5000m Strive (8/3/13)

Last Friday, I ran the 5000m at the WA Athletics 5000m which is held every four weeks over summer. I won with a time of 16:06.15, with second only 3 seconds behind me. With this time, I got a massive PB of 40 seconds which I ran last month, and also made the TEP WA run qualifying time which is 16:28. Below are my splits:

200m: 36.22 (36.22)

400m: 41.18 (1:17.40)

600m: 38.37 (1:55.77)

800m: 38.41 (2:34.18)

1000m (1km): 37.75 (3:11.93)

1200m: 37.62 (3:49.55)

1400m: 37.22 (4:26.77)

1600m: 38.16 (5:04.93)

1800m: 38.68 (5:43.61)

2000m (2km): 38.43 (6:22.04)

2200m: 38.94 (7:00.98)

2400m: 38.62 (7:39.60)

2600m: 38.38 (8:17.98)

2800m: 38.81 (8:56.79)

3000m (3km): 39.38 (9:36.17)

3200m: 39.92 (10:16.09)

3400m: 39.98 (10:56.07)

3600m: 39.60 (11:35.67)

3800m: 39.72 (12:15.39)

4000m (4km): 39.59 (12:54.98)

4200m: 39.99 (13:34.97)

4400m: 39.41 (14:14.38)

4600m: 39.60 (14:53.98)

4800m: 37.42 (15:31.40)

5000m (5km): 34.75 (16:06.15)

Around halfway through the race, with myself leading and Cambell Smith sitting in third on the left.

Athletics WA state championships

In the WA state athletics championships, I ran a 1500m and a 3000m. Below you will find my splits and placings.

1500m State Championships (14/02/13)

I finished 4th in the U17 1500m in a time of 4:26 which was my second fastest time. My splits are as follows:

300m: 47.58 (47.58)

700m: 1:10.63 (1:58.21)

1100m: 1:16.88 (3:15.09)

1500m: 1:11.08 (4:26.17)

3000m State Championships (15/02/13)

I finished 2nd in the U17 3000m in a time of 9:18 which was a PB of 19 seconds for me from last November. My splits are as follows:

200m: 35.18 (35.18)

400m: 36.57 (1:11.75)

600m: 35.85 (1:47.60)

800m: 36.95 (2:24.55)

1000m: 36.23 (3:00.78)

1200m: 37.07 (3:37.85)

1400m: 37.33 (4:15.18)

1600m (1 mile): 37.92 (4:53.10)

1800m: 38.67 (5:31.77)

2000m: 38.96 (6:10.73)

2200m: 38.39 (6:49.12)

2400m: 37.70 (7:26.82)

2600m: 37.66 (8:04.48)

2800m: 38.25 (8:42.73)

3000m: 35.27 (9:18.00)

Last week of racing

Over the last week, I have competed as a cyclist in a team for the Mandurah Olympic Distance triathlon, WA state aquathlon championships, City of Busselton Criterium and Busselton Jetty Swim. 

Mandurah Olympic Distance (3/2/13)

For this race, my coach did not want me to do the full distance, so I decided to do it in a team instead. The swimmer was Cambell Smith, I did the cycle and we had Matthew Ramsdon do the run for us. Everyone in the team raced extremely well. You can read Cambell's blog for the swim report, and mine for the cycle report. 

The swim started at 8:25AM and I had around 20 minutes to do my warm up and get into transition, ready to receive the timing band. Since I did not have access to a bike, I just did a couple of activation drills to get my legs warmed up for the 40km cycle that lay ahead of me. I went down to the beach and saw the pack that Cambell started off in, and it was around half way through the swim. I walked into transition, put my helmet on and reached my rack. I was ready to walk down to my bike and put on my socks when I saw Cambell running out of the water, so I ran to my bike and dropped my socks in transition, got the timing band, then ran out to the bike mount. I did a flying mount and quickly accelerated to my race speed, then put my feet in my shoes. I was in my small chain ring on the way out into the wind, spinning over at around 110-115 cadence at just under 40kph. The course was three laps of a 13 and a third kilometre course. I held the same pace to the turn around and then got into the big chain ring for the way back. I started spinning around the same cadence but in the bigger gear and was sitting around 50kph. I held this pace until the technical part of the course where I slowed down a little bit to get through the area safely. I did the same thing on the next two laps except I slowed down my cadence a little. When I got to the last couple of km's of the course, I picked up to go as fast as I could so our team could be as far in front as possible going onto the run. I came over the bridge for the last time and undid my shoes to dismount, and then jumped off the bike. I sprinted into transition and handed over the timing chip and race belt to Matt Ramsdon for the run. The course measured 41.46km on my speedo, and I did it in a time of 1:03:53 with an average speed of 38.94, which all includes the run into transition, so my average should be over 39. Matt ran extremely well and finished the 10km run in 38:03 which gave our team the win.

State Aquathlon Championships (8/2/13)

The aquathlon course is a 500m swim, 2.4km run, 500m swim, 2.4km run, which is a 2 lap swim, 3 lap run, 2 lap swim, and 3 lap run again. I started off in the first swim keeping within 20m of the main pack, then exited the water and run back to the swim start to do the second lap. I had dropped back a bit exiting the water so I was a bit further behind entering the water again for the second lap. I completed the second lap and got out of the swim in a time of 9:18. I went through transition comfortably and came out the other end at a medium pace. I didn't go too fast as I wanted to be able to breath properly at the start of the second swim and that would help me get away a bit faster through there. About half way round the second lap, Brandon Swift overtook me and I thought about going with him but I would have not been able to pace myself properly. I ran a 9:13 for the first run and then went back down to the water. I started the swim a little slower than the last one but tried to gain some time on Brandon so I could try and catch him in the next run. I went through this swim in 10:42 and that was quite a bit slower as the timing mats were 300m before the swim lap point. I came onto the second run with a bit quicker pace hoping to catch up to Brandon, with Mitchell Date sitting right on my feet. I ran the first two laps with him right behind me, looking for Brandon so I could judge how fast I would have to go for my last lap to catch him, but unfortunately I didn't see him. When I came around for my final lap, I picked up the pace a lot to try and drop Mitchell. He wasn't expecting it and I got a little gap on him. I held this gap all the way around and then caught sight of Drew Corrigan as I went into the final straight. I picked up the pace a bit more to try and catch him, but was 5 second behind him at the finish. I did the second run in 8:29 and finished 3rd in the 14-15 age group. When I did the first run, I should have gone a little harder and taken the run down to the swim entry a little easier which could have the same effect I was hoping for.

City of Busselton Criterium C-grade (9/2/13)

The City of Busselton Criterium course is quite a technical one, with 3 180° turns, 2 fast corners and some narrow areas. The C-grade had 24 cyclists, and went for 30 minutes + 2 laps. We started off and Stuart Denton set the pace quickly out the front. Going into the first 10-15 minutes I sat towards the back end of the group, looking for a way to get up to the front. There was 1 crash in the first couple of laps which broke the group up a bit and we had to work to get onto the back of the front couple of cyclists. Around 15 minutes in, Cambell Smith attacked and tried to get away from the group, which he did for about 2 laps before he was caught by the main bunch. Very soon after this I saw an opportunity to get to the front and I took it, leading for a bit and then waving Stuart Denton through. A couple more people pulled turns and I got to the front a couple more times in the last 10 minutes. We had two laps where seaguls got in the way and almost lost their lives to bikes and nearly caused some crashes, which was avoided. We got the bell lap and the pace picked up a lot, with everyone trying to get to the front. We all got onto the back straight and the front 5 people accelerated fast out of the corner, leaving me to sprint to get back onto them. By the time everyone had got to the last u-turn, there was a break away of six, where one person sprinted off and Cambell Smith tried to get onto him and take the win, but was just a little bit behind and came second. I got stuck behind the group coming out of the corner and got dropped a couple of meters as well. I ended up coming 6th. We rode for 33 minutes and 20.4km, which gave the main bunch an average speed of just under 37kph. I though I rode quite well after the aquathlon and preparing for the jetty swim the next day, just hoping that I can do a bit better in the final sprint next time.

Busselton Jetty Swim (10/2/13)

I arrived early in the morning, and went and got my leg numbered. Whilst doing this, I met up with fellow training buddy Jeremy Shaw. After we both had our numbers on, we decided to go to the beach and have a little warm up swim. The water was a little choppy and cold, but it was alright once we got in. After the warm up swim, I found Cambell Smith and Drew Corrigan who were starting in the same wave as me. We got out to the start line and waited for the start. The gun was a little unexpected but it went off and we started. The waves were coming from the right so I had to breathe to the left to make sure I did not swallow any water. When I got out to the end of the jetty, the waves were quite high, but I managed to get a half way split on my watch. It was 27:47. On the way back, I had the waves behind me so I thought I would come back a little faster. I actually swam 29:44 on the way back and had a total time of 57:32. I was quite happy with this as it was my first time doing the jetty swim and the water also being quite choppy. I am hoping to do better next year.

TEP time trials and Australia Day Triathlon Race Report

TEP swim time trial (Wednesday 23/1/13):

I got in the pool and started my warm up set by the TEP coaches. This included straight swimming, drills, building and 50's on target pace. In all, the warm up was about 1.5km. I then started the 1000m time trial. The TEP time is 13:12, which I knew I was not going to get anywhere near, so instead I aimed for a sub-14 minutes. I went out on pace for the first 300-400m, then I slowed down the pace a little so that I could keep going to the end. I was watching the gap on people coming the other way to see whether I was gaining time, or loosing time on other people in the lane. With 150m to go, I decided to pick up the pace a little bit, and then picked it up more at 50m to go so I could get the fastest time possible. I touched the wall at 14:09, which was 9 seconds off my target but took six seconds off my pb.

TEP run time trial (25/1/13):

I arrived at the track at 6:30pm for the 5km time trial, with a advised start time of 7:30pm. I did a 10 minute easy warm up jog around the back of the stadium, and then a few run throughs and activation drills with my great mate Cambell Smith. We then both went to the start line around 10 past 7. I met up with a couple of other mates that were going to run as well. I did a couple of run throughs down the track again before the start, and then went to the role call. I got put into the second heat, which was good as it allowed me to go to the toilet before the start. When I came back, I did a couple more run throughs and dynamic stretches before moving to the start line. When I got to the start line, it was almost 8:10pm. The gun went off and two people broke off the front. These are my 200m splits for the whole race:

200m: 35.81 (00:35.81) - 2 people broke off front of pack

400m: 20.18 (01:15.99)

600m: 40.79 (01:56.78) - caught one person from front

800m: 40.25 (02:37.03)

1km: 39.87 (03:16.90) - caught other person from front

1.2km: 39.96 (03:56.86)

1.4km: 39.93 (04:36.78)

1.6km: 40.66 (05:17.44)

1.8km: 39.72 (05:57.16)

2km: 40.74 (06:37.90)

2.2km: 41.36 (07:19.36) - someone overtook and started leading, I got boxed in

2.4km: 40.30 (07:59.66)

2.6km: 41.53 (08:41.19)

2.8km: 41.59 (09:22.78)

3km: 41.12 (10:03.90)

3.2km: 41.26 (10:45.16)

3.4km: 40.24 (11:25.40) - person leading pealed off

3.6km: 41.27 (12:06.67)

3.8km: 41.57 (12:48.24)

4km: 41.47 (13.29:71)

4.2km: 41.51 (14:11.22)

4.4km: 39.92 (14:51.14) - kicked and got a little gap on group

4.6km: 39.89 (15:31.03)

4.8km: 39.00 (16:10.11) - gap caught, Michael Cousins overtook and got a couple of seconds gap on me

5km: 35.89 (16:46.00)

I was quite happy with this time as it was a new pb for me by 13 seconds and I was pacing for 3/4 of the way with Cambell Smith. Next time, I am hoping that I can stay out the front for the whole race and not get slowed down by someone so I can keep my pace correct and get even closer to the TEP time or beat it.

Congratulations to Tegan Scott who also ran a very fast time.

Australia Day Triathlon (26/1/13):

I woke up at 4:30am, feeling alright considering I ran the night before. I had breakfast and then headed down to Point Walter. I got registered, set up my bike and then walked through transition. I started listening to the briefing and then realised it was 15 minutes until the start, so I went off to the toilet. To my surprise, there was only one working toilet and a queue of about 15 people. I waited there until I was about 5th in line, and saw everyone over at the start already in the water and waiting for the start, so I decided to skip that. I went over to the start and did some run throughs and a little swim. Then we listened to another little briefing and got into the water again to start. When we started, I felt like I was going alright in the water, and came out with a 4:16 swim which was 8th fastest. I was feeling quite good at this point, seeing Cambell Smith a couple of seconds in front of me, so I tried to catch up to him, which I failed in doing on the way to transition. I had a little fumble in transition with my helmet and glasses, which made me lose 2-3 seconds through there. I got onto the bike and had a bad mount uphill, and had a little trouble getting my shoes on. I got over the first little hill and into the decent. I caught up 2 places going down, but then lost them when the road flattened out again. We went out to the turn around as the two people in front of me were slowly  pulling away from me. I reached the turn around and headed back I got overtaken by 2 or 3 people just before the up hill again, and then stayed about the same distance behind them into transition. I came into transition and had a little trouble getting my bike onto the rack, and then slipped a little with my shoes as well. I went out onto the run with Kyle Nankivell and caught up to 2 or 3 people before the turn around, and then ran back with Brandon Swift as he had just caught me. With 400m to go on the uphill, Brandon kicked and I tried to stay with him. I just didn't have anything left in me to get in front of him. I finished 11th overall. I was quite disappointed with this race apart from the swim, although the 5km the night before could have contributed to it. 

I would like to thank my triathlon coach Stuart Durham and swim coach Mark Brown for helping me acheive the times I did, and I would also like to thank my family for the support and Cambell Smith for warming up with me.

Kwinana Motorplex Criterium C Grade

Race information:

The Kwinana Motorplex Criterium was held on the 13 of January, and held by the Peel Districts Cycling Club. The course is a 1.6km loop and the time limit was 40+1 (40 minutes + 1 lap). A total of 15 cyclists turned up for the C grade event. 

Pre race:

When I arrived at the motorplex at 7:30AM, I met up with my good mates Ben Walton, Jonney Sammut and Cambell Smith, who were all racing in C grade. We all went and registered, and then rode a couple of laps of the course so we knew where to go when we raced. There was one sharp tight corner in the first 300m of the lap, and a hairpin turn about 500m from the finish. We all found the best way to go round these corners and discussed race plans. We moved off the course and watched the juniors, E grade and A grade race, and then did a bit more of a warm up in the car park. When the A graders had around 10 minutes to go, we started.

Race:

We started off at around 33-37kph, and the first five started rolling through turns. I was up the front and a couple of minutes in I started dropping towards the back of the group. Around 10-15 minutes into the race, Ben Walton took off and made a breakaway. The whole group started picking up the pace out of the corners, and the guy that I was sitting on did not get up to speed quick enough on one lap, and we got dropped off the back. The gap got to around 13 seconds at the most, but we had to work hard to get back on. We rolled through turns for a while until we picked up one other person, and worked together with a bit more rest after each turn, and then caught up to the main peloton after a couple of laps. One other cyclist at this point rode off to try and catch the breakaway. The group went with him and we all came back together. It was around 25 minutes into the race and Cambell Smiths coach, Stuart Denton who was also riding with us, tried to get us all working together again. We started pulling 10 second turns and then rolling off, which worked quite well. We kept this up for 15 minutes, then we got the bell lap. The pace picked up a little more and the turns got shorter. We got to half way around the lap, and there is one section where you can go to the right and the road has a slight bend to the right, which everyone usually went, and another section where you could go to the left and it was a right turn which was a bit more technical. Everyone went to the right and I saw this as a chance to get away from the peloton and try and win. I went to the left and sprinted off. Jonney Sammut managed to jump on my wheel as I got away. I was coming into the turn at 50kph and had to really slow down to make the turn. I almost went off the road on the other side because of the speed I was going. I took off up towards the finish with Jonney still behind me, and then Ben Walton overtook me. Another 3 guys overtook me and then Jonney came round me as well.

Post Race:

Ben Walton manged to nab the win, with Jonney coming in fifth and I came sixth. Cambell Smith finished behind me in 7th and Stuart Denton in 8th. I averaged around 37kph and covered around 26km. After we finished, we rode an easy lap and then went for a bit of a cool down ride afterwards. Thanks to everyone that raced and also to Stuart Denton for pulling everyone together in the middle of the race.

Telstra Triathlon Series Race 2: Champion Lakes

Pre race:

I arrived at Champion Lakes at 6am on the morning of the 12th of January, 2013. I was very excited as it was the morning of the first draft legal race I have done. I was not expecting the best race as I had only started swim training four days ago, after having three weeks off due to an operation on my finger. I kept up my running and cycling training but still did not feel the best I could be in all three sports. I walked my bike over to the island in the middle of Champion Lakes and almost lost my bike into the water a couple of times due to the 18kt wind blowing my bike around. I met up with my great mate Cambell Smith and decided to do a little bike warm up. We rode a single lap around the course and immediately realized it was going to be a tough windy course. When we got back, we put our bikes away and went for a little warm up jog, and watched some of the other juniors compete in the enticer and pursuit events. We jogged about two km's before proceeding to rack our bikes in the open transition. I then set up my bike and made sure everything was in place for when I came in from the swim and bike, and then double checked everything. I then walked through transition so I knew where to go when I came in there. When I had finished, the briefing started for open and that went for about five minutes. I then had my gatorade and strapped up my finger as that was what my doctor told me to do. I then jumped into the water and went for a little warm up swim before the start. I moved out to the deep water start line and moved to the far left so that I could protect my finger on my left hand as a big enough knock could make me permanently loose it. 

Swim:

The horn went off and I started swimming to try and get into a good position where I could draft off someone but not get any serious knocks to my hand at the same time. I managed to sit on Aaron Richardson's feet and he kept up with the main group for the first half, then it started stretching out and we dropped off a little bit. I sat behind him for the rest of the swim and got out of the water at the same time as him. We went through transition together and jumped on the bike at the same time. My swim time was 11:57.

Cycle:

As soon as I mounted the bike, I put my feet in my shoes and overtook Aaron as he was still getting his feet in, and I led out for almost a km and then Aaron did a turn. We kept rolling over and on the second lap, caught sight of Stuart Denton. Aaron made a suggestion that we try and catch him when I rolled over and then I picked up the pace to catch him. We started doing shorter, but faster turns until we caught up to him just after  the turnaround at the end of the second lap. Just before we got onto the back straight of the last lap, Stuart suggested that he would ride into the wind for us so that we were fresh for the run, as he was going to pull out at the end of the cycle. Aaron and I sat behind him for the rest of the lap, and then overtook him and dismounted. Aaron and I both had a quick transition and then went out onto the run. I averaged 37.7 for the 19.9km cycle.

Run:

I sat on Aaron for the first 500m, and got to the turn around. Aaron took the turn around a bit better than I did and pulled away from me a bit, and then I couldn't catch up to him. About half way back, I started getting a stomach cramp, which I ran through at first, but it soon started slowing me down. I got to the turn around of the first lap of the 1km loop with a time of 3:45 for that lap. I went out onto my second lap and tried to hold an even pace. I got out to the turn around at around 1:50, and came back to 4 minutes flat. For the next two laps, I held exactly the same pace, varying by less than two seconds each lap, and then got onto the final lap. I tried to pick up the pace a little to see if I could catch anyone. I went through 500m in around 1:55 and tried to go a bit faster on the way back. I came through the finish line which is 50-100m further than the turn around point in 4:08, which gave me a 19:52 run. 

Post race:

After the race finished, I drunk two bottles of water and immediately went down to the water to cool down. Cambell Smith, Stuart Denton and I all sat in the water for about 5 minutes before getting out and clearing up transition. I finished 12th in 1:04:05, about 6:20 behind the leader. I did not expect to go very well, but I though I would go a bit better than I did. I would like to thank my coach Stuart Durham and swim coach Mark Brown for preparing me for the race. I would also like to thank my parents for the support and trievents for letting me race in the open category.

Parlouf Relay Race Report

Race information:

The parlouf relay is an annual race held on the 26th of December each year, at Hyde Park, Perth. This year, the path at Hyde Park was dug up, so it got moved to Perry lakes. This is not an individual race and you have to put down your 5km pb or recent time when you register. To work out who should go with who, the race organisers put the fastest person with the slowest person, then the second fastest person with the second slowest person, and so on. Each team is assigned a letter which is pinned to each team members chest. The race starts and there is a clock that goes up to 30 minutes, and when it gets to 30, the race stops. The winner is the team that has done the most laps and has the most distance into the next lap when the clock gets to 30 minutes. To stop everyone, there is a gun fired which everyone can hear. At the end of each lap, there is a changeover box where you can switch partners every lap. Each lap is 1.2km at Perry Lakes and 800m at Hyde park.

Pre Race:

I woke up at 8am on boxing day, not remembering that the Parlouf relay was on today, I went out and had a big breakfast and then saw my mum and sister dressed in running gear. I assumed they were going to go for a run together. When I finished my breakfast, my mum told me to hurry up and get ready to go. At this point I suddenly remembered that I was going to race today. I got my running clothes on, and strapped up my pinky finger, ring finger, and middle finger on my left hand as I had surgery on it last Tuesday and the doctor said I have to have it strapped up every time I cycle or run. I then got my Garmin 310XT and put it on my wrist. Then I got in the car with a drink bottle and left.

Warm up:

When I arrived at Perry Lakes, I turned on my Garmin and ran an easy lap of the course to make sure I knew where I had to run. My Garmin measured 1.22km. The course consisted of about 300m of grass/sand running and about 900m on road. I then did a couple of dynamic stretches before the start to help me warm up some more. It was around now when all the partners got to meet each other and when I found my partner. I was hoping that I was the slow partner so that my team had a good chance at winning, but with my 5km time of 16:59 and my partners of 24:30, I didn't know how well I would go.

Race:

I got to the start line and had about 2 minutes before the start. When the race started, I had a good start, and got to the front to lead. I was sitting on about 2:58 pace for the first 400m, but then I hit lactic and someone that was just behind me overtook me. I sat behind him for the rest of the lap and we were both sitting on around 3:05 pace. I sat on him until the last 50 meters and then dropped back a little. I came in at 3:56. My partner went out and I though he was going to die off. I had a little drink and kept walking around and 5 minutes later, my partner appeared coming around the corner with about 200m lead. I though this meant I was going to go pretty well. I went out for my second lap a little easier on around 3:20 page and held that until I hit lactic again, and dropped to about 3:30 pace. I managed to hold my lead for the rest of the lap and started lapping some of the back people. I did my second lap in around 4:15. When I came in, I tagged my partner and hoped he did another good run. He came back in around six minutes later and I thought he was still in the lead. The clock said 18 minutes when I changed over and thought I would have another lap after this, so I went out and held a steady 3:30 pace. About 800m in, I caught someone who I though was behind me and realised that I hadn't seen him change over and had overtaken my partner. This got me a little scared. I finished the lap about 50 meters in front of the guy I overtook but the person I went out with on the first lap had caught up. The clock said around 22:30/23 minutes when I came back which gave me around a 4:30 lap. I thought I might be able to get another section of the lap in if my partner came back in time, but I didn't see him. When the clock said 29:30, I could see my parter 200m up the road and the person who I overtook in my last lap, had already taken off. I thought we were in second or third now.

Post race/thanks:

After the race, I ran out to see my partner until the lap recorders got out to us with the measurement tools. When they did get to us, we had a distance of 5 laps and 1.1km. At the presentations, we found out that two more people had got in front and gave us a fourth. Apart from that, I was pretty happy with my effort. I would like to thank my mum for reminding me that there was a race on and taking me there, and my coach, stuart durham for coaching me with my running. I would also like to thank my doctor for making me run with my fingers strapped up.