = 4:34hr which would have got me a top 30/750 with a training day effort].
Nil problems after the race and some great information/baselines to focus for Kona qualification. For the fitness I have at the moment things are moving forward. I am racing Canberra 70.3 on December 13 and will be able to compare pacings and push harder as the fitness and body slowly recovers its normality/race fitness.
Cheers,
Bevan.
Race day came and had a couple of athletes I help out that were racing with differing objectives. It was great to see them both going well in the end with one having a great race dropping time on a build week towards Busso IM and the other placing 4th on only a couple of light jogs after a very bad lower leg injury.
Personally my race day went well in regards to the training and data collection for my build towards Port IM in March 2010. I got enough information to be able to find training grounds around the Newcastle region to suit the race and build.
I swam ok but at a comfortable pace so that I worked slowly up to the lead groups. Just couldn't bridge the last gap to the pro's who had a head start. Too busy in a wrestling match with people who do not know how to swim straight and draft properly. I was happy to lead the groups that I swam through and bridge up. Still work to do on top end speed but strength was there. Time to up the distances in training and get regular speed work in. Time: 23:49.
Slow transition, lost places, not normal for me.
Bike, aim was to sit in my wattage 290-350 with a comfortable heart rate. Took a lot of control as first part of course was hilly so had to back off normal pace and as such groups got time on me. However, sitting on the wattage I worked my way up through the groups into the top 10 and picked up a couple of pro's I couldn't shift. Slowly bridging up to main group in 3-8th positions when the CPU from the powermeter wasn't there. Had to do a u-turn and go looking for it, found it approx 1-1.5km back. This was the main reason for the race as I needed that information to train for the next 5 months. The CPU worked so I plugged it back in and got on with the job. This happened before the last portion of the first lap before the hills so a bad position for it to occur. Lost a lot of time [ post race checked my splits on CPU (2:25 including both transitions and continue over so approx low 2:20's) vs the race 2:32 so a good 7mins plus lost]. Sat on wattage and over next loop rode back up into the top groupings and back to near 10th?? Dragged a few people through but didn't worry just got the info. Passed a big pack that I dragged for a while with 20+ people in it to near the end. I was happy with the ride as was working but comfortable and a pace I could keep going for the IM.
Run, got off with a chance to consolidate top 10/15 overall and win age or stay with the plan and run IM pacing to get the training information. Sat at required 150-155bpm HR with the plan to test different drink combo's/salt each lap. In the first 2km I got swamped by guys from the 20+ group. It was hard not to go with them and 'race' but I was there for a different reason. Slowly I built into each loop getting faster (or it felt like it) with the same HR. Although I lost a large amount of placings, I got the information I needed re the HR vs pace vs course layout to train for the IM rather than flooring it for a placing with no help for the IM training. I could have continued running and completed a marathon at that pace. Time: 1:45. Overall time 4:41hr 56/750 [with 7mins (7-10mins actual lost) off from bike CPU lost = 4:34hr which would have got me a top 30/750 with a training day effort].
Nil problems after the race and some great information/baselines to focus for Kona qualification. For the fitness I have at the moment things are moving forward. I am racing Canberra 70.3 on December 13 and will be able to compare pacings and push harder as the fitness and body slowly recovers its normality/race fitness.
Cheers,
Bevan.
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