Ultraman Training

UltraHumps: Reflections from Ultraman

Hi Blog followers

Another week closer with training for the infamous 3 + 2 + 1 = Charity – this being a total of 6 events covering 1306 kilometres, of which the breakdown is roughly 23 kilometres of swimming, 1051 kilometres of cycling and 232 kilometres of Running, plus god knows how many kilometres of each discipline Coach Ray will have me covering in training.

This weeks training has been a mixed bag.  I had to swap a number of training activities around during the various days.  This is something I don’t like doing as Coach Ray prepares the training based on his knowledge of body recovery and how best to develop for the week ahead.  However it was one of those weeks where I had no option.

My normal training schedule from a Monday to a Sunday consists of a swim on Monday morning before work and a cycle that evening after work. Tuesday consists of a swim and a run. Wednesday consists of a brick session which is both a cycle and a run.  Thursday is a swim. Friday is a long run.  Saturday is my rest day with stretching (unless an event is planned) and Sunday is a long cycle.  All of this can add up to an average of 14 to 15 hours of training per week.

Unfortunately I damaged my bike when removing it from the rear of my wagon when the wind caught the car door and slammed it into the bike (and me).  It became impossible to ride properly without doing further damage to the gearing.  So instead of skipping the training planned for that day, I went for a run and with my bike fixed I cycled on the run day.  However with it being a long cycle and having to fix a puncture just as I was about to start I ended up finishing training about 2200 hrs (10 PM) that day, which isn’t much fun this time of year.  However I’m not one to find excuses to not do my training.  It was a matter of swap it around as necessary and get over myself.

I also had to move one of my swims around which condensed the week with swimming.  Coach Ray understands my work and family commitments and freely provides guidance, but now I have the training schedule sorted along with my nutrition.  My sleep pattern is still something to be desired though. Ray is helping me with the training intensities that are all over the place when I go cycling.

This brings me to this weeks photos. Searching the Ultraman Australia Photo website I found a couple of photos from Day One of the 2016 Ultraman Australia event to share with you.  The first one is just after the 10 km Swim in Transition One when my ‘pit crew’ were getting me ready for the 145 km Cycle.  This photo shows them (Coach Ray Boar

Tri Coaching NZ
Photo’s courtesy of Barry Alsop – Eyes Wide Open Images (Official photographer for Ultraman Australia 2016).

dman, Crew Members Derrick McMillan and Scott Cordwell) in action getting my kit on with Derrick about to shove a cheese sandwich into me.  This was something that didn’t work after 10 kilometres of swimming in salt water with a dry mouth, even though I had been drinking clear water (note for future).

You will see we are working under the New Zealand flag which I think Coach Ray sneakily moved from another pole to our area.

The next photo is heading off on the cycle with Coach Ray providing reassuring words and advice as I depart.  Their role was far from over as they spent the distance constantly leap frogging me, providing me with nutrition as the event proceeded.  It certainly became a long day all round with Day 1 taking a total of 9 hours, 20 minutes and 19 seconds (10 kilometre swim 3:53:02, 145 kilometre cycle 5:27:17).

More to follow team – Regards UltraHumps!

 

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