Michael Huntley Memorial Triathlon

Michael Huntley competing in the Marlborough Quadrathon, March 2004.

The forth annual Michael Huntley Triathlon is on 21 March 2010. This year sees the race move from the Delta Lake to Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds.

The feature race is an Olympic distance triathlon, which covers a 1500m swim from the Outward Bound jetty in Anakiwa, a 40km multi lap bike ride and a 10km out and back run.

A sprint tri and two duathlon distances will be raced at the same time. Teams welcome.

You can pick up an entry form at Cycle World, Blenheim, or download one here.

Steve’s Ironman Update

I am at the stage now where the tough training is all done and for the next two weeks its light duties because. As Mike L so rightly put it, I can’t get any fitter than I am now but I can get fresher.

I had started to notice over the past couple of weeks that when I went for a ride or a run it was starting to feel like there hadn’t been a gap from the previous workout, which makes me think it’s time to start resting and recovering for the big day.I also just can’t face some of the roads any more as some have been ridden to death. I really can’t be any more prepared than I am so just want to get on with the race.

The week just gone included amongst other efforts a ride up North Bank with 2 side trips up Onamalutu followed by a jaunt up to the second bridge in the Waihopai – all told, 180 km – and ended with a run along the Taylor River. That was a long day, but, as we both remarked in a pause in the Waihopai, it was the last long day except for race day so something to feel really good about. The last big run was on Sunday morning and involved a loop round town then out to Cob Cottage, up Mt Vernon and back down the Withers to home. A 3 hour trek and the day just got hotter and hotter - tough going.

At some stage this week I intend starting to put all my gear together. You have to actually hand everything over the day before the race (in specially marked bags) and because it goes to different transition points and the weather can vary over the whole day you need to cater for all eventualities. Basically this means you have quite a bit of gear and if you want gloves for the bike and a belt to run with then the first goes in bag T1 and the second in T2. If you don’t want to carry your honey sandwiches or want the option of a thermal in case the weather turns but want to collect all this half way then these need to go in a third bag called Special Needs. Race day itself sees everyone at their bikes around 5.30-6.00am for numbering, pumping tires and the like. Its likely to be cold at that time so you need a warm shirt which can be discarded before hitting the water. This stuff goes in another bag which you hand in at the waters edge (not sure what that one gets called). Suffice it to say you have to make sure you get everything in its right place.

I have also found myself starting to wake early and thinking ahead to what race day will be like and the drive into Taupo. I’ts dark, but the bike transition is flood-lit so you can see it from a long way away, and there’s all these super fit people, and they’ve all got super fast looking bikes, and everyone seems calm whereas I feel sick, and why did I sign up for this, and why is the wind getting stronger etc etc. It’s fair to say the nerves are starting to kick in and I know I shouldn’t think about it and I know I did it last year but when they kick in they kick in. I am ready to get on with it.

Steve’s Ironman update

15 days to go until 6 March. Ironman Day.

The schedule this past week reflected the fact that the end is in sight. The hard days were still as hard as they have been, but the days in between have taken into account the need for some rest and recovery with maybe just a swim or an hour of cardio work.

The big day was Thursday, and that consisted of a 180 km ride followed by a run off the bike up Taylor Pass. As I have said before, the mental side of things is huge with Ironman with both the bike and the run being two circuits of the same course, so for a while now I have been trying to bring this into the training. This ride included going up to Onamalutu and back and then turning round and going back up North Bank (this week it may just be North Bank twice). I was feeling pretty good on the ride and was happy with my speed but suspect I over hydrated as I had far too many toilet stops.

I still have a few sizable rides and one more 180 km ride to do before the taper starts so will tweak my nutrition plan and see if I can’t find a better compromise before race day. The weekend proved to be a bit of a logistical exercise juggling training commitments with normal life. I managed a 50 km ride with intervals and a 1.5 hour run in the Withers in the morning then on to the Wine and Food Festival in the afternoon, to a party that night followed by a 3 hour run on Sunday morning. No question that I was the designated driver to all events and when I got stopped at a booze check point there was zero chance I would register any alcohol. Come Sunday afternoon I fell asleep on the couch around 2pm, woke up feeling guilty so volunteered to do dinner. But at dinner time the general feeling of tiredness had really started to kick in and all I could manage was boiled rice and some chicken so I suspect my household share price plummeted that Valentine’s day.

Ironman is also quite a big logistical exercise and anyone who has ever read the Race Manual will attest to this. Your wet suit, helmet and bike have to be checked and certified before you go to registration – where, amongst other things, you get weighed and they confirm your next of kin! – and I got my bike and helmet done and stickered in town today. So it starts. I’m still feeling ready and raring to go.

I like the way you move

Follow the Coast to Coast live

Click here for live updates on Saturday 13.2.10

One more sleep…

One day to go to Race day. Excited and Nervous.

The two dayers have already departed and weather is not looking too bad at moment. Things are meant to change quickly, but fingers crossed everything will be fine for one dayers tomorrow and we get to run Goat pass, and not on the SH73.

Last 4 weeks have been pretty full on with both work and fitting in training, which has not been ideal, but something I have had to cope with every year. Luckily, my family as well as workmates have been very supportive.

This is always the time that the self doubtsets in. Have done enough training? Am I in good enough shape? Have I improved my skills from last year?

This is also the time I get the constant hot flushes of adrenalin as I think about the race, just like the old rugby days before a big match. These for me are a good indicator I am getting focused on the task ahead and these bouts of adrenalin is what makes me addicted to this iconic race.

I am well prepared this year and there is no last minute rushing around getting food, supplies and extra equipment (thanks to little sister Sara and Ray and Team at Cycleworld, and Robin at Mitchell sports) which means I can fully spend the day relaxing, carbo loading, hydrating, and just chilling out.

Fingers crossed for a stress free race, and I am looking forward to seeing that beer at the finish line (although I’m a beer snob, this is only time every year i’ll drink a speights over a Moa!)

Steve’s Ironman Update

During the past week if I wasn’t running or riding I was more than likely lying on the couch. That about sums it up. It was a week which consisted of 3 rides (2 of Grape Ride distance and 1 a fair bit bigger), and 4 runs, some after the bike. 

One run was a 3 hour beast - thankfully Marlborough’s newest ironman came with me on this one. It was good to have company and the time seemed to go a bit quicker. We ran out to Taylor Dam and then took that new track back along the river, crossed over to the top of Ben Morven, did the block back to where we crossed the river and up to the recycling centre. There we parted company. I finished by heading to Redwood Street and cut across the Withers to home, the fridge and the couch in that order.

 The new track means you can go along the river bank from town to Taylor Dam  (about 10km each way) and you can get across to Ben Morven without getting wet shoes. It’s well worth a go if you haven’t done so already.

I am into making lists now – what to wear on race day, what to have for breakfast, what to have for dinner the night before, stuff I must not forget to take and so on. Nothing gets changed from now on, and all food/ supplements have been tried and tested. This year, through some trial and error, I will be basically going for solids (power bars etc) on the first half of the ride, honey sandwich on white bread at the half way mark and then gels for the second half. There will no doubt be a few bananas involved as well but the basic plan is for solids first and gels second as I was finding the solid stuff a bit hard to get down late in the ride and they seemed to be playing havoc with the innards for the run. All in all I am ready for it now, and if I had my way the race would be this weekend.

Which running shoe?

If you are a real runner (like me) you will have four pairs of running shoes, and they will all be Asics. All the rest are just walking and drinking shoes right?

Not according to the latest shoe review by Runners World, which you can find here. They do a pretty good job of reviewing and videoing 27 running shoes, and they’re not all Asics.

Anyone silly enough to have more than four?

National Triathlon Sprint Champs

Yesterday the Contact Tri series visited Kinloch, on the Western shores of Lake Taupo for the National Sprint Champs.

Local triathlete Jono Lee, finished 11th in the elite under 19 race. Well up with the action after the swim and bike, Jono faded on the run somewhat to finish in a time of 1.02.55. Plagued by a calf injury for a good part of last year, Jono’s build up was far from ideal for fast running, particularly in an event which attracts the best in the country.

In an event run on the same day, “local” Tom Francis finished second to Cameron Brown in the Erin Baker standard distance triathlon.

Click here for results.

Results are here.

Steve’s Ironman Update

You’re in trouble when we get to the bicycles”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Ironman takes over your life and the lives of those around you.  

It’s been a really different build-up this time round and I really don’t remember it becoming so all consuming last time. A couple of people have asked if I would contemplate anot(not that I can say I’ve done 2 as yet) and the answer is no.  (We’ll see Steve – I reckon you’re just getting warmed up)

I met some people recently that would qualify as being ‘right into Ironman’, and to be honest they left me a bit cold. One couldn’t talk about anything unless it was to do with training.  The usual questions like, where do you live? what do you do? were met with one word answers and glazed looks, whereas a query about what supplement you use in your drink got a half hour answer complete with personal analysis and detail of recent experimentation to produce the optimum brew.

The other person had embraced the whole Ironman lifestyle to the max and life was like a race. She was an expert at the toilet stop whilst riding without actually stopping. Okay, I concede she is at a level of Ironman I will never get to having won age group races and done well at Kona,  but when you have to drop your kaks and ‘go’ on the grass verge, on a training ride, with a public toilet about 5m away, I reckon you have become a bit too obsessed with saving seconds.

Wondering what all this reflective stuff is about? Well, I haven’t done much training in the past week after the heavy sessions in Taupo so I don’t have anything to talk about! Actually life has been a bit like a normal person’s existence with a half hour ride (including a cafe), a 60 km ride with Phil B, where heart rates got to levels more like those of walking pace and a leisurely 10 km run. It all changes Tuesday when the schedule kicks in again in all its glory. The easy days now have rides that once upon a time I could only have contemplated after a summers worth of training.  

We are planning to have Twitter updates on the day on this site, so you can keep track of what is happening with Marlborough athletes at Ironman NZ.

Lochmara Big Swim

 

On 28 Feb, Lochmara Lodge has their annual Fun Festival. As part of this they have the Lochmara Big Swim, which is a 750m swim from across the bay back to Lochmara. I know, 750m is only a warm up, but you could swim to the start of course and get 1500m in. Awesome first prize of a free night for two at the lodge – hmm could be tempted.

They are offering discounted water taxi rates for the day – $30 adult return from Picton ($15 kids). Entry to the race is free.

For those wanting some more intensive training than just the swim, it is a 7.5km kayak from Picton across to Lochmara Lodge, around 20km along the Queen Charlotte Track back to Anakiwa, and about 27km from Anakiwa along the road back to Picton.   They can also do bike/kayak transfers for people who want to bike/kayak/run in from Anakiwa or Mistletoe Bay along the track.  For more information go to www.lochmaralodge.co.nz, or phone Allanah at the Lodge on 573 4554