Hi Blog Followers
Welcome to Blog # 11 as we get closer to the 6 x Challenges that make up the 1306 kms of 3 Half Ironman events over 3 consecutive weekends in December, followed by 2 full Ironman events over 2 weeks in February / March, followed by 1 Ultraman event in May.
I have returned from Quake City Christchurch back to Windy Wellington to resume my training in my normal stomping ground. I managed to get all my training done during my visit to Christchurch amidst looking after my mum with the assistance of my nephew. It’s great to get back into the areas where I train regularly. You get to know the dreaded hills and how long on average they will take to climb and with which gear to be in on my bike, when a one-lane bridge is coming up, when the next sharp bend is coming etc.
My training went fairly well this week, however for some reason I had a lack of energy for the swim on Tuesday. After a warm-up, Coach Ray had me completing 24 x 100 metre swims back-to-back racing a set time period against the clock with the Rest Interval ‘RI’ being greater if you finished faster.
I found I was 5+ seconds slower than I normally am for each rep. The only thing I could put this down to was insomnia where I lack sleep. It was not an excuse I was prepared to give myself, as there are no excuses during training for me, albeit injuries which are a reminder to listen to the body.
I picked up my energy levels throughout the day which made it better for my run training that night and subsequent other activities during the week. I enjoyed the 7 x 400m build swims that Coach Ray had me doing later in the week and managed to run further within the 2 hour run Coach Ray had plotted for me later in the week.
I find training is great for the spirit, body and mind. I know I have come a long way in the five years since I got started. I weighed 20 kilograms heavier. I didn’t know how to swim. My first bike ride was a disaster as I couldn’t find the gears (they used to be levers attached to the frame when I was a kid> I didn’t even know they were within the brake levers) and what was with the clip-in shoes, I was looking for the cages where I used to slide my sandshoes into the pedals. Eventually after a couple of years of going solo I turned to Coach Ray and haven’t looked back since, having completed Ironman events and an Ultraman.
This brings me to this weeks photos from Ultraman Australia. I love the first one where I am running side by side with the inspirational Andre Kajilich. This would be the last time I would see him until he came back towards me after he had already turned at the halfway point when his first Marathon was over with the return leg being the Marathon back along the same route. He was flying in his wheelchair. I had only just managed to get ahead of him on Day Two finishing the 280 km cycle 7+ minutes in front of him.
The second photo is fellow Kiwi ex Royal New Zealand Air Force now in the Australian Air Force who we spent some time running alongside each other or playing cat and mouse during Day 3 – Dave Carroll. Dave presented me the Trophy for winning the Military Division at the Awards Ceremony for this Ultraman Australia event. These first two photos were taken in the dark as we headed off at 0530 hours, the third photo though is me running into the sunrise at Noosa which was absolutely stunning. We knew we were in for yet another hot day!
Photo’s courtesy of Barry Alsop of Eyes Wide Open Images (Official Photographer for Ultraman Australia 2016).
Take care team, follow your dreams, chase your dreams.
Regards John Humphries (Aka Humps, Aka UltraHumps)!