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Rookie's diary part two
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Solobally8 wrote: »I was expecting a whale the way you go on about your weight! It's not as bad as that at all. I don't think you need to be as skinny as that second photo*
*speaking aesthetically from a female point of view, not a race performance related comment
Two stone over race weight in that photo!!
yes aesthetically its terrible, I was wearing size 28 jeans and xs t-shirts. Performance wise you float over the water.0 -
In 2003 I ended up needing a new bike for commuting to college for my postgrad. A 30km round trip. I ended up in Cycleways and I saw a bike that looked weird. I asked what it was and was told it was a bike for triathlon. I asked what triathlon was and was told. I liked the idea and bought the bike. I started to get bike fit, I was running a bit, and started to learn to swim. Once I felt I could join a club without being a complete burden I looked into clubs. I joined the first to response to emails. I continued to try and learn to swim and then in 2004 I did my first pool sprint, first OW sprint, first OW olympic (Kilkee) and went on from there with the club approach to training - I would later come to know this as overtraining.
2005 I did every race on the calender. Complete overtrained, over raced, and lacking the base, both annual and muli-annual, I suffered horrifically in my last race of the year Kenmare. I again went with the club approach to racing "always go on 2 and go hard from the gun". For where I was this resulted in a horrific run where I experienced my first real bonk, being totally empty and spent with a long long run to go. Grey and pale and nasty I struggled to the end.
Reflecting on the year I was not informed enough to know that the approach to training and racing was terrible and I needed help. I started thinking about a coach but at that stage there was no TI coaching training and no coaches in Ireland. In hindsight this was good
As luck would have it others in the club wanted to get external expertise in. Coaches were brought over from the UK - Andy Blow and Rich Brady from VO2 coaching. I had two spare bedrooms so they stayed with me. I had an alterior motive. I wanted to suss them out and see how I got on with them.
Immediately I know I would get on on a personal basis very well with Rich Brady. I spent the rest of the weekend listening very carefully to everything he said and how he said it. Trying to determine could I see myself trusting him completely with my training. In the end I realised I could and I asked him to coach me.
He said yes and we kicked off pretty quickly after that. 2006 went well, 2007 even better, 2008 was epic. Weekend camps in the UK and Ireland, training camps in Italy. Met my first triathlon Olympian , had fun and got leaner and faster. Bottoming out at 10st3 just before I got married in 2007 and I found myself able to swim bike and run at a nice level. I started podiuming and winning races in 2008 and I raced half ironman races in the UK and Portugal, cumulating in a 4:11 half in Lisboa. 2009 was shaping up to be epic with my biking off the carts 240 watts held for 5 hours and feeling easy. More race wins and podiums. What happened next is well known - the bus, the broken bones, the head injuries, the stubbornness that resulted in a 1:04 swim with a fractured collar bone, the accident in T1.
2010 was another good year, focussed on addressing the demons of Austria 2009. Again we worked well together and I loved it all and the progress. My family in law referred to Rich as "Santa Claus" as I used to get excited whenever someone mentioned him. His approach to life I found refreshing and inspiring and I considered him a very good friend.
Big goals were set for 2011 in IM Frankfurt, big goals but we both thought them achievable. Little did I know the personal problems I was undergoing would derail everything. Rich did his best to bring me back on track and keep me on the straight and narrow but it just wasn't possible. We drifted apart but kept in contact, my wife views him and his wife as friends, we have kids the same age that played together on the few times they all met up. He had had a huge impact on my life and when someone has that amount of impact you don't let things go completely.
For 2011,2012,2013,2014 I drifted aimlessly. Mainly self coached I lacked the accountability, I lacked the insights of someone who knows me better than myself and is able to see me clear of the emotional colouring that one adds when considering one's self. I dabbled with help from close friends, with loved ones, but none of it worked.
Come start Q2 this year I realised that I need a coach. I need the accountability I need someone to see me for where I am, not where I want to be. I approached Rich again and told him vaguely what I would like to do for the next few years. I asked him would be be interested in effectively rebuilding me. I was hesitant as when we last worked together he was a full time coach in a boarding school that had a high performance tri squad, he had moved to working for the Welsh triathlon high performance squad and was much much busier with the demands of this new job. Much more travel and work. I took the view that if he was able to and willing then he was, if not then thats life. I was slightly hopefully as he was still working with one of the lads from the club that worked with him way back when.
We had a chat, a number of chats, and he agreed to help me in the future. There was no point in asking for help before Frankfurt as that ship had sailed. After Frankfurt I got in contact. We talked about my race and we discussed options for the rest of 2014 and 2015. Given the circles he moves in now his approach to training has moved on alot and I found the prospect of a completely new approach to training exciting, I found the idea of just getting my training in an email and just following it invigorating. I was for the first time in 4 years I was excited about training. When my training plan arrived I was like a kid at Christmas. A run focus block and then into something more balanced in a bit.
Week one back as a Monkey and I'm loving it.0 -
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Do you ever feel you reached your true potential ?
and (hope you don't mind this one) if no, do you ever kick yourself
as its obvious you have natural ability and a stubborn streak to match.
like really holding 240w for the IM bike that's a nice training spin there & 4:11 half IM.0 -
Do you ever feel you reached your true potential ?
I did the best I could with the hand that I was dealt.
However I am not dead yet.and (hope you don't mind this one) if no, do you ever kick yourself as its obvious you have natural ability and a stubborn streak to match.
I, and many others, would disagree with the natural ability. TMWTT put it so succinctly once. "XYZ is a natural, if he had your work ethic he'd be untouchable." If you've known me for less than 4 years then the terms "tunney" and "work ethic" would seem irreconcilable, but that was not always the case.like really holding 240w for the IM bike that's a nice training spin there & 4:11 half IM.
The 240w was a training spin not a race, I never got to race when I was in that shape. 4:58 in Austria was done off 207 AP0 -
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A one piece, or two? 
This discussion has been closed.
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