there is beauty within the chaos of life – my balancing act between FAMILY – PROFESSION – TRIATHLON
In the past I had tried several and ran into more problems than benefits and typically just gave up the idea of swimming endless laps and drills with music. Designed for the serious swimmer – no dangling wires – everything streamlined and under cap. Designed for the multi-sport athlete – you can use the insert in your swim cap, bike helmet and running cap with easeComes with the waterproof iPod shuffle. You either have to wrap the wires around your goggles or tuck them into your swim cap – which not only looks weird but it’s also uncomfortable as heck!With AQUABOOM this problem is solved – A soft silicon insert houses the wires and the waterproof ipod shuffle – which fits nicely in the swim cap and stays in place. It took a few swims to determine which size cap was ideal for each ear. I don’t typically bring music on my rides, much like the reason I wouldn’t swim with music in an open water scenario – I want to be able to listen and hear what’s going on around me. At times depending on my head position the wires would tug and fall out of my ear, just like the swim waterproof mp3 devices I had used before – to me the pain in the rear disadvantages of using my phone to listen to music while riding far outweighed any added benefits. You can throw it in your transition bag, your mesh swim bag or even in your pocket. If you’re like me – the only reason you’re even swimming or started to swim is because of triathlon. You can increase your effort with an amazing playlist, get lost in meditation with an easy going soundtrack, increase productivity and take advantage of the extra hours in your day by listening to audiobooks and podcasts while swimming.
Let’s talk triathlon
Months of preparation and planning was behind me and it was time to slip into the old familiar race day routine. Race plan ready I was out the door strolling the 1.5 miles down the athlete check-in and body marking. My turn came and as I was sporting my race suit with sleeves down to the elbows, the number had to go onto my hairy forearms. I hopped into my speed suit and brushed past a few hundred athletes which clearly decided they wanted to have a beach start or something but getting wet was not their priority! I hit the water at around 6:45, 10 minutes before the age group men’s race start and focussed on getting through a swim warmup routine. About two minutes to race start I headed over to the far left side of the swim and placed myself around 4 rows from the front as per my race plan. Thanks to the good advice from Bruce, Chris and Waino at team Energy Link I managed to do essential recon of the bike course in the week prior to the race and had a good idea of what to expect, both from the course and how other athletes may react. On the day before the race I verified the most likely conditions using Best Bike Split’s advanced weather function and also read through their published report on Kona course conditions. Up in the clear blue sky the sun was already doing its thing and I whispered a quick thanks to Waino for suggesting I get a race suit with sleeves. If you’re going to have a flat in the race, 2 km from the top of a 10 km climb is probably the best spot to have it. Prior to the race I expected to finish between 12 and 13 hours and thought that a 12-hour result would be amazing for me and sub 13 hours very satisfying.
MAF Method Triathlon Training
After the disappointment of missing out on qualification after my first qualifying race in June, having suffered a mechanical issue during the bike, I was keen to improve for my final race. I’m not sure why I’d been skipping out on the longer rides – perhaps due to the fact that I’d be doing the miles solo, or whether I felt that I didn’t feel that I could hold a high enough heart rate for my training to be efficient, in my MAF training range. Knowing how important the bike portion is to my race, being the longest portion, I made sure I got out in my few weeks between my qualification races. A relatively hilly course, with a tough climb at the end meant that I had to pace the race well. Checking the results, I knew I was outside the top 4 automatic qualification places, and I didn’t think I’d race fast enough to get the fastest loser spots. Reflecting on the race over the next couple of weeks, I thought back on how much I’d learnt over the past year. I’d lost weight, even getting down to 67kg at one point, significantly down from the 72kg I was when I started in triathlon. From being a novice triathlete just 2 years before, missing the start of my first race while I struggled to put on my wetsuit, I’d come up just a few seconds short of qualifying as one of the best of my age-group in the UK. That was some improvement. I had taken myself from novice, to a high-performing athlete, without a coach, but with a radical training philosophy courtesy of Dr. Phil Maffetone, and the MAF method. I’m splitting it into 4 weeks of base work, 2 weeks incorporating anaerobic training, fine tuning for the race, and one taper week.
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