Training'nRacing Matt

2011-10-25T22:23:00.005+11:00

Hawai'i 2011, Time - 9hrs 17mins 31secs - Personal Best. Position 102/1855 overall. 10th in 40/44 Age Group. Am I happy - you betcha....... BUT.....
If you are ever thinking about getting a fast TT bike, without doubt have a very strong look at the TREK Speed Concept. I keep saying it - these babies are fast !

Running along Ali'i, man it was HOT ! Sit tight while I proof my race report and shorten it. It's currently 5 pages long !! Cheers, Matty

Catch me I'm falling

2011-08-17T21:04:00.002+10:00

Gawd, Strewth, Shit, I don't really know what too say other than those prophetic words.... I've entered the dark and dangerous cave that's called exhaustion.
Everything I do physically is a chore and I have to conjour up all my physical & mental strength to punch out a training session. I feel drained, my HR when resting is low - I saw it at 38bpm's today, and when I train it's still darn low - tonight I 'ran' for 1.5hrs and my ave HR was 108bpm. The only thing that gets me up and going is to arrange to meet training partners for a run and/or ride.
I've tried several different methods - increased amounts of road racing, increasing my hill repeat reps, all in an effort to lift my HR and try to eek out some sort of physiological 'gain' from the session. All this seems to do is make me even more tired. So I have succumbed - From now I will lighten off my training load and get more rest to try and restore my energy levels to a similar level to that of pre Port Mac. This is short post as I'm starting to get pretty tired just typing this. I'll work on putting some more detail in my next post.
Until then, train safe, train hard, sleep tight !!
Matty

I can't stand the rain, against my window

2011-07-25T09:40:00.005+10:00

Bringing back sweet memories, of the pain. Yep - training through a Melbourne winter for an Ironman in a far off destination (Kona, Hawaii) which is famous for bending people's minds and will due to the inexorable heat. Ya gotta love training through a Melbourne winter though, the rides where you come back soaked to the core, fingers & toes numb yet stinging from the cold, your butt chaffed from all the road grit spraying through your knicks, the grime all over your legs and mud splats on your face. I quite often think of HOT, HOT FOOD out on these rides and usually plan what sort of smorgasboard I'm going to have when I get home. All the time sense and sensability get in the way and it ends up a coffee, protein shake & a bowl of porridge instead of the lashings of bacon, runny yolked eggs, fried mushies and bangers on a couple of thick sour dough chunks of bread, oh well.
The first of my 3 month build up to Kona has gone well, pretty easy. There is ONE reason for this -

Being an absolute cycling nut, I could see there was something different about this years version of le Tour. I thought Cadel had a genuine chance of winning so threw myself into watching as many 'key' stages as I could manage. The down side to this was that my training for Kona would suffer. The thought of Cadel being the first Aussie winner of the Tour and watching it unfold held far more significance to me then getting out on the bike and freezing my butt off at 4:30 in the morning, or going to swim squad and dry wretching at the side of the pool after trying to belt out an impossible amount of 200's in an impossible time. So apply myself to the time honoured Aussie trade of couch potato I did, my thumbs gaining callouses from a remote insted of my feet gaining callouses from running. Although I'm not a real fan I am happy for Evans, but i'm probably happier for Australian Cycling in general. I feel my race licence fee's have somehow contributed to his success. I really hope we can gain some positives from this and use it to promote cycling as a healthy, safe and viable hobby/sport and not just render us as lycra clad wankers whom bogan tradies in V8 utes love to speed past and get as close as possible to knocking us off our bikes. Tolerance & respect is what is needed, sadly these attributes seem to be dwindling in our society.
Well done Cadel, well done Cycling Australia.

IRONMAN OZ 2011

2011-05-04T13:14:00.003+10:00

It's long - grab a coffee/beer/Endura etc. and enjoy !

I won my age group! That’s it, it doesn’t get any better. Here I am on Monday morning at 3AM, a little more than 12hrs since I finished and I still can’t wipe the grin off my face. The usual post IM discomfort has descended upon me making for a sleepless night. Sunburn, nicks, cuts, blisters, excess caffeine et al make it pretty hard to sleep, so here I am banging out my race report, this is hot off the press !! I’ll follow my usual race report protocol – training, pre race, race day then any other thoughts.

Training: This took on the familiar Matty Lewis regime of: Swim which is dictated by whatever the VU swim squad coach dishes out (thanks Nick), rides covered by various sessions – 1 long, 1 hard, 1 hill & a couple of recovery sets and running which followed the same format as the ride with high importance placed on recovery runs/walks. Bricks varied in lengths and intensity and were kept to 1 per week.
Training highlights were few and far between this time round due to Melbourne’s crap summer. A that spring to mind though were G-Trains ‘JB’ ride, it was a ride that will stick in my mind forever, the Marysville/Lake Mountain Challenge where Robbie Taranto, Gary Pertot & I turned up only to be greeted by ex Olympian Shane Kelly and crew on their bikes with their mega thighs oiled up glistening in the sun. It was a 160km ride with the first few hours spent at an ave. above 40km/h! I broke away from the pack at the 90km mark and soloed from Alexandra, up Lake Mountain, down into Marysville, then waited 23 mintutes for the 2nd place rider to come in. Running was a steady progression from low km’s / intensity after suffering a stress fracture in my tibia towards the end of 2010, it progressed to a maximum of 2.5hrs of low intensity endurance stuff and 2 hrs of high intensity runs where I could hold 3:45min/km pace at an ave HR of 145 bpm. It felt the way it used to pre accident which was comforting.

Pre Race: We had a tough decision to make about our Pt. Mac. holiday. Tilly is in Yr11 doing VCE subjects, we had to leave her with friends so she could attend school which was pretty sad, her enthusiasm on race day is incredible and was missed.
We set off on ANZAC day which was also a bit wrenching as I missed dawn service, but we had tee’d up to see my Exercise Physiologist, John Quinn who now lives in Sydney and is in charge of the new AFL side, GWS Giants & its Sports Science dept. It was great to see Quinny and along with his wife Nat, made us feel most welcome. We had a chat about my training, injuries and a few other things and it was amazing how positive he is and put my mind at ease on a few little niggling things. A spin out here was he had some guests staying with him who were coaches from the Miami University Seminoles, 2011 American Football College Champions !! We were watching the ANZAC day clash between the Pies & Bombers with Quinny, Marie & I explaining the rules of the game to them along the way, it was piss funny. We arrived in Port on the Tuesday only to be greeted by torrential rain, which was pretty much on and off until Friday. Team Manager Stevo, Fee & Rochelle flew in on Friday to complete the ‘Team Lewis’ picture (minus Tilly of course). Training during the final week was typical taper/preparation type stuff. I trained a bit with Gary P, Sam Stewart, Brett Sniegowski and Christine Jell which was great as it is a pretty social time and great to have a few more experienced people about to throw some ideas around with. A couple of interesting bits was riding the new part of the course, which looked to be fast & included some pretty cool scenary, and trying on the Rocket Science wettie (Thanks Scotty & XOSIZE) for the first time. The wettie felt great and had me comfortably sitting on Brett’s toes for a couple of swims. This gave me great confidence as Brett swam 54 minutes in 2010. My bike and race kit set up went well, a quick trip to the TREK demo centre to get a few bits tightened on the Speed Concept being the only issue here. Carbing and electrolyting up was the usual fair and seemed to work well with no issues to report.

The RACE: I woke at 4:30AM, 10 minutes before my alarm was set after a great nights sleep, I could hear quite a strong wind outside, but no rain, there was a 5% chance of rain for the day with a sunny max. of 23C. I had my usual 1000 calorie brekky, this year consisting of a large tin of Creamed Rice (the norm) on top of Apple & Cinnamon rice cakes, a bowl of Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes and 2 x English muffins smothered in marmalade. Race start was 6:30AM, I had arranged to meet Gary P near the finish chute at 5:40 to walk over. At 6:25 I was fed, suited up, suit juiced up, chipped and ready to rock ‘n roll so Team Lewis Manager (Boss) Stevo and I set off to pick up GP. Pre race stuff ie: pumping tyres, putting the wettie on etc. was all done effortlessly. We had plenty of time up our sleeves so we lined up to go over the timing mat and into the swim start, only then did I start to feel a little nervous. The water temp had dropped a little from earlier in the week, but was still quite warm. The current from the river (not too sure of its name) was pushing us down to the far starting buoy so things were starting to get a little congested where I had seeded myself, BANG, the starting gun went off so I had no time to push back around. The start felt pretty tame. I didn’t get knocked about and settled into a nice rhythm quite quickly. The first lap of the swim went along without a hitch - stroke, glide, pull (all the way through), exit. I felt good and actually worked on keeping a good technique rather than fighting for survival. The 2nd lap got a bit congested as people started to tire and stop or slow. At the top turnaround point one of the board riders stuck the nose of his board out near the buoy & a smacked it with my hand. It was right on top of one of my old footy breaks – yes, there are several !! and hurt quite a bit. I emerged from the water in 1hr 03mins, equivalent to 1m39sec 100’s – I’ll take that, I was pretty happy about it, still thought I could’ve gone under 1hr though….. Onto the bike with a minimum of fuss after a quick T1, and straight into Ports coastal hills. It wasn’t until I hit the Golf Club that I got comfortable & settled into ‘the groove’. The wind I heard lying in bed turned out to be a thumping SW wind, which was a head wind on the way out and ‘the hand of god’ pushing you back into town. My Polar HR monitor had really decided to go on strike, not only did I have no HR as it had broken down earlier in the week, I was now getting no speed reading. Shit, I’ll just have to pull out the white cane and stumble through this, or ‘fly by the seat of my pants’. I decided on being brutally honest with a perceived effort (PE) scale of 1 to 10, trying to keep myself mildly uncomfortable on the bike ie: moderate (not heavy) breathing and a noticeable HR which wasn’t pounding through my chest, I called this ‘6’. This worked well and the usual ride tactic of ‘pick ‘em off and discard them’ came into play. This was THE FIRST race where I feel the draft busters worked their butts off. They seemed to be quite fair, initially warning packs, which 95% of the time dispersed. This is great for racing as it looked as though a lot of people took it upon themselves to race fairly. The only beef I have here is the Penrith Institute of Sport (PIS) fellas. They all say they race for the fun of it, enjoying the company/challenge/mateship/beers etc. BUT, I think this mateship extends to the bike and when they race. To say they are a close knit bunch is right, even closer when it comes to riding with each other during this race. On the start of the 2nd lap the 70.3 race was streaming out, with some Male Pro’s and the top Female Pro’s coming out at the same time as I went past the transition area. I got tangled up a bit with their race as Jo Lawn & Belinda Granger were jockeying for position with a few of the slower male pro’s trying to clear out of the mess. I grabbed a gel and washed it down when Granger & Lawn hammered past me at the Golf Club, it was pretty interesting as the full effects of the head wind aren’t felt until 500m up the road from there, they hit the wind & both seemed to go backwards. My plan for the last out bit was to absolutely hammer it into the wind, running a perceived effort of 8.5 or what I thought would be a touch below sprint race pace. The plan was to get to the turnarounds at Laurieton, re-assess then drop back to my previous level of 6, rehydrate, carb up, enjoy the wind back in and get set for the run. Just after Lake Cathie I had quite a funny experience – I caught up to Caroline Steffen who was leading the chicks, she had a lead out motor bike, one behind her to the left of the road and another, the 3rd, sitting a bit further back in the middle of the road. I road up to the left of the 3rd motorbike (which was a Triathlon Official) and was a little unsure how to effect the overtake. To say I was paranoid was an understatement! I yelled out to the TO if I could pass on the inside of him and he said it was OK, I then said it was going to take me longer than 25 seconds to pass the 2 motorbikes and Caroline, he gave me the thumbs up so off I went. Caroline was pushing a massive gear, I reckon she had a 55 on the front, it was huge! & she was sitting well down the lower half of her cassette on the rear. The rest of the ride went well, save for Matthew Flinders hill where I reckon I looked like a track rider taking off in a pursuit on my 39/23, man it was hard, but the crowd played a huge part here in getting me up & over. I made it to T2 in sub 5hrs – 4hrs 59mins – bloody awesome to break 5 !!
My nutrition worked superbly, it was my usual fair, here is a breakdown of it: 1st hr – bidon of choccy Endura Opti & 1 x coconut Powerbar, 1 x Endura Coffee flavoured gel, 2nd hr – 1 x bidon of my watered down concentrate formula* & 1 x coconut Powerbar & 1 x Endura gel, Hours 3/4/5 1 x bidon of concentrate & 2 x Endura gel. SaltStick Caps are taken at 45 min intervals as well. Pretty much 100 grams CHO in hrs 1&2 then 80 grams CHO in hrs 3/4/5. To explain my term ‘concentrate’, I use a Jetstream on my front bars which is used for hydration throughout the race, I carry a 750ml bidon (which has texta marks dividing it into 4 equal sections) on my down tube which has a concentrated mix of 8 scoops of Choccy Opti and 4 scoops of Raspberry Endura which makes a ‘Chocberry’ concentrate. When I finish the Opti in the 1st hr. I simply squeeze a measured amount from the bidon into the Jetstream then fill the rest with water I pick up from any aid station – a very safe option!
A quick T2 saw me out onto the run course and I was feeling good. I had good stride length, no tightness, no niggles or twitches and settled into getting my chicken wing arms out and getting in the groove. I thought I had come into T2 with possibly 3 x 40-44 AG’ers in front of me. I passed one in T2, didn’t see any others, then I spotted Matt Koorey. He is a pretty well built fella, about 5’8”, light on his feet and was moving real well. I passed him on the way out to the Settlement Pt turnaround on the 1st lap. He stayed close by, he knew we were racing for 1st in A/G. & that is how it remained until the start of the 3rd lap. I went past the finish line at the 21 km mark and fell in a huge hole. I was running along the breakwall with a massive urge to spew, piss and walk. Near Town Beach is an aid station. I thought I’ll go for the leak at a porta loo first, walk to the aid station which is close by, down a heap of Coke and see what happens. I reckon I drank 5 cups of coke, lost about 3 mins then headed off. The hill part was coming up so I waddled up that, went down through town feeling horrible then when I hit the Bowling Club the lights came back on. I knew Matt had passed me at the aid station so now it was a case of finding him, then hunting him down. I caught him on the way out to Settlement Pt on that lap & sat on his shoulder for 2 km’s, he knew I was there and tried a few variations in pace. All of a sudden he darted off to the side of the road before we were about to head back into the houses at Park St. I thought ‘cunning bugger’ as he now wanted me to set the pace, I kept to my perceived effort of 7 and didn’t play any games. I walked every aid station to ensure I got enough fluids in as it was quite warm and continued on with the Coke, a gel every ½ hr and a SaltCap now every ½ hr. At the start of the last lap I did something which I never do, at the start of the Breakwall I looked over my shoulder to see where Matt was. I couldn’t see him. Again at the end of the Breakwall I looked, still I couldn’t see him. Shit! Was all I could think. I put the hammer down, lets really put this beyond doubt and kick him while he is down and struggling. I felt the first twinges of cramp starting, still there was 7-8km’s to go. One massive cramp may loose me a minute, then the subsequent cramps and slowing down meant this race was still finely balanced. I ran past Team Lewis at the bottom of Clarence St & let them know I was in 1st AG place. They had worked it out and yelled heaps of encouragement. Billy Sinclair was on the ball as well, knowing what was going on and his encouraging words were gold. I kept pushing, little twinges getting me in the upper hammy every time I had to jump over a gutter or change direction around a fellow competitor, the course was by now getting quite crowded and the twinges weren’t bad enough to slow me. Over the 2 bridges, down into Settlement Rd. then I hit the turnaround, a sign said 3 km’s to go, surely not I thought. I did a time split at the turnaround to see how far behind Matt was, I passed him after 1min 40sec’s. That’s great, 3min 20secs in front with 3 km to run, Mmmmmmmmm. I turned off Settlement Rd, headed towards the bridges then over to the footpath near Panthers. Here the footpath goes down onto the road, you have to jump over what is quite a high gutter, I did it and twinge……. Not a full blown cramp but the 1st stages of one. I slowed a little and by this point I could look across the Hastings River and see the finish line, I could even hear Mike Reilly. The last cramping ‘event’ I had was running up the slight incline just before the William St. bridge. It was nowhere near as big as the Panthers cramp and I knew then that I had it. I crossed over, then down past the supermarket & transition area, a quick high 5 off Billy who was awesome all day, then into the massive crowd towards the finish chute. I had to work hard to spot Team Lewis, saw them then in my eagerness to get over to them nearly tripped over some finish chute matting. The crowd who were making a lot of racket gasped when I nearly fell, but I laughed so everyone cheered. Hugs and kisses all round for the team, then off down the rest of the chute dishing out about a hundred high 5’s, & across the finish line for Mike Reilly to launch into his immortal lines – ‘Matty Lewis, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN’. A catcher was there ready for me but some how Shane Smith saw me & bolted over with a grin from ear to ear and gave me a hug. Stubbsy followed not long after and he confirmed that I had won my A/G and had finished 14th overall. I went and sat off to the side for a while and got a bit emotional. I had a pre set timeline of events from the past 2 years that I wanted to retrace in my mind over the last couple of km’s of the run. This didn’t happen as cramp and being chased by a gun A/G champ like Matt Koorey put paid to this. I sat there for 5 mintues thinking of 2 yrs and 15 days ago, My life nearly ended, my body was broken, I was told I would suffer brain damage (BJ shut up !!) and the possibility of me ever running again let alone walking without a limp was pretty high. I was bed ridden for 4 weeks, in a wheel chair for 2 months, on crutches for another 3 months and things were looking grim as my pace of physio was to great for what had been set out for me by my Hospital Physio’s and my recovery temporarily slowed. Then along came John Quinn, a man whom I cannot speak highly enough of. I won’t go on about it here, but all who know me know that if given the time I can tell some great stories of how he got me up and going. My family too, strewth, what I’ve put them through. My boss reckons Marie is a Saint, I’d prefer a Magpie but I know exactly what he means, Marie, Tilly, Tom and Meggie are all great support and are quick to ground me when I get ahead of myself . They are what makes me, me. Thanks also to Team Lewis – Stevo, Fee & Rochelle, great supporters and Stevo is the boss when it comes to all things IM and its organisation of the TEAM. GSP – great wheels mate, Training partners Hepps, Gary P & Robbie Tarranto. Scotty Hollow and Team XOSIZE what they do for me is absolutely priceless and Rapido Cycles – Robbie Bell again another great supporter of mine. Finally also thanks to Gregory Farrell and G Train – they know why !!
HAWAII here I come !!!!!!
Matty

Haven't had too much to say !!

2010-05-03T21:21:00.004+10:00

So that's why I haven't blogged in a while. I can't remember when it was the last time since I put a TIMELY post in, so I'll give you all the short version of what has happened (chronologically) since Christmas.
X-Mas day - Spent down in Gippsland with the whole family together again for the first time in well........... 5 months. Always good to catch up with them all.
Boxing Day - Drove to Jindabyne via Buchan, Suggan Buggan, over the Snowy river, around near the back of Kosciuszko then Jindabyne. A dirt road that has the most spectacular views of the Snowy River and the Snowy mountains. The next 8 or so days were spent chilling out in Jindabyne, not far from Cooma where I grew up as a kid/teenager, it's sort of my 'spiritual home'. We had a great time with 'Team Lewis' and Jill, Sean and kids, the weather was great and I rode the bike heaps. Rode from Jindy to Thredbo, Perisher, Charlottes Pass all on various occaisons. I hope to add some more details on those rides later.
Quinny - Started back up post Xmas albeit for a few sessions before going in for an op.
Alpine Classic - Rode the 140km ride which was Bright/Tawonga Gap/Bright/Mt Buffalo/ Bright. Did this with good mates Grechy & 'The Gaz' and had a ball. The hip gave me no grief at all, the weather was great and our 'Team' of riders took up nearly 1/4 of the caravan park!
Metal removal !! - Went in for an op on the 3rd Feb to get the 3 monster 110mm long screws taken out of my once sheared femoral neck (femur where it kinks to go up towards your hip socket). I was on crutches for a week and in a touch of pain. Again limited amount of painkillers used, it wasn't that painful compared to the last hour of an Ironman (hehehehehe).
Quinny - again - Back with the GURU. He even took Matty E, JB, Mike C, The Gaz and I for a killer water session the Monday before the Grand Prix. We all know that JB won in Melbourne and Quinny will no doubt put this down to his killer hypoxic workout that nearly drowned myself & the F1 World Champ !!!
Back on the bike, again 5 weeks after the hip op I was given the green light to ride again. No specific goals at hand, just get the hip used to moving without binding up too much. It was great to be back on it.
Ironman Oz, Port Macquarie 2010 - This time as a spectator. Again we stayed at the Sundowner Caravan Pk. 'Team Lewis' also flew up for 5 or so days and it was on !! Fair dinkum it was like an end of season footy trip. I haven't drank that much sice the last West Brunswick Amateur FC EoS trip to the Gold Coast last century, 1999 from memory. I've been told that I'm not allowed to support anymore as I'm too over the top. Nothing to do with the slab of Draught and all the Bundy that Stevo and I drank. It was great to watch the event 'from the other side'. I felt like a prophet at times with people asking me what would be happening next and what would be going through peoples minds throughout different parts of the race etc. My answers were truthful at the start of the day but no doubt would have been sprinkled with a touch of poetic licence as the day wore on and the esky got emptier. Great holiday though with great weather (again) and one which Marie and the kids truely enjoyed.
We bought and sold a house - Our humble little home of 11 years was great before the kids hit their teenage years. Having sprawling lounging spider monkey like teenagers getting in your way is now par for course in the 'Lewis Manor'. A bigger place was needed, found & purchased. The ensuing scramble to get the 'Manor' up to speed was pretty comical. In the end all worked out well and we are still over the moon with the price we got.
Serious plans - serious actions - I passed my next 12 month Sporting plans onto Quinny for his appraisal. I got the double thumbs up from the Guru, so then put those plans into action and as Borat would say - "Great success"

My training is going quite well with a few smaller goals in place before a few half Ironman races towards the end of the year, then Off to Ironman Oz 2011.
I placed 2nd (out of 118) overall in the Northern Combine Alf Kimpton Memorial Handicap which was a 99km road race in Broadford. I raced in C grade but ended up breaking away with the eventual winner. We solo'ed off and I got beaten in a sprint between the two of us by a wheel. I'm by no means disappointed as this far exceeds my expectations and to get home well before the A & B graders made it all the more special. Check the results here -
Next race - My next race is this weekend at Calder park as part of the 'teams challenge'. Hoping to get around and have as much fun as i did in Broadford.

Until next time, train hard, train safe.

Check This !!

2010-02-11T21:43:00.004+11:00

A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step !!

Back in December last year I dropped by RMH for one of my regular appointments with my Orthopaedic Surgeon. It was hopefully one of my last appointments, my hip got scanned and during my consultation with Dr. Love, he muttered the words that I've been hanging out to hear for a long time - "It's all good, you're right to run"............. So run I did. I took a photo of my first 'running steps' on the beach in Lakes Entrance later that day. It felt awkward, it felt strange. It didn't feel the way I remembered it - effortless, loping, whisking along at a quick pace with my 'chicken wing' arms sticking out. My gait and stride length was cautious, my core even though the strongest it has ever been felt inadequate. All this for just over 30 metres in loose sand.
The emotional feeling though was one of the strongest I have ever felt. I had been waiting for that moment for such a long time, I have been through a lot - from near death, to a hospital bed for a month, a wheel chair for 6 weeks then on crutches for another 2 months. To be able to do what is probably one of the greatest gifts given to me and do it after some professionals predicted that I wouldn't was a feeling of sheer exultance. It wasn't as if I was saying 'stuff you' to them, it was the fact that I was doing something that I have done all my life and to have that taken away from you with no set certainty of getting it back has been at the back of my mind since the crash. Free as a bird, and yep - I teared up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Train safe, Matty

I'm back - well not quite

2010-02-10T14:17:00.001+11:00

My first 'race' back since Ironman Oz 09 and although it wasn't the the full '3 legs' it was still racing for which you had to train and prepare for. Shepparton 1/2 Ironman signalled the start of my 'comeback' to triathlon and racing. Not long after this I backed up with 2 legs of the Canberra 1/2 Ironman - the swim and ride. Again a steady progression back to what I truely love doing.
I was always going to race Shep i just had to assemble a team. My neighbours and all round good guys Anthony & his son Patrick helped out and formed the 'Rough Diamonds'.
We had a few hiccups along the way. So many in fact that we nearly didn't get to the start line, Patrick is under age so we had to do a 'dodgy' on his birth date, then Anthony, on the debut ride on his Mega quick Carbon Fibre track bike got his front wheel taken from under him at the DISC indoor velodrome track in Thornbury. Usually falling on an indoor wooden track means only burns & splinters but he fell low side and subsequently broke his collarbone - 6 weeks out from the race! It all came together well and the team ended up finishing the race in 5hrs12mins08secs, finishing 21/48 in the teams section. My swim time was a very leisurely 37:20 while the winged warrior Anthony rode a blistering 2:34:46 on a road bike, his time also included my walk to T1 as I can't run yet!! Patrick finished off well in the heat of the day with a 2:00:01 run.
Onto mid December and it was up to Canberra with Gary 'The Gaz' Pertot and myself to stay with a good mate 'The Legend'. Ledge as he is affectionately known is a great mate who I have known since I was 16 and have lived together in various different batchelor pads all over the inner city area. He now subsides up in Canberra where he works as a policy adviser for the government. It's always a trap going up to see Ledge as he is known for his love of an ale and a late night so you have to be ultra disciplined if you are going to be serious about your race. This was the 5th time I've been up to Canberra for the 1/2 so what better time to rake Ledge into a race than now. I asked him at the start of November if he'd be keen on doing the run leg of the race, with myself doing the swim & bike combo. No worries he said so it was job done.
Only 4 stubbies and a Subway foot long tuna & salad roll on Saturday night was part of the carbo load then it was onto race morning. The Gaz & I started off in the last wave, 30mins behind the pro's so there was a lot of swanning time to be had. It turned out to be good as there was a good bit of time to warm up in the water. The swim went off without a hitch in the vile waters of Lake Burley Griffin. The lake stank like dead cows in a few spots & didn't taste much better, still I swam well (for me) and ended up plodding out a 36:28. The walk to T1 took forever, and that combined with getting my road riding shoes and socks on added probably another 5 mins to my ride time. The ride was probably one of my greatest. Sure it wasn't the quickest but I was consistent, attacked the hills hard, even passed Jason Shortis & Sam Hume on the 2nd lap going through the hills (they were about 10km/h faster on the flats!!). I simply road hard all 3 laps, the looks on peoples faces as I passed them on their TT machines with deep dish carbon wheels etc. was priceless. I rode Top 50 overall and 4th in the Team category, ending up with a 2hr 42min 44sec ride. Legend finished off the race with a 1hr 53min half mara. Afterwards was great with takeaway Turkish pizza’a and plenty of Boags being consumed. The Gaz and I left Canberra on the Monday morning and headed home after a great weekend in the nations capital.

Give so the Mo may GROW !!

2009-11-24T07:41:00.004+11:00

OK, OK, I know - it's whispy, patchy, insipid, a poor excuse, it makes me laugh, how can I take you seriously? etc. etc.
Well now its time for you all to help me out. As you can see I'm well past the half way point of Movember. The donations are coming in nicely at the MOment, BUT, I really want to bolt home with this. Help me out by donating to the Mo cause at my Movember page below
Remember, Donations above $2 are tax deductible.

Thanks and SHOW ME THE MONEY !!!

http://au.movember.com/mospace/344158/
Please cut and paste as I can't get the link to work.

I'm back.........

2009-11-07T22:26:00.006+11:00

In more ways than 1 ! I know I've been real slack and haven't posted for a while, it's due to a few things (work) and the other major thing - THE BIKE.

This pic was taken on my first 'spin' back on the bike on 14th July, 3 months after the accident. Since then things have progressed slowly from 15 minute light spins to full 3 hour cruises with the Rapido training crew with itermittent bursts of speed and pulls on the front which are now increasing in duration. My best ride to date was over the Cup weekend where usual training pals Gary, Rob and Phelpsy came out to play on a beautiful mild, calm Saturday morning ride to Mordialloc and back. Average speed was 33.2km/h with the HR at a very pleasing 142 bpm average. I'm happy with that HR as running is still STRICTLY off the cards and relative fitness is hard to come by. Again my Dr's seem to be giving me mixed messages with my running, but as guru Quinny keeps telling me, it's just around the corner.
As for the guru - John Quinn, the man is a marvel. Everything he does and lays out in front of me is 100% measured, and as happened at last Friday's session when I was a bit sore in the groin, his contingency plans are also meticulously planned. The ongoing strengthening and core work he has me doing is not only getting me back to where I was, but I believe it will make me a stronger athlete once I have fully recovered.

This is pretty much the condition I was in when I started with Quinny, and now I believe I have the strongest core I've ever had. When my Femur has fully recovered I will be able to train and race a lot harder, there's a few races in a couple of years time that I have set aside as 'A' races where I seriously want to challenge my Ironman PB. Watch this space.

Until that time I will stick with my measured return but with a few extras thrown in. One extra is I'll be racing (swim leg only for me!)at the Shepparton 1/2 Ironman in the teams event with a few of my neighbours and top mates, Anthony Grech and his young fella Patrick. We're called the 'Rough Diamonds' due the fact that I'm coming back off a big crash, and just after I asked Anthony to 'do Shep' he crashed his brand new (yes, only done a few laps) carbon fibre track bike and broke his collarbone, this happened 6 weeks out from Shep. He's back on the bike now and riding well so he'll get through the 90km's no doubt. His young fella Patrick will do the run for us and he'll anchor us really well. He's run the City to Surf in well under an hour so that should translate into a good 1/2 marathon time for him.
I'm also going to head up to the Canberra 1/2 IM for another teams event. I'll keep you all posted on that, I'm hoping Canberra turns the weather on for that one as the last 2 I've done there has been shocking.

I'll leave it there, it's getting late and I'll be up early to take on the Rapido boys so I have to be pretty sharp.

Until then Train hard, train smart.
Matty

It's a long way too the top............

2009-08-16T16:38:00.004+10:00

When you've got some broken bones........... My favourite song, not quite those lyrics but you know what I mean, the retro afficionado's will no doubt remember that this great song (A long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n roll - AC/DC)also has one of the simplest and greatest film clips ever - jammin' on a flat top truck croozin' down Swanston St. Melbourne, Bon Scott growling his lungs out, the Young brothers ripping fingernails off on their guitars and the Rats of Tobruk pipeband duelling the guitars with their bagpipes - it all made for an absolute classic.

My journey back to the top starts. It sounds a bit of a toss - 'back to the top', truely I never got there (top) in terms of results, but to me 'back to the top' is simply about me being in good enough physical shape to take on whatever task I want to apply myself too. I've stated in a previous post what my goals are and nothing has changed. What has changed a lot, though, is my body shape, it has reverted back to my pre triathlon shape (read: footballer or even better - attacking half back flanker!!), being very top heavy or thick chested and skinny legged. This is no doubt due to doing a stack of upper body weights and not much in the way of leg weights. This will hopefully turn around soon as I start putting more power through my legs. I've increased my riding up to 30 minutes a session which is once a day with spinning currently done in a 39/17 gear for a 'power set'. The gearing and time will no doubt increase until I'm back on the roads in early September.

Getting me ready of course is being left to the expert. John Quinn has been putting me through the wringer with some pretty tough and thorough workouts in the pool. It's amazing what a difference a true professional makes. His exercises are all very structured, with one drill complimenting the next drill until every part of my body aches and I can't take much more, then he pushes me a little further. A great part of my rehab is being able to do it with an elite AFL footballer who is also going through some trials of his own. Matty Egan plays for Geelong and has several honours next to his name such as being a member of the '07 AFL team of the year (All Australian team). He's a great bloke who has been struggling with a navicular (bone in the middle of the foot) problem and has turned to Quinny to try to get him ironed out for another tilt at playing footy. We're working together using a medicine ball in the water and various other exercises, some of which are semi competitive. It's hard work being put up against someone who has played at the highest level whose competitive nature really shines in the one on one stuff, but it does, and will, get me to the next level even quicker.
Before you start questioning my sanity with a medicine ball in the pool, the answer is yes! We are doing it. It really and I mean really puts a tremendous load on your core muscles when you have someone throwing a heavy ball at your scone, catching it, then throwing it back quickly before moving to the next post ready for the cycle to begin again. A full lap of the 25m VUT pool doing that and it is nearly time to bring the breakfast up ! I'll add some photo's in soon of rehab and me doing some drills with Quinny and that will hopefully better explain what I'm doing.

As for me, things are going great. Work is getting busier and I'm really enjoying working on a few personal goals I've set myself. Walking is easier although I'm still limited with distances ie: if I have to walk over 50 metres, use the crutches! All walking around home, the pool, gym etc. is done 'freestyle'. I'm enjoying weight lifting and have gone from struggling to bench press 15 kg's 2 months ago to benching 3 x 8 reps @ 60kg's just a few weeks back. I've done a few 1MaxRep tests where I was benching my body weight (80kg's), but as mentioned this will really taper off now as cycling places more emphasis on my legs.
I feel great, hugely positive and really can't wait to get back on the road and start working at getting closer to the goals I set myself.

Until next time, train hard, smart and safely,
Matty

Goals, Goals, Goals !!

2009-06-30T08:59:00.002+10:00

There's light at the end of the tunnel :-)
It's all good news. Since my last blog where I received the dim news on not being able to run for 18 months, it's just been a matter of wrapping my mind around it, finding alternatives and getting on with healing. My rehab is coming along really well. Although I'm still on crutches, I'm gradually putting a little more weight on my right leg getting it ready for walking which will hopefully happen within the next 2 weeks. My rehab is consisting of hydrotherapy x 3 mornings a week, swimming 3 times and weights/gym/stretching 3 times a week. This is all about to change as I've just hooked up with a new physio - more about that later.
Currently my Hydrotherapy is being done as an outpatient at Royal Melbourne, Parkville. The facilities there are pretty good but the program that has been done for myself has not been altered since I started Hydro 7 weeks ago. So what I have done to combat this is start doing the exercises on my program as interval training ! I do lengthy periods of 'cycling motion' in the water which started off as light at the program's beginning, but have now turned into solid 5 minute efforts with recovery time before another effort. I usually pyramid this and lift the intensity as the time decreases. The Physio's, let alone the patients were a little bemused by all this but most are tolerant and undestand what/why I'm doing it. Swimming has been going OK, but not great. Despite doing a combination of freestyle & backstroke for up to 1600m (gotta break the mile now!) and kickboarding as well for increased leg strength, my body still doesn't feel right. My reach in the water is not where it used to be as my back and shoulders have lost a great deal of flexibility. Weight training is going well, I'm using the St. Bernards gym and have devised a high rep/low weight program to get the upper body back to its usual shape. I can't do any weight bearing exercise on my right leg, so I stay away from any leg work as there is a massive amount of imbalance happening down there at the moment - this is an area best left to the experts.
Speaking of experts, I mentioned I have a new physio. John Quinn will be taking on the challenge to get me back and raring to go. Check him here: http://www.johnquinn.net.au/blog/
John is an amazing fella, having spoken to him a few times he has really got me looking a lot more positively at my sporting future. He has worked with a lot of Australia's elite - Cathy Freeman, Daniel Kowalski, Team coach for the Australian Sydney 2000 Olympic Track & Field squad, head conditioning coach for the Socceroo's, strength & conditioning coach with an ICL (Indian Cricket League) team and Essendon Footy club, where he was High Performance & Training services manager. He will devise a program that will include physio, massage, stretching, strengthening and even dabbling into pilates/yoga as well. His approach is very thorough as I've already had to record my long & short term goals and send off some training info (Polar HRM graphs) of where I was at the start of a training block (IMOz '09), progressing all the way through to taper and race day of that training block. He works on existing benchmarks so actual progress made is 100% relevant to me and my ability. My short & long term goals are listed below -

DATE/TIME FRAME
GOALS
13/07/2009
Appointment with Dr. Love at RMH. XRay of R. Hip to be taken on Friday 10/07.
Mid June - Mid August
Exercise & build up legs so that walking is effortless. Ride on stationary bike at low wattage, slowly increasing mileage over time.
Sep-09
Build up to 2 hr's road riding
Late Oct - early Nov
Bunch ride - 3hrs at back of pack (lower HR)
Late December
3 hrs. Solid paced ride - >32km/h in good conditions (nil wind etc)
January 24th 2010
Alpine Classic 140km ride - Bright/Tawonga Gap/Mt Beauty/Tawonga Gap/ Bright/Mt. Buffalo/Bright. Social pace.
Feb 2010
Build up 5-6 hrs riding
7/03/2010
Alpine Attack 230 kms. Competitive pace dependant on how body is.
June 2010
Northern Combine 3 day tour - hopefully racing A or B grade.
Oct 2010
Melbourne to Warrnambool.
Dec 2010
IronMan Western Australia - Busselton.

I'll keep you all posted as to how I'm progressing over time, hopefully all going well I'll be riding with you all out on the road soon !!

Until then, Train hard, Train safe!
Matty

Some good, some bad

2009-06-01T21:31:00.002+10:00

The title best describes my visit to my Orthopaedic surgeon today. I had an AM appointment with Dr. Love and all is going well, but he muttered a few words that drove a knife into my heart - no running for 18 months, shit :-( I don't know how best to take this, I am gutted. It's a sport that I love and have excelled in since primary school. It has also been part of my de-frag time, I love going out and churning out a 1 to 1.5 hour run when things aren't going right, quite often I'll come back and things are so much clearer. The thing I really hate and I'm getting sick of is "It's only a short part of your life, stuff it up now (next 18 mths) and you'll stuff up the rest of your life". I just wish I never crashed, it wasn't even a fair dinkum training ride for fucks sake. But I have to look at the positives. I'll hopefully be able to walk unaided in 6 weeks. I'm no longer in the wheelchair, but will be on crutches until that time. I will hopefully be able to ride my bike on the windtrainer at the end of that period as well - fingers crossed.
Other positives to come out of the appointment were that my hip joint looks good. Everything is alive and well. I'm still not out of the danger period though. There is still a slight chance that my hip may, for no known reason, just reject what work has been done on it and die. There is a 10% chance of this happening, it was 20% 6 weeks ago. A total hip replacement is the last thing on this earth that I want.
All my other injuries are going great, my clavicle is painless although I have some tricep and deltoid damage which is a bit painful. My skull is still numb all over but the 'sore bone' feeling has gone but chewing is still a slight drama, my rib has healed and I could easily have forgotten about my blood clots if it weren't for my daily dose of Warfarin.

I'm not enjoying typing this much, I was going to put up a few of my sporting goals for the next 2 years but I'll hold off for a few days. Until then -

Train safe, train hard
Matty

Photo Time - post crash hospital

2009-05-20T19:39:00.008+10:00

I'm not too sure about putting these photo's up as it sits a little bit uneasily with me. I don't want to become a freak show or for people who didn't see me in hospital to have a fit after seeing them as I was pretty crook when a lot of them were taken. The worst photo's will never see the light of day so what you are seeing here is the M rated version or the before 8:30pm time slot images.

This was taken 9 days after the crash. There's some pretty series heavy metal happening, that coupled with the dark rings under my eyes had Tilly & Tom calling me 'The Goth'........................

This one was taken 14 days after. I had the full lower half compression gear on as a blood clot had moved from my hip area into my lungs and these were put on as a bit of preventative maintenance. I only just realised looking at it that the right hand side of my head is still quite swollen.

Sporting one of the greatest comb-over hair styles in triathlon, my winter weight loss regime got off to a solid start. Meggie was suitably impressed about my dedication to the cause !!

Unfortunately the rest of the family thought the comb-over was a joke and I was ordered to get a buzz cut. And as for the weight loss regime, that has been scrapped in favour of an off season high fat full taste diet !!

Finally, here I am enjoying myself in the water for once ! It's a great feeling actually getting in the water and having a splash around (physio). Being confined to a wheelchair is not a lot of fun. Even worse than the normal disabled obstacles that are thrown at you in your normal daily tasks is the feeling of sitting around when I know I can physically move about without much pain. But, I know these 2 months are absolutely critical in that any weight bearing on my leg can have huge ramifications down the track and will increase my chances of a hip replacement. Having done a bit of my physio with a fella in his late 40's who has had a hip replacement, this is definitely not an option that I want to explore. So as much as I hate it, the wheelchair is my friend.

Stay fit & well,

Matty

The (s)low down on my condition

2009-05-06T17:04:00.000+10:00

G'day !!

Nothing much happening at the moment so this is an obvious time to give you all an update of where I'm at. I'm unsure of the best way to do this so I suppose I'll start from the top.
The Head - All is good, well I shouldn't really say that as the massive scar I have on the bonce has all but ruined my yet to be announced modelling career! Seriously, I have a scar the size of my fist on the right hand side of my head. 64 staples were holding it all together and the scar runs down the outside of my face right near the cheekbone. I still have a pretty sore head as it is quite a major fracture that is healing and chewing is still hard as the break went to the top of the jawbone area. I'm still having Psych assesments and damage to my brain still hasn't been ruled out but psychologically I feel as 'normal' as I've ever been !
The Clavicle - The poor old shoulder got a bit neglected in the first 2 weeks & I'm paying the price now..... I didn't sling it & even though I was in bed the whole time I tended to use it a bit, subsequently my healing time has blown out a few weeks and it's the major cause of any discomfort I have. My range of movement is quite low, possibly due to muscular damage but she won't be helping me punch out some ok lap times in the pool for a little while yet.
Femur - All is good here! My range of movement has the physio's scratching their heads and things are progressing well. Hydrotherapy is the only work I'm allowed to do and that is going well, although it is amazing how quick my core muscles have turned to stretchy rubber bands! The only issue with my hip is that I'm not allowed to weight bare on it for another 4 weeks. Yep - ZERO weight, what that means is I'm wheel chair bound until my next hip scan at the end of May. If I bare weight on it there is a 20% chance that the 'ball' of the femur where the break occurred may not rejoin to my Femur and become 'necrotic', which is basically a slow dieing process which will necessitate a hip replacement possibly 6 months down the track. The likelihood of this still remains for 5 years but the percentage lessens as time goes on.
The Rib - Hahahahaha, don't make me laugh, no pepper please as well coz sneezing hurts like hell ! Other than that all is good here.
Blood Clots - Bloody hell these were painful. I remember GSP saying they hurt a lot but i really didn't understand how a few 'small chunks of blood on your lungs' can be so debilitating. These were by far the most painful thing I experienced whilst in hospital. Talking was reduce to 1 word before taking a painful, stabbing knife like gasp of air to build up enough pressure for your next single word. You literally and quite painfully ran out of breath telling a story. The pain was confined to about 2 days then gradually to nothing after about 31/2 days. A few dramas unfolded during my initial dosing of Heparin (blood thinning agent delivered intravenously) where my Liver was metabolising the drug quicker then it had time to do its work. My dosage started off at 30ml's/hour but by the end was at what the doctor called 'an all time high' of 60ml's/hr. This way my Liver didn't have time to metabolise all the drug and some of it got through and did its job. I'm now on a drug called Warfarin which I'm taking 10mg dose. Since the origin of the clot was in my hip and post operative, it looks as though my stay on Warfarin could only be as little as 3 months, this as like the rest of my injuries are all subject to scans/xrays/mri's/tests etc. before being cleared.

So the rest ? Well I've lost 7 kg's. Weighing a stealthy 78kg on the day of the crash(IM race weight 10 days previously = 76.5kg) I now weigh a paltry 71kg. My legs look to be where I've lost the majority of my muscle mass. Jeez they look shockingly thin, just like match sticks. I have no fat around my waist and the smallest 6 pack ever on display. I think it looks like a 6 pack of those small Yakult fermented milk bottles.
The hair, well a buzz cut was the only option here. I'm now sporting a #2 all round but still have the beard fully intact. All my other road rash wounds that literally covered my whole right hand side from my upper back/shoulder to half way between my knee and ankle have all but gone and although there are a total of 5 deep gouges on the elbow, shoulder & hip area, all the rest has flaked off with what appears to be minimal scarring.
That's the latest on my injuries, and as always, my family, friends, WSTC, and the Tri world in general have been absolutely huge in their support for me. It has been an amazing experience and some of the efforts people have gone to have been inspiring and I am guilty of tearing up after some of them.

Thanks all, I'll see you soon.

Matty

My world comes crashing down !!

2009-04-29T21:12:00.000+10:00

I think the majority of the people I know who read this will already know that I've had quite a large(ish) bike crash and have spent a fair amount of time in hospital. Just to clarify all the details I'll run through them below.
On Tuesday 14th April, on a beautiful sunny 25 degree Melbourne day, I set off for a casual ride out to 'Wildwood' - a popular 65km loop just north of the Melbourne Airport. On one of the descents going into the last gorge (where the old bridge is) i came off my bike at high speed, approx. 70 km/h and landed on the right hand side of my body. I have little recollection of the rest of the events until I got to hospital save that I did manage to call Marie and let her know what had happened and that a passerby had called an Ambulance which took me into Royal Melbourne Hospital casualty dept. Upon arrival I was diagnosed with a fractured skull and a broken clavicle. A subsequent scan revealed a blood clot on my brain which required urgent surgery. Following surgery on my brain, I've also had surgery on a broken femur which was diagnosed after 2 painful days, medical staff even had me walking around on it before it was diagnosed!
The list of breaks from the crash sits at - fractured skull, broken clavicle, broken femur, broken rib and clots on the brain and lungs - which eventuated a week after I came in.
I have been in hospital for 16 days now and have just found out that I'll be off to rehabilitation for at least 3 - 4 weeks. I'm pretty happy about this as it the next step to me getting home. Physio sounds as though it will be quite intense both on the neurological side and the orthopaedic side.
I've had a lot of time to think about what has happened, and yes, I shouldn't be around today, but the simple fact remains is I'm here, and best of all I still feel my 'good old self'. A lot of my friends have asked me if this is a 'wake up call' or a 'sign', an 'omen' - call it what you will but the general thrust of the question is whether I'll ride ever again, and/or race competitively again. The answer in short -You BETCHA !

See you all out there, soon - REAL SOON!
Matty

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM - IRONMAN OZ 09 RACE REPORT

2009-04-13T01:42:00.000+10:00

Well not quite for the swim anyway! So I think I’ll call this report KaBoom, zoom, zoom.
As noted my training went well right through the summer with new found training buddies Gary Pertot and Rob Taranto. They’re great blokes and very different people how they go about approaching their training. Rob’s a flat out type of bloke who wants to go 100 miles an hour every training session while Gary is very measured and sticks to what his plan says (but can be swayed!). I sort of slotted in between these blokes well, Gary was there taming me when we had the long aerobic stuff and Rob was there pushing me along for the harder sessions. He is very much like another good mate, Geoff Pell (GSP), in the way that he rides, he’s as strong as an Ox and hits hills real hard. On Sunday’s Rapido bunch ride where there are many strong (and smart) riders, Rob is the benchmark of strength. A big positive training with these fellas was picking Gary’s brain about all things Triathlon & cycling as he has a pretty deep knowledge on training methods, recovery etc. The humour was also a big highlight of this years training, it can get pretty tedious at times pushing out the big km’s, but there was always a good yack or plentiful sledging going on. Apart from the persistent ITB trouble on my right knee, we arrived in Port Mac on the Wednesday and I was feeling as though I was in pretty good shape.

Port Mac ’09 will be remembered for the ‘great wet’, the whole Northern Coastal area of NSW copped a ‘1 in 100 years’ dose of rain. All the transition area, check in area and virtually everywhere else around the IM village was under 4 inches of mud due to the construction equipment chopping the ground up and leaving it smelling like a Melbourne footy oval in the middle of winter – stink! It made getting around difficult and was a general pain in the arse right throughout the weekend.
Check in on Saturday went well and I was carbed & electrolyted up to the eyeballs ready for a bigun’.

On race morning I met up with Rob and Gary at Gary’s unit (we were all staying at the Sundowner ) and we trekked on over to the IM Village. Check in was painless and then out to the bike to kit it and wettie up ready for the swim. I saw Marie, Tilly, Tom & Meggie on the way to the swim then GP saw Di, Jenna & Renae so we all had our final good luck wishes then into the water. My positioning was ok, on the outside, closer to the land where the competitors thinned out to avoid the start carnage. It didn’t quite go to plan as I got swam over twice at the very start then got the shit beat out of me over the next 400 metres. At the far turnaround I copped a whack in the goggles that nearly knocked them off and lost my swim cap. The same problem as ’07 happened as my hair was getting in the way making for difficult navigation. This saw me zigzagging all over the joint bouncing off people who were in for a bit off payback and I often copped a smack in the head due to my misguided efforts. This was probably more my fault and most definitely the ‘nude nut’ or ‘chrome dome’ head (the same as Pt Mac ’08) is the way to go here. I exited the water in around 1hrs 09 mins which I was disappointed about, I felt I had swam a lot stronger at swim squad and hadn’t shown my true potential through the muddied waters of the Hastings River. Official Time – 1:08:41, Ave HR (Heart rate): 157 bpm (beats per minute). Swim pace: 1min 48secs/100 metres.
Onto the bike after a slowish 2min 54secs T1, then no great dramas until Lighthouse Drive, which is a small little back road full of crude little road repairs & patches. My only bidon (bottle) cage on the bike, which was carbon fibre snapped then jammed in between my frame & big ring. I lost my bidon of concentrated electrolyte/protein which was full of ELEMENTAL NUTRITION’S finest products (Athletes Advantage and Whey Protein). This had me doing some quick recalculations as I didn’t want to make the same mistake as Hawaii ’08 when my drink went off due to the heat & I had to ditch it. I was now going to rely on Gels, increase my salt tablet intake, cola, and for a flavour change go the occasional Gatorade. It was a good thing I had a new ‘Jetstream’ aero bar mounted bottle on the bike for the first time as this would now have the job of keeping me hydrated through the bike leg.
The roads were wet and very slippery which took a huge edge off your cornering speed and lead to a lot of criterium style sprinting to get the bike back up to speed out of the many corners and bends through town. I quite like the Port bike course, hilly at both ends with a long flat bit in between. Just as you get sick of the hills in town you have the flat of Ocean Drive to look forward to, then when you get sick of rolling along the flat you turn off down Houston Mitchell Dr. or ‘Ghost Rd’ for some more hill action. I was using GSP’s Zipp 999 wheel combination and the whole bike and wheel combo were proving to be very fast and handling the conditions beautifully. There was a slight tail wind into town and the majority of the ride was spent concentrating on staying on top of my gear into it then ‘pushing’ a big gear like crazy going with it. A huge disadvantage with being a poor swimmer is the packs of riders I have to contend with. Yet again drafting was rife within the age group ranks with several large peletons of ‘weak’ riders forming and often encouraging each other to stay together. They were of no inconvenience to me as I was too strong for any of the small appendaged riders to hold onto and simply rode past them then put in an effort when I got to the front so they couldn’t hold my wheel. The laps were ticked off nicely and I enjoyed the whole ride which went pretty much to plan with the only exception being on the last lap on the way out was slow as the legs were starting to feel shot. The support from the crowd was fantastic with Marie, Tom, Tilly & Meggie being their usual vocal selves at Munster St and the Fry, Pertot and WSTC (Tri Mental Edge & ETPA) crews also offering great support. The great thrill here was getting off the bike in under 5hrs. A sub 5hr ride time at any Ironman is the mark of a solid rider and one which a lot of top age groupers gun for, achieving this on the tough Pt. Mac course just makes it that little bit more special. Official time – 4:59:16 secs, Ave HR: 149 bpm, Ave speed: 36.13km/h.
I dropped the bike off, grabbed my run bag then headed through the swamp to the change tent. Extra time was spent drying my feet and getting all the mud off them before putting my socks and runners on giving me a 1min 54sec T2. This probably didn’t help much, as soon as you got out of the change tent there was approx. 60 metres of mud that was 4 inches deep to run through, oh well, I’ll worry about the blisters and chopped up feet tomorrow!
I settled into a comfortable rhythm heading out to Settlement Point then back into town, taking advantage of the flat part of the course to tuck my gels and salt tablets away and set my run up.
I love this run course, flat at one end and hilly at the other, the 3 lapper is great for spectators who duly reward you for your efforts and the volunteer support is absolutely awesome. How the vollies find their energy to continue on all day just astounds me and their levels of help this year was nothing short of sensational. Kilometre markers are a bit scarce on the course which makes doing your timing splits pretty hard, I rely on using my own markers and work off rough splits around them. I’m not too sure how my lap splits were but I feel I got faster every lap. I had no real flat patches and just continued to pick off athletes one by one, hopefully whittling my way down to a respectable placing in both Age Group and Overall. My nutritional plan worked an absolute treat and I even had time to throw in a few of the most awesome tasting cookies around to break up the Gel/Coke routine. The last lap of the run was something that will stick with me forever. I worked out I could do a race PB if I could go a touch quicker, so I put the hammer down, lifted the HR and went for it. The last climbs up past Town, Flynn’s and Oxley Beaches hurt like hell as the HR sailed up past 155 bpm for the first time in hours. My ITB which I hadn’t felt all run was starting to cause me some slight grief, stuff it I thought, I’m nearly home – The old line about ‘pain is temporary’ etc. was running through my mind. I pushed real hard verging on cramp going down the hills then hammered home the last 2 km’s in a touch over 8 minutes to get a sub 3hr 10min marathon time. Wow ! I didn’t have much time for any finish line carry on as I really wanted to get that run PB in as well – I made it !! I felt pumped as I was escorted off to the recovery area. It is a great feeling walking through the tent at that time. There isn’t many athletes that have finished and all the massage staff and catering team are standing around waiting for peak hour in around an hours time, they all turnaround and give you an enormous undivided cheer, I copped a heap of back slaps and hand shakes on a job well done. Chrissie Wellington who had finished about 20 minutes in front of me was sitting down for some tucker and actually took time out to say well done and ask me about my race, the joy on my face must have been pretty obvious and she just kept talking, obviously pretty excited for me – Another buzz !!
Official run time – 3:08:06, Ave HR: 141 bpm, 4min 27secs/km
Overall time: 9hrs 20mins 51secs, 33rd overall, 6th in 35-39 Age Group.

Overall a great race - shit swim, PB on both bike and run, a race PB overall on a tough course after a great training block with some great mates, even another spot for Hawaii if I wanted it! Does this sport get any better ????

Many thanks to Marie, Tilly, Tom & Meggie for their love, support, patience and understanding during training. To my SPONSORS: Rapido Cycles who look after all my bikes & gear, fit me out in the best looking kit and are there at the drop of a hat when I need them, Elemental Nutrition for supplying me with their awesome nutritional products throughout my training block, XOSIZE – thanks for all your help Scotty and to the City of Moonee Valley for their ongoing support.

Cheers,

Matty Lewis – 9 times Ironman.

Rob, GP and I pre race

Port Macquarie cattle yards

Saving it for the 'chute

The Day after - done & dusted !

How good is this race ??

2009-04-12T22:54:00.000+10:00

Paris Roubaix, fair dinkum it makes your hair stand on end ! All the teams are jostling for position before the Arenberg Forest. The peloton are riding on the footpath, and are all over the joint! Maaskant has crashed and is going like a madman with a few Garmin teammates to get back on the pack before the Arenberg.

Dogs Brekky !!

2009-04-12T22:15:00.000+10:00

G'day all,
Kicking back at the moment watching the Paris Roubaix and having a quick squizz at the crap I've typed over the last couple of weeks. I must apologise about the order in which it appears, quite simply a dogs brekky.
Anyway, doesn't matter, youse all know what I mean!! Back to the 'Hell of the North'. My tip is George Hincapie, strewth if any bloke deserves it, it is definitely Hincapie. Also may pay to watch out for Stijn Devolder and Garmin rider Martin Maaskant although he may be a bit knackered being a young fella and having a pretty full spring calendar.
During the adverts (current premature ejaculation - AMI ad !!) I'll proof my race report from Ironman Oz '09 and post her up.
Also while I'm at it I've picked up a new sponsor in XOSIZE. Check them out here - http://www.onlinesportstore.com.au/ if your not keen on the net then pop in & see Scotty & Damian at XOSize in 282 Centre Rd. Bentleigh. They have a great range of running & tri gear and have helped me out with my ITB problems using their 'gait analysis' digital filming technology on a tread mill where they can fit a specific shoe according to your running gait.

Cheers,
Matty - Go George !!

April - Race month

2009-04-12T08:14:00.000+10:00

Nothing much more to say here other than travel and Ironman!
The trip up went smoothly, we left at 3am on Wednesday 1st and arrived into Port Mac at 4pm after a solid 13 hr drive. Shit it’s wet !! The rain started near Goulburn, continued through Sydney and was torrential from Newcastle all the way to Port Mac. It didn’t ease up until 6am this morning – Thurs 2nd! The Hastings River is flowing quite quickly and there’s a lot of debris floating down although swimming in it isn’t too bad. Rob, Gary and I went for a swim in it this morning and the only real drama apart from poor visibility was the fast flowing current. There are a few rumours about mentioning a possible Duathlon (run/ride/run) due to water quality, which would benefit me greatly, but would be a shame since so much time has been invested into getting my swimming up to speed. It’s a funny atmosphere up here, you’d swear there isn’t a race on except for a stack of Victorians and a few tents around the place. There’s no real spark around the joint – shame, I really love that buzz. Maybe it’s because of the weather. It hasn’t been kind and threatens the 2nd half of our holiday up to the Gold Coast as it’s flooded all the way up. I’ll keep you all in the loop as to what’s happening.

Update '09 #2

2009-04-11T23:32:00.000+10:00

FEB 09.
The start of February was solely focused on my race directorship role at Geelong 70.3. The 70.3 is simply a Half Ironman Triathlon that has world championship status. WSTC are contracted through IMG, the event managers, to provide race directors in return for a fee that goes back into the club. It’s a worthwhile way of putting something back into the sport and especially WSTC. The race will be probably remembered by not who won it (IM World Champ Craig Alexander and Kiwi chick Sam Warriner) but for the horrific conditions of Black Saturday, the day before the race. The swim team of Gary Pertot, Rotten Ron Geissler, Stevo Fry, Altona LSC vollies & myself had the swim course half setup on the Saturday morning before the most horrific Northerly winds, that were gusting up to 100km/h, picked up and tore the course apart. I was pissed off to say the least, but that would not even rate a mention compared to what was happening around us to our fellow Victorians. In the end we got the course set up by 8:30pm Saturday night and had it finished off in a mad dash before race start on Sunday. The race flowed smoothly and although questioned about the validity of the length of the course, I can rest assured it was correct – 1905 metres in fact, calculated by Gary on his GPS and backed up by a laser measuring device.
The rest of Feb went really well, with rides and runs increasing in tempo and volume. The North Road ride on Thursday mornings was a favourite as was my regular long run to Brimbank Park. I’d dropped my swims back to 2 a week, hoping that the extra session saved could be better spent in the gym trying to put some bulk on. This sounds strange, as we know leading into a big race we all like to go in light and weight work tapers off, but I have a real problem where my body catabolises available muscle mass and I turn into a runt and have resulting power losses on the bike. Towards the end of Feb I felt the first signs of an ITB injury. I had stupidly changed my running shoes ½ way through my training block, my faithful Adidas training shoes had worn out. I was getting bruised heels in them so I had to change them, which is an absolute no-no at that stage of your IM block. The injury is still here and I’ll have to carry it into the race.

March 09

March is all about volume, it’s a month that really sucks when you look at your training schedule. You are constantly tired, your body is fatigued, it is a real chore to get your HR up out of your aerobic zone and everyone’s patience is out the window. Robbie, Gary and I had some rides where we didn’t even sledge because we were too tired, a stark comparison to a month ago. I picked my swimming back up to 3 mornings a week as I was off the boil in that area and needed to get it happening. With running my ITB was still very painful and massage, ice and stretching were carried out whenever possible. Despite this, there were 3 shining lights for March, number 1 being that there is a taper period at the end of the month, number 2 was a real standout training session when I rode up to Echuca for the labour day long weekend. It is a great ride, which is broken into 2 parts. The first part from Home to Heathcote via Lancefield which is all about climbing, especially from Lancefield to Tooborac where it gets very hilly and wears you out, whilst the road from Heathcote to Echuca is flat and dead and really is a mental challenge to keep your cadence up and stay on top of your gear.I averaged 35.5 km/h on the QRoo and felt as strong as an Ox the whole way. I did have a flat spot just before Heathcote, but 2 delightful Apple & Blueberry scrolls from the Heathcote Bakery fixed this. The 3rd bit of excitement came in the form of a Formula One driver by the name of Jenson Button who had contacted WSTC about doing its last club race. Pete Watson swung into PR overdrive and promptly got his physio Mike Collier & JB organised to race. I had a role in that I had to organise bikes and rides for the boys and generally make sure they had the right riding equipment to do some solid training with us. I organised this through Rapido and TREK and before we knew it they were up at Rapido getting fitted up. We (Mitch P, Greer, JB, Mike and a few of Mike’s mates) did the usual ‘Wildwood’ ride on the Monday afternoon before the GP. Then on the Tuesday we met them at Crown Towers then headed off down Beach Rd. This ride was great ! We (same people as Monday’s ride but with Pete Watson, Gregory F, Joe K and Gary Pertot) took it easy down to Mordi then turned around ready for some sprints, the Black Rock roundabout and BP at Elwood being the choice points for the battle of the Mailot Verde. JB & Mike started off tentative but before we knew it we were drafting off trucks and racing flat out. Both fellas rode exceptionally and had great bike handling skills and enjoyed all the usual bunch carry on. It was a great fun couple of days, and when Jenson qualified on pole position then won the Australian ING F1 GP from go to whoa it was pretty exciting and somehow all the WSTC crew and myself thought that we had contributed in some way. Check out the photos below.

Above: Mike and JB at Rapido getting fitted up on some TREK's

Above: The peloton post ride

Above: Some bloke who drives fast and Matty in Rapido kit !

Update time ’09

2009-04-11T23:01:00.000+10:00

January '09
As promised I’ll put in my ’09 update. Marie’s currently doing her driving stint on the way up to Port Macquarie so no better time than now.
The New Year started off really well. Over the Xmas holidays I set myself a goal of riding 100km’s a day for 10 days in a row. I did this in 2006 before IM New Zealand and although it hurt and I got slower as I progressed, it gave me a great base from which to train off. Robbie Taranto joined in on the 2009 festivities as well and although hampered by bad weather we actually got faster as we went on. It even got to the point that the last few rides were pretty insane, the last ride to Frankston (130 km’s) actually ended up with an average of 36.7km/h ! We definitely got stronger and faster as we progressed through the 10 days.
Training went well throughout January when Team Lewis again set up camp for the Alpine Classic in Bright over the Australia Day long weekend. The camp area was pretty insane with 9 families making the journey from Niddrie to watch the weekend’s festivities. Gary Pertot and Sean Fry were part of the camp and the ride so it was good to have a few fellas around that were off the turps and more content to sit around sipping Gatorades instead.
‘The Alpine’ went really well. I had a goal time of breaking 7hrs for the 200km, 3 minutes quicker than last year. Things started off well, I held onto the front pack over Tawonga Gap then down into the Kiewa Valley. I got dropped on the foot of the climb up to Falls Creek but managed to limit my losses when I teamed up with a few other fellas that had been dropped. With 3 km to go to the summit we still had the lead pack in sight. About 500m before the Falls checkpoint the first fella shot down the hill so I wasn’t far off the front. I had a quick turnaround at the Falls check and started the descent. The TREK was as stable as she comes and an absolute sheer delight to ride. I picked up 5 spots before Mt. Beauty then started to look forward to my arch nemesis – Tawonga Gap – the Kiewa Valley side. I’ve climbed this in previous Alpine’s, whilst training, and also racing and have never been able to climb it well. My legs were good so I hit it as hard as I could. My HR screamed the whole way up and my legs responded amazingly. This is the first time in over a dozen ascents of Tawonga that I’ve really creamed it. Satisfied I hit the descent really hard and caught a few more stragglers from the former leaders group. Another quick turnaround at the Bright checkpoint after loosing valuable time being sent down the wrong streets by volunteers and it was off to Mt. Buffalo. A few quick calculations and it looked as though 7 hrs was very achievable. I worked to Buffalo and half way up it with a chick (Pro) cyclist who was a Pom and training over here with Manchester 2012 in her sights. Jeez she could ride. She had a fantastic Chris Boardman Carbon bike and she was so light and fluttery on her pedals she made it look effortless. I hit a bad patch 7 km’s from the top and was dropped by her. The bad patch was nothing much more than what a gel couldn’t fix, I pressed on still hopeful of breaking the magical 7. I hit the Buffalo checkpoint at 6hrs 8mins 15secs. Its gunna be tight, I knew I had 36 km’s to do in 51mins 45secs. Said a quick G’day to Shane Friend who was riding well within the top 10 at the checkpoint then off I went. I descended hard, bloody hard ! I had 2 dodgy moments, one where I locked up the back brakes and nearly crashed into Greer coming up to the hairpin just after the water stop (aid station 10 km’s from the top). I hit the bottom and powered along the flats of the valley. I had spit and snot flying everywhere, no one to work with, my HR was through the roof but I HAD TO MAKE IT. I pushed hard and a few of the smaller rises saw me go anaerobic which hurt like hell. Still I pushed, hit Bright with 3 minutes to go, I had to go harder, the legs responded, I flew down the finish chute to a massive Rock Star cheer from Team Lewis, then fumbled to get my timing card out, got it stamped AND …………….. 7hrs 00mins 02 seconds………. BUGGER, missed it by 2 seconds – shattered. I couldn’t believe it, an average speed of 27.8km/h and a top speed of 79.6km/h and I missed it by 2 bloody seconds. Oh well, put it behind me, but keep it in mind for the ‘2010 Alpine’. The ‘Alpine’ is always a great day and this one proved yet again that a great event can be had at a really great price of > $100. If you cycle for the pure pleasure of the scenary and the challenge of melting the muscles in your legs, this is for you!

A new addition to the family !

2009-03-23T08:22:00.000+11:00

Yes, you've heard me correctly, about a month ago I became the proud owner of a TREK MADONE 6.9. For those of you that don't know, this is the exact same frame that the one and only Lance Armstrong rides on. Combined with my Bontrager 6.5 Aeoleus wheels she sure looks sleek. With the chunky carbon rims (as shown below) the bike comes in at a very creditable 7.1kg's ! I have some carbon Bouwmeester wheels in the pipeline which weigh 1200grams for the pair, so when they're clipped on, the bike will be under UCI limit - gotta be happy about that. Should make those hilly Northern Combine races a little bit easier.

Many special thanks to Rapido and of course TREK BIKES for giving me this upgrade.

This is a quick update, before the weekend I'll add what I have been doing since X-mas, How my Ironman preperation has gone, some exciting stuff that is happening today and tomorrow (Mon 23rd & Tues 24th March) and probably most importantly, how the jigsaw is fitting together for my BIG race this year - The Melbourne to Warrnambool.

Until then Train safe, Train HARD - Matty

Tour of Bright - the (s)low down

2008-12-16T09:35:00.000+11:00

The silly season has descended upon us all, and for the embattled triathlete/fitness freak it's all about balance this time of year. Trying not to mix too much beer with bourbon, nor eat too much crap food, that is unless you have been unbalanced and drank too much the night before and you need Dim Sims to counteract the effects of the alcohol. Balance I feel is definitely the key! It was with this inhand and a very counterweighted training regime of social drinks with mates - 2 parts, versus training rides - 1 part, that I set off in search of fitness at the Tour of Bright.

I've been looking at this race for a long time. There's something about Bright that I really love. It is probably the hills and being close to the snow, the weather - hot in the summer and bloody cold in the winter. A little bit like Cooma where I grew up. The race is a 2 day, 3 stage race consisting of Stage 1 on Saturday morning, a 105km road stage from Bright to Ovens then over Rosewhite Gap into the Kiewa Valley before going up over Tawonga Gap and back into Bright. Stage 2 on Saturday afternoon was an Individual Time Trial of about 16km length along a rolling road to Wandiligong. Stage 3 was a Sunday morning start from Bright straight up to Mt Hotham summit, a climb of over 1600m in 55km. I was slotted into Masters 2, which in triathlon terms is the 35-39 age group. Masters 1,2 & 3 all raced together, making this a massive field of approximately 90 racers varying in age from 30 to 45 years old. Apart from the elites racing in A grade, this is probably the next most competitive group with times very similar to B grade although the riders are a lot smarter which tends to compound any other riders weaknesses. A great thing about riding in the Masters bunch was the bikes, this is where the money definitely is, high expendable incomes etc. saw heaps of high end bikes that had me in awe as I rolled around in the pack.
Stage 1 started well with the pace being pretty quick after a neutral start through Bright. We hit Ovens with an average around 39km/h, although it was pretty easy sitting at the front 1/3 of the pack. After the turnoff a few attacks started and a small group managed to get up the road. I decided after a few km's to try to bridge accross to them - BIG mistake...... I was on the limit for 20 km trying to chase them back only to have the peloton catch me at the foot of Rosewhite Gap. Being on the limit for so long, and with all the ensuing attacks that were rolling off the pack for the 'King of Mountain' left me absolutely shattered for the climb. I tapped away and tried to limit any loss as best I could, once up the top the main pack had split into 3 smaller packs with me at the back of the 2nd. A crazy, lightening fast descent saw us all regroup before the turnoff onto the Kiewa Valley H'way. We hung a right onto the H'way then a massive turn of pace came on, it was surge and recover for the next 6 - 7 km's until the front guys had broken everyone. I was shattered and still had Tawonga Gap to climb. I went as hard as I could along the valley and up Tawonga, again descending like a madman and finished in a messy bunch sprint with 8 other riders from various grades. In the end I was already 12:46 mins down on GC finishing in 45th spot with an ave of 33.89 km/h, not bad for a hilly stage.
Stage 2 was the ITT complete with a proper 'le Tour' style starting ramping, beeping clock and a 5 to 1 countdown from the race commissaire. Whoosh down the ramp and through the large crowd of what was the start/finish line of an out and back course. The first 3km were horrible, I went anaerobic straight away, couldn't breath, my legs felt shit and there was a 4% climb coming up that was 600m long. I hit the hill as hard as I could when an amazing thing happened - the legs clicked into gear, the heart rate stabilised and pow, off I went. It was like riding with a tail wind but there was none. I was sitting 0n around 50km/h on the flats, my speed dipping on the rises slightly, and finished really strongly in 18th spot for the stage with an average of 40.1 km/h.
Stage 3 is the stage that defines this race. All riders know this is where it will happen and the race will more than likely be won or lost here, the expectation is huge, the thought of climbing one of the biggest mountains in Victoria on shagged legs is not a great one. A massive drama 15 minutes before the stage when I punctured near the start line while warming up had me sprinting back to our tent to quickly change it. I got back to the start line with only a few minutes to spare, a very solid warm up indeed! I didn't have time to reglue the single (tyre) so I just had to be sensible on any descents and not corner too hard. The race started but was neutralised for 5 km until 2 fellas caught up after puncturing. It was pretty cruisie into Harrietville, even slowing down to 25km/h while everyone fuelled up and drank in readiness for the climb. I hit the 1st part of the climb and settled into a nice rhythm. My HR was just below threshold, just where i wanted it to be, my speed was also quite good as I was pulling strong turns at the front of my pack of about 12 riders. This pack stayed together through 'The Meg' right up to the Toll gates where the road again steepens. I was still strong so powered on by myself through the last 10 km's to finish the stage in 27th spot with an average of 25.14 km/h.
My overall position in GC was 35th, 20 minutes down on the race winner. A result that I'm ok with, it could have been better but for the amount of riding I've done I'll treat this as a positive.
Until my next installment, which will probably be about some of the training rides I have planned over the next 4 -5 weeks as well as the Alpine Classic, Take it Easy and have a Merry Xmas and a happy and Healthy New Year.
Cheers, Matty

Up and Running - Again

2008-11-20T20:34:00.000+11:00

G'day, I'm back ! I thought this blog might drop off after Kona, it has generated a lot of interest with people telling me that it was great reading and want to know what I'm up to next. I decided I may as well keep it going if people are getting something out of it.
I'll concentrate mainly on my training and racing but will add what Marie and the kids plus the other members of 'Team Lewis' - Stevo, Fee & Rochelle are up to in our travels and stayovers during my races. As you have all read there are plenty of 'shenanigans' & 'frivolity' happening behind the scenes.
Last Saturday (15/11) we (Team Lewis) made the trek up to Shepparton for the 'Shep 1/2 IM'. We had to leave a bit later than usual due to Tommy's basketball, well worth it as the St. Bernards U14's had another solid win. Actually it was a great weekend for the Lewis kids as Tilly found out her tryout for VUT Flames State netball team was succesful, this'll be a huge step up for her - she will do it, she reads the game so well & has great balance, she only has to work on getting a bit fitter to be a great package.
We hit Shep around 3pm setting up camp and putting the bike together. With both done pretty quickly it was off to race rego to check in and drop my baby (Shrek - my bike) off for a camp out under the stars. I think she wouldn't have been real happy about this as it was pretty cool & windy - the last time she slept under the stars was on a balmy 22C night in some place called Kona !
A quick yarn to some WSTC members - Gregory, Mitch, The Riddler, Choatie, Vinnie, Watto then back to base camp for one of Stevo's famous BBQ's. We got stuck into our tucker and washed it down with a few beers, jeez they tasted good! Only problem was too good! I polished off 1/2 dozen of them and jumped into bed. Waking up was not pretty !! Oh shit, I had a bloody hangover! I was as dry as the outback and had a headache. What? I thought back and realised I didn't drink any water at all on Saturday then put 2 & 2 together - dehydration.......

I haven't really trained much since Kona and went into Shep with no expectations. My training really revolved around 'cafe' rides, a couple of light runs and 4 swims in 5 weeks. I was really hoping I had some residual fitness left in me from Hawaii.
Pre race was the usual, over to the WSTC tent for the usual jocularity, then over to the swim start. A pre start warmup of 5 minutes to fire up the diesel engine, blow out the cobwebs (& hangover) and get the cranky left shoulder moving was good then up to the start line. I didn't here a hooter or a bang but everyone started swimming so I followed! The swim was pretty good, no real biffo but I reckon my navigational skills sucked. Hit land in a touch under 32 minutes then into T1. A very clumsy transition had me chuckling a bit as I headed off onto the 3 lapper ride. Had a bit of a yarn to Steve Backhouse before moving off and getting into a good rhythm. The 1st lap was getting the legs and HR all going while trying to keep the speed up. Lap 2 was horrible as I caught up to a massive drafting pack of about 15 riders that totally disrupted my race. As soon as I passed the pack they sat on my wheel then repassed me back, and as I dropped back to be legal, some other wanker would jump into the gap & before I knew it I would be at the back of this 'slow' moving train, I gave them all a spray but to no avail. I caught up to Mark Komarnycki who was as dumbfounded as I was about these cheats. He gave them a spray - it fell on deaf ears as well, it was good to find another athlete out there who had the same thoughts as I and not give me the lamest excuse of "everyone else is doing it", what bullshit.
It got to the stage where I was sick of it and I put the hammer down to get away from the rabble, some of whom were the poorest cyclists with the poorest form I've seen in a long time. I averaged about 42 km/h for the last 15km, rode as hard as I could to get away from the cheats and couldn't give a shit if I blew up as I had it set in my mind I was pulling out of the race at T2.
I got into T2 absolutely seething ! I virtually walked in, put my runners on and walked over to have a yarn with the Team. I told them I'm pulling out of the race to make a stand against the cheats and to go give the Race Director a spray. Stevo basically said to 'Finish first then deal with it', it was a moment of clarity in a haze of hatred so off I trotted, running angry. The first of 3 laps is always easy, I spent this trying to spot out who was in front of me. Lap 2 I narrowed it down to Sean Foster and Scotty Foreman. There's always the possibility of an unknown interstate fella being in front so trying to work out where you are in the field is an event in itself. I noticed Foster was starting to have some dramas and passed him towards the end of the 2nd lap. Possibly only Foreman in front - push, push. I eventually caught him about 400 metres after the turnaround on the last lap, the same point that I passed Campbell Maffett last year to take over the lead of the 35-39 AG. Unlike Campbell last year I didn't overtake, rather I chose to sit about 5 metres behind him as he was motoring along pretty well and I didn't have the grunt to get past. I sat there until we hit the lake where he stepped the pace up, he noticed I was close by, aided no doubt by Team Lewis running along yelling out 'Go Dad'. With about 250m to go he upped the pace again. Shit this hurt, I didn't have the grunt to go around him so I just had to hold on. The pace kept building until we hit the finish chute where it developed into a full on sprint. We went shoulder to shoulder until about the last 10m where I pulled away by a couple of metres. I won my Age Group by not even a second, Foreman only realising I was in his AG when we started talking in the recovery area.

My overall time was 4hrs 19 mins & something seconds. A time with which I have mixed feelings. I'm happy to rattle off that time with little training over the last 5 weeks but disappointed as it could've been quicker, I reckon I lost 3 -4 minutes on the bike slowing down to remain my legal 7 metres. Another great victory for the day was WSTC taking out the 'Most competitors' Corona's and esky. Another indication the club is going from strength to strength.

Next on my agenda is the 'Tour of Bright', Dec 5th & 6th - a 2 day, 3 stage 'Open' race that has some big climbs - Tawonga Gap towards the end of the 105km 1st stage and Mt. Hotham (3rd stage) on the 2nd day on tired legs will be a challenge. The 2nd stage is a 17 km Saturday afternoon TT which will be good to crank up 'Shrek' for a quick burst. I don't know my grading for that yet but will hopefully be B grade. I'll keep you all posted - it's sure to be HELL !!!

Thanks again to all my sponsors who make my life a touch easier - Rapido Cycles, Elemental Nutrition and the City of Moonee Valley.

Cheers, Matty

The last time from Kona :-(

2008-10-15T21:09:00.000+11:00

Aloha, this post will be my last from Kona. Since the Ironman Its been pretty hectic, so far we've had the Endura afterparty (Sunday), a day of snorkelling and watersports with the family (Monday) and today (Tuesday) was spent going for a kick of the footy with Stevo & Tom on an American footy field, impressing the locals with a few mighty torps and some centimetre perfect drop punt passes, after that we walked back to the condo absolutely dripping with sweat and discovered a small part of Kona that I never new existed, it is private complex very close to the King Kam motel and is full of these massively exotic houses with awesome sea views. I'll go for a ride through there tomorrow and post some piccys up as it looks to be Kona's answer to Toorak. Very luxurious to say the least!

My body has pulled up pretty well since the race. The only concern are my feet which are covered in blisters and are pretty painful - although not painful enough to stop me from kicking the footy. This will be my last IM race in Asics runners, they chop my feet up badly, so the quest for finding a new type of running flat starts ! I think the Newtons may be the shot, or maybe these ones from K Swiss - Very me!I'll add a heap of stuff I've written down over the past few days and list them in point form below.

Endura Afterparty was awesome, we started at 12:30pm and didn't pull up stumps until 10:30pm. We were with Tony from Endura who is a fantastic fella and spent a lot of time picking his brains on nutritional stuff. Bloody big hangover as well !
We missed the IM awards night which as it turned out was a good thing because the whole show went pear shaped when it bucketted down rain for 3 hrs !!
'Team Lewis' all survived race day really well. Dehydration & sunburn took its toll on a lot of spectators as well as athletes. The junior members of the team are below!Left to right - Rochelle, me, Tilly, Meggie & Tommy.
The kids were stars on the day in their own right. As you can see by the team issue they are very patriotic and were getting their pictures taken by Triathlon mags, newspapers and supporters all day.
All my race gear worked perfectly, no hiccups from any quarter with all sponsors and WSTC getting great coverage as you can see below.
I checked my bike in at the same time as Chrissie Wellington. As previously mentioned she is 'the chick!' again taking time out to have a yarn and a laugh at what is usually quite a stressful time for a lot of athletes.
The little bit of sunburn I got during the race is bloody painful ! I took time out on the bike and run to put sunscreen on because of the blistering sun, although there were some parts I couldn't quite reach as I was pedalling at 35km/h. OUCH !!
The bike and equipment count pre race is awesome. As you check your bike in you have various bike & component manufacturers, web site editors, bike and tri mag dudes all having a squizz at your bike and all the bits on it as they all take official tallies of everything that goes into transition.
The presidential race even had an effect on the race! Obama had a manned booth set up on race day handing out policy information, t-shirts etc. What they look to be targeting is the people who don't turn up to vote and work hard on persuading them that they (and Obama) will make a huge difference.
Ambush marketing is alive and well in the lead up to race week. Even though Gatorade and Powerbar are the nutritional race sponsors, other companies such as Gu, Beastie Milche, Cytomax, Clif Bars etc. pop up throughout race week and flood areas with sample products & merchandise. Bloody fantastic I reckon...
Tom and I have been flat out snorkelling over the last couple of days. Tom bought an underwater camera to take some photos of all the tropical fish so fingers x'ed they all turn out good. We even had a run in with a giant turtle who wandered over to check us out as we were floating about.
It's amazing what the Ironman race ID wristband does - It elevates you to celebrity status! A lot of people stop you and ask you how the day went, people in shops ask you to sign posters and merchandise, the greatest buzz has been signing the huge race poster in the West Hawaii running club store that will be up on the wall along with 30 other posters from every year!

I must hit the sack, it's 1:30am local time and we leave for Honolulu in 13 hrs, I haven't even packed my bike yet. I'll do a quick update from Waikiki then will probably see you all over the next couple of weeks.

Mahalo, Matty

Bloody tired, bloody sore, bloody happy !!!!!

2008-10-12T19:57:00.000+11:00

Aloha,

I'll make this a short one, then post up some photos tomorrow once downloaded. As for the race, I'm absolutely bloody stoked! Jeez it was a tough one. As previously mentioned my Heart rate monitor has decided it doesn't want to play anymore. Fine, I'll race by feel! So off into the swim I go, brand new Orca skinsuit on and I'm ready to rumble. Well I didn't rumble as the swim just flowed rather smoothly. I didn't cop a knock until the turnaround boat, gaps seem to appear everywhere so I took the opportunity to fill them. After the turnaround I latched onto a set of feet for half the way in, he tired so I picked up another set, this time a chick who had a great stroke and a nice light kick, perfect. I was wrapt to hit the shore in 1:09 but am a bit disappointed I wasn't far off the 1000th person out of the water......
The ride started smoothly, no wind and the sun starting to warm things up. Did the little loop on the Kuakini Hwy, up Palani hill which was absolutely huge! Very Tour like with the people peeling away about 2 metres in front of you, there were thousands there, then we headed out onto the famous Queen Kaahumanu H'way. It was pretty well plain sailing until near the Waikoloa resort where a head wind greeted us. It was a Sth Westerly which turned into a massive side wind on the way up to Hawi. Strewth it was hard. There was virtually 1 hour of riding where you couldn't take a drink as it was too dangerous to take your hands off your aerobars. I saw Faris Al-Sultan nearly come a gutsa going downhill at one section. Also saw a dejected Macca doing something to his bike and was looking pretty angry. The flip side of this was it gave us a 'slight' push going back but this turned into another headwindfrom Kiholo to near the airport were speeds picked up again for the bolt home. I had a drama on the bike where my Endura Opti and Electrolyte drink went off because of the heat. I ditched this and relied on Gels and water to keep my calorie intake up. I dropped the bike off with another 'fastish' sub 3 min transition saw me off on the run. Things didn't start real well on the run. My stomach was all over the joint. I was burping and farting and this was taking my mind off the job at task. At the 3 mile marker I had the biggest chuck ever. I mean an out the nose as well type chuck. I was shaking so had to walk for a couple of hundred metres while I spat and snotted chunks out of places where they shouldn't be. At the next aid station I spent a bit of time cleaning myself up, guzzled a few cokes then off I went. My splits were pretty were ok to that point but I thought I may have lost a bit of time so upped the pace a touch before settling into a 7:30ish mile. I had a few more gastric dramas - 3 more chucks that were only liquid. I don't know how much time I lost overall but it felt like a couple of minutes. The run from the Energy Lab, where it had thankfully 'Vogged over' and dropped the temperature substantially, back into town was about trying to get back into town under 9:40. This didn't quite happen as the last km went a bit pear shaped. I crossed the line not long after Pete Jacobs, Belinda Grainger and Bec Keat did a song and dance routine and was caught by the catchers. They asked how I was with the only words coming out was "take me to the bushes I'm gunna be sick" so they happily escorted me over to some shrubs where I yodelled all over them. Straight to the Med tent for this Black Duck. I was put under observation, had blood tests and from this diagnosed as slightly hyponatraemic. This is a condition where you drink to much water and it dilutes your blood sodium levels to dangerous levels. Death is the worst case scenario. But Mr. Death is scared of Ironmen who have just rattled off a 9:42 at Hawaii and mine was diagnosed as a 'mild case'. An injection was administered and I was cherry ripe in 30 minutes. The Med tent looked like a war zone. They said of the 150 or so finishers 28% had been in with some sort of ailment. This will only get worse as the day progresses. It was a tough day out there, my toughest yet most satisfying IM yet. It had everything, a 'good' albeit slow swim, a good bike with legendary Hawaiian trade winds, a curve ball thrown in with a nutritional plan change, some sickness, a run that was good but could have been better and finally my first ever visit to a Medical tent.
Gotta go, must watch the fireworks as the race has 10 minutes left. I can still hear Mike Rielly going nuts. It sounds like Chrissie Wellington has been down the finish line since the 12:30 hr mark. She is 'The chick' ! I've never met anyone so friendly and willing to talk to a mug age grouper. Gotta go - 9 mins left.

Mahalo, Matty

The Countdown has begun.

2008-10-10T15:46:00.000+11:00

Aloha,

Thursday night, and yes I should be at the carbo party, but food sitting outdoors in the high 20's for a while has a touch of the '07 Faris & Norman's about it. I prefer play it safe and put the feet up as they are pretty sore from hoofing it everywhere with the kids 'n crew.

First up I have made a mistake. I have some photo's up from a previous day of a Cervelo P4. I even commented on the beefy BB. Not so, the offending beefy item is actually a startegically placed water bottle. What this does when the water bottle has been removed is make the frame look like a Great White has taken a nip out of the frame. Check it out sans waterbottle below. A thousand apologies Mr Cervelo. Still looks friggin' weird though.Wednesday was a funny day. A 50 min swim in the morning was totally awesome. Any predictions from myself of a fast swim went out the window as it was a bit up & down out there and bloody hard to get a good rhythm. If it's like that on race day it will be a looooonnnnggg swim for me. Oh well, so be it ! A major drama started before the swim with the trusty old Polar S720 heart rate monitor. It wasn't picking up my HR. A quick ride up the hill after the swim to one of the bike shops to get a new chest strap was fruitless, I tried a new one on but still no response, bugger..... A quick (2.5 hrs) of running around trying to find someone to test it confirmed that she's stuffed. So another couple of hours were spent looking at Garmin watches. The new 405 looks good but has to many bits that are unfavourable for Multisport so I looked at the 305. Many more Tri friendly functions on the 305 but the size of the face is the same as the width of my skinny wrists! So I've made the decision to not worry about my HRM and I'll do the race without it. As Tom say's I'll have to 'use the force' !! The day ended off with Fee & Marie getting stuck into another $2 Mai Tai, Martini and Margaritas at a happy hour, with DIRE CONSEQUENCES - See below (Marie downing a Martini in record time!).

Thursday (Today) started off with the famous 'Undie Run'. It is an absolute scream!! For the uninitiated it is a 'piss take' against the Germans who prance around Kona wearing their Budgies as normal every day clothing, much to the disgust of the Hawaiian locals. The 'Undie Run' was born to take the mickey out of the Germans and all proceeds go towards West Hawaiian Athletic development. About 400 people turned up wearing their undies and joined in on the Fun run. The crowds were HUGE, I think it was mainly due to Stevo running in his new Bundy Bear boxers and Compression socks. I turned up with Aussie flag boxer shorts and my ever present sponsors behind me (on my butt actually !!)

The big fella & I enjoying the sights of Kona and as you can see there is a lot to look at. The one over Stevo's right shoulder was pretty tidy for all the fellas reading this.

Finally here is a photo of me, as Marie calls it 'in skun rabbit mode'. All shaven up and ready to go. All my race stuff is nearly ready. I'll do a quick post tomorrow night then will have a few days off for obvious reasons. I may stick up a quick post the day after the race, of course this all depends on how the race and afterwards goes (Endura Afterparty etc). Until then, chill.

Mahalo, Matty

More photos of TT bikes - so much to look at !!

2008-10-08T16:38:00.000+11:00

More Argon 18's than you can poke a stick at, as mentioned previously they are going in BIG TIME. Great looking bike.
Bugger, I hate it when the bike you own gets a major upgrade ie: complete new frame, tube profiles etc. Here is the new Q Roo, very sexy.
Cadels bike swinging in the afternoon Kona breeze.
Yesterday I said that the LOOK was the most awesome looking bike around. I'll retract that - FUJI have unveiled this rocket ship, and what an absolute beast. It has more curves than a Hawaiian hula dancer and I must say looks as good Jen Hawkins. Yes, I do love my bike porn.
This baby slots into No.1 as the best looking bike I have seen in Kona.

Mahalo,
More later

Photo time - check these out the all new Cervelo P4...

2008-10-08T16:25:00.000+11:00

Phil White from Cervelo spruiking the virtues of the new P4
Very beefy BB, hidden rear brake, better in the wind tunnel yada, yada, yada
A close up of the beef, note the little sticky outy brake bits !!
And, yep - this is the front, actually he's a bloody good speaker
The sunset was just to the right of this, it was absolutely spectacular !!

Not too sure what to make of the first 'public' unveiling of the P4. Apart from Mr White (1/2 of the Vroomen White Cervelo team) saying that this is the most tested bike in the wind tunnel etc etc, it looks - well um, I dunno, heavy ?? Surely a BB doesn't need another 6" of carbon fibre to stiffen it up ? It looks boxy and bulky. The expo opened straight after the athletes march which started at 5pm. Every bike manufacturer who wants to be noticed is there, it is absolutely massive. More updates later.

Mahalo, Matty

Scorcher in Kona.

2008-10-07T17:39:00.000+11:00

Aloha !

Dropping in again to say g'day. It's 8:40pm local time and about 25 Deg C, very nice indeed. Today has been the hottest by far and if it's going to be like this on race day things could get a little fuzzy. Just got in from a bit of a stroll around and grabbed a coffee at the local - a quaint little shop called 'Hula Bean Cafe'. Not as good as Strudel's coffee, I don't think they have the wizardry of Robbie Taranto but they do have a great product to work with. Hawaii grown coffee is pretty tastie stuff but the variances in quality from shop to shop baffles me.
Since I'm confined to the odd coffee, water and Gatorade, the other adults in the party have made up for my share in the alcohol stakes. Marie, Fee and Stevo have done a great job in sniffing out happy hours and have come across some great bars with equally great scenary. They've been going pretty solidly since we arrived and their itinerary is full untill Monday next week. I'll list their findings below:

Sat 4th - $2 Budweisers @ Pancho & Lefties. This is quite often seen in IM dvd's as one of the last bars before the finish line on Ali'i Drive, it's quite prominent with its Power Bar flags out the front. Result - Chicks: Game Over, Stevo: Just warming up !!
Sun 5th - Kona Brewery for lunch, 6oz sample glasses all round to taste many of the different brews - all very nice as well , then onto Kona Inn for Pina Colada's for the chicks and Mai Tai's for the big fella. Result - Chicks: Game Over again, Stevo: starting to hit his stride.
Mon 6th - Sushi El Segundo for $2 Mai Tai's. This place has some of the best views in Kona. Photo's to come. Result - Chicks: Need a bit of down time, it's starting to catch up with them, Stevo: Looking dazed but powering along.

Tomorrow night is a night off for the trio as it's the Parade of Nations. They'll be watching with the kids then running on down to the expo as it opens straight after the parade rolls through. It's a massive freebie night so the kids will no doubt be feeling like they have just come back from the Melbourne show with the amount of showbags, samples, brochures, food, drinks etc. they will get for knicks - the competition is on between them! The parade is HUGE and fair dinkum gives you tingles. It's great for myself and the fellow Aussie athletes to be all wearing the same colours (thanks IMG who gave us all a polo shirt !) and marching under the Australian flag. The crowds are so much bigger this time around so it promises to be massive.

As mentioned the crowds are getting big. I rode out the Queen K this morning for a 2.5 hr ride & rolling past the pier on my way out, man, what a crowd. This was at 6:45am and I reckon there would have been 300 people swanning around watching, with close to equal numbers in the water swimming. On my return it was easily double !! A lot of riders out on the Queen K on what was a relatively calm but stiflingly hot morning. My training is going well with my heart rate dropping to where it usually sits for any given effort so my acclimatisation has worked well. Training is really scaling down now with only a few swims, a short ride and a few runs left before this Saturday.

Observations & Ramblings!

I'll continue to do this, as you see a lot of things around here that are common, right through to the outlandishly ridiculous. so i'll keep on adding them in RANDOM point form on every post I put up.

Haggled to get a pack of 24 Power Bar gels (Cafe Latte of course!) down to $26.40/box or $1.10 (USD) each. I don't need them of course as I am looked after by ELEMENTAL NUTRITION - www.afan.com.au who have supplied me with my nutritional needs for the race.
The Orca skinsuit works !! Well it felt like it anyway. I won't tell you my time but I made it out to the 1.2 mile marker buoy in PB time, then negative split on the way back !! I won't tell you the time preferring not to put the moz on myself for raceday.......
Sat next to Ben Fertic's (WTC Pres) table last night at Kona Inn. He said hi after I gave him a nod on the way out.
I have not seen one Giant TT bike about. This is great and the word should be spread that NO-ONE rides them and they should be recalled as a fashion faux-pas, they look horrible. Personal view of course !
Xentis wheels are HUGE. It's probably weighted unfairly at the moment as the majority of athletes getting around at the moment are European where Xentis looks to be by far the favoured wheel. This will no doubt change when the Americans armed with their Zipp wheels start arriving en-masse over the next couple of days.
Cervelo P3C's are by far the most popular bike. Scott's are everywhere as well, TREK look to be the 3rd most favourable,next would be Kuota & Specialized then the rest. The Specialized TT bikes aren't to my flavour either. They look like the geometry has been designed around the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Of the rest I've seen a handful of Felt and BH's around, both fantastic looking machines.
Argon 18 are doing a huge push, they have a massive fleet of demo bikes and you see an endless stream of them going out along the Queen K to the airport and back. They are an awesome looking machine.
Best looking TT bike thus far would have to be the new LOOK. Saw one yesterday and the finish is unbelievable. You virtually had to line up to get a look at this dudes bike.
Saw Cowman out on his bike, yep - they're REAL HORNS !!
Spoke to Chris Lieto yesterday (yep, it was him I saw the other day). A nice bloke who has got stuck into road racing to improve his cycling - my type of athlete. We spoke a bit about racing and from what I could understand he started off the summer riding a grade that was similar to Oz's 'A grade' and was getting spanked. By the end of his racing season he was winning comfortably. Great talking to him about some of his races and he even asked what the Aussie road scene was like. A friendly reminder that we had more riders in this years TdF than the Yanks had him believing that it was pretty strong.
Pete C - Thanks for the tip on Fuel Belt and Lava Java, I'll grab one of those !

If anybody is after any specific merchandise, stick up a comment and let me know.

Next post is due not long after the Undie Run. I'll have this photo bit worked out by then so there will be some photos up - Rated PG of course !! The Big Fella is participating and putting on his new Bundy Rum boxers for the event, so watch out weedy triathletes !!

Mahalo, Matty

Aloha from Kona !!

2008-10-05T18:48:00.000+11:00

G'day all,

Today is Saturday Oct 4, we all made it safe, the luggage made it in one piece and we are now settled into our condo for our first full day in Kona. The weather is very warm - I'm currently sitting on our lanai (balcony) in just boxer shorts at 9:50 PM !! The swim start (Dig me Beach) & the race finish line are a mere 300 metres over my left shoulder. Back to the weather - Kona is currently enveloped in a haze, or what is known as 'Vog' - Volcanic fog. This morning was quite clear but when the trade winds pick up it blows the vog from Mt Kilauea which is currently going through some quite violent eruptions, this morning was quite hot then by 11am the vog blew in making the temperature drop off but had the added effect of lifting the humidity - sweat city ! I got badly sunburnt on my 3 hour ride this morning, I headed down the Queen K for 1.5hrs then turned around and headed for home. I was back by 9:30am but this was long enough to do plenty of damage.
It was quite an interesting ride down the Queen K, I made it to somewhere around the turnoff to Hawi. On the way out I thought it was calm but as soon as I turned around this wasn't the case! I was going down hill at 29km/h having to stand up to push harder! I had 2 head winds and a tail wind on the way back, the ride ended up ok with an average of 32.3km/h. The roads are just beautiful over here - Billiard table smooth, you are fair dinkum spoilt.
Star spotting is going very well - saw Stadler and his German cronies doing a photo shoot on the pier. Meg and Tom did their bit to get on German TV news, doing butterfly and breaststroke in the backdrop of the interview. Also spotted Macca and Luke Bell on my evening 1 hr run down Ali'i Drive, spotted Natasha B on her unique carbon 'winged fighter' bike down on the Queen K - an unprompted big smile and wave from her put a smile on my dial, what a chick! Saw some others that are a bit harder to identify, Rutger Beke and Chris Lieto, I could be mistaken though. I've also ran into Bruce Baddely quite a few times, Niall Mai from Knox Tri Club and a heap of other Aussies who are all very very friendly.
Off for a 45 minute swim tomorrow, it is still quiet in Kona town, but this will all change over the next couple of days. I'll test out the new Orca swimskin and give you all the low down on its performance.

I thought I'll add a few quick points below:
You know your in Kona when.......

You're riding along and you hear the rumble of what you think is a truck, but turns out to be a Toyota Hilux 4WD with MONSTER WHEELS & TYRES. So big that you can see the gearbox and diff and all the rest of the drivetrain whilst in the aero position on your bike.
You buy a serve of teriyaki chicken and rice for $10 USD and you get 1 kg of cooked rice with 4 massive chicken breasts sitting on top and smothered in half a litre of teriyaki sauce. And no I'm not joking.
Powerbars cost the equivalent of $1.50 AUD.
You see Japanese IM athletes swimming in their compression socks ??
You get to see the latest tri products that you would never get to see in Oz until next season.
You go mad buying the Ironman World Champs merchandise - and the stuff looks absolutely brilliant this year.

I'll work on getting some photo's up over the next couple of days. Until then, chill.

Mahalo, Matty

Random thoughts on training

2008-10-05T18:39:00.000+11:00

Now seems as good a time as any to throw down a few random thoughts about my lead up to Kona. There’s been plenty of time to ponder over things as we’ve now been flying for nearly 10 hrs. The flights have been pretty non eventful, apart from Tom’s inevitable travel sickness and a cracking storm about 30 minutes out of Sydney en route to Hawaii with bulk amounts of lightning, spectacular to say the least. Bloody warm in Sydney though – 36 deg C when we landed!
Back onto training! It probably started in earnest about 4 months back, and it didn’t start that well. A crash at speed down the bottom of Waverly St. in Essendon in the wet saw me hit the deck in the high 40’s (km/h) according to the trusty old Polar, and slid right through the Holmes Rd intersection on my side. It was a good thing I had the green light otherwise things might have been a bit scary. Damage was limited to a stack of bark off the legs and elbows – luckily very little damage to the bike.
On the bike it was a tough winter, bloody cold and even though the Victorias water levels don’t really indicate it, it was always raining. It made it pretty hard to sometimes muster up the courage, put 4 – 5 layers of clothing on and hit the road. The track wasn’t really an option this time around, time is getting scarcer, even though I did go a few times and as usual enjoyed it. Amongst all this there were some great rides – The WSTC Bright training weekend where we (GSP and I) climbed Hotham, Falls Ck and Mt. Buffalo on successive days. It had a bit of a Giro d’Italia feel about it – pounding away at the pedals with metres of snow right beside you, absolutely awesome!! GSP is a marvel, he hadn’t trained since coming back from Ironman Switzerland and despite being on blood thinning medication for the deep vein thrombosis that he suffered from the flight back from Europe, he was nipping at my heels the whole way. The Rapido ride on Sunday mornings was also a ride I really looked forward to. Robbie’s plucking of destinations ie: Kinglake/Humevale climb in the pouring rain and single figure temperature, Wildwood during Magpie swooping season and various others kept us on our toes. The endless sledging that goes on during this ride is what makes it, Pete & Shane baiting each other, Rob Taranto doing his best Muslim impersonation wearing a burkah on the cold mornings, hanging it on Robbie Bell about his ‘Dancin’ shoes’ – shiny black leather Nikes, setting up the young fellas just to watch them explode later in the ride. It all takes your mind off the numbing amount of miles that you need to clock up and makes training a lot more enjoyable.
Running was a joy, I really enjoy this pursuit and relished my long runs along the Maribyrnong River to Brimbank Park. My longest was 2 ½ hrs and that was at a solid 4:30min/km pace, well above race pace. Even though the volume has come down on my running, it seems to be going from strength to strength, last Saturday (GF day) I rattled off a brick (3Hrs ride/1Hr run) and was sitting comfortably at 3:40 –3:50km/h pace with my HR sitting at 150ish – Promising signs indeed.
Swimming – well that was swimming, still like a brick with no style or technique, just muscle through the water. My left shoulder that was dislocated at the start of the year flared up about a month out but it should be fine. I’ve got an Orca skinsuit to use for the swim, they’re very similar to the BlueSeventy brand and the claim of the material being 50 times slipperier (is that a word??!!) than skin is big and the time saving of approximately 4-5 minutes over an IM distance will be most needed.
My fears for the race are probably the usual – not enough training. I look at my last months training and it has been erratic to say the least. During September I was in Warrnambool for 3 days, NSW for 1 week, did not train for 1 1/2 weeks due to the flu, to say training was interrupted would be an understatement! In the end I missed 3 weeks out of 4 for my BIG VOLUME month. It’s unfortunate, but work has priority and the flu was unforseen. How this will effect me will only be known this coming Saturday 11th October.
Until my next bit of waffle, Chill !

Mahalo,
Matty

2008-09-29T20:53:00.000+10:00

G'day All,

I'll start this off so that you guys can follow me over in Kona. I'll put down what I'm doing training and social wise, I'm planning on updating this every couple of days and put some of my thoughts and meaningful stuff in. Hopefully I can work all this blogging out, post some good stuff and put heaps of piccy's up. Tilly & Tom are blessed with quite good IT skills so I'll be leaning on them quite a bit.
As it stands I'm struggling getting some of my sponsors logo's up. I think my Major Sponsor http://www.rapidocycles.com.au/ is the only one missing out at the moment - sorry Robbie, I'll get this fixed !! On the subject of sponsors I must thank them - Robbie & Steve at Rapido Cycles, Pete & Paul at Elemental Nutrition http://www.afan.com.au/ , Stuart, Shane & Paul at Moonee Valley Council and of course WSTC who I always owe a hell of a lot to.