Working with the same Attitude

Time has come for a fellow ETPA athlete to finally live his dream.
Julian Wain AKA Captain is about to take the journey of what will be the most amazing day of his life
KONA - Yep, the Hawaiian Ironman 2007 is only hours away and the Captain has deserved the right to be with the worlds best.
So while Captain is slugging it out, a few desperates with the same attitude will be following him in my living room.
Yep, I have set up a live feed from the laptop into the Plasma and in the wee hours of Sunday morning Komo, Jimmy D, Damo & I will be smashing ourselves to pieces on the Mag trainer watching the live feed of Hawaiian Ironman 2007. At 2:30 am, we will be showing our respect to Captain and applying the same attitude as he has and hopefully give him that added "something extra" when "that" time comes.
I guess where I'm going with this is that it's great to be associated & surrounded by people with the same attitude and goals as I have.
This is 100% NOT the sport to have negative people and thoughts around you. You not only need to be fit & healthy, you need to be mentally strong and positive. Last week, I had a few days where I wasn't where I needed to be with regards to my mental thoughts ......... and it didn't take long to get back into the right frame of mind purely because of the people that I surround myself with.
You guys know who you are and I thank you for that.
So the preparation is about to start for me ... off to find as many towels, old sheets etc to lay on the floor to soak up the many buckets of sweat, make sure the coffee machine is full, drink bottles are full and most of all, a final check to make sure the live stream from Hawaii to Melbourne Australia is spot on (which it will be as I have checked it every night this week!!!)
I know all at ETPA wish the Captain every success tomorrow
I know he will SMASH it
Caff

"Building a bridge with some harden the F@#K up"

Well it's time that I put the tool belt on and start to build me a bridge!! ( and unnamed person told me that yesterday while riding !!)
So after a week of being hard on myself, I realize that there is nothing I can do about last weeks race other than learn from it and let it go!
I have decided that I will give todays run at the "G" a miss and enjoy the blue sky of Sunday, read the paper, drink COFFEE and just relax.
As tomorrow is the start of my training toward Ironman OZ ( with a few races in between being Geelong 70.3 and a couple of sprint distances)
So my mind will now focus on shedding 4 - 5 kgs, improving all 3 disciplines and building my mental strength.
I have gained a massive amount of information from last weeks race which will hold me in good stead for further racing ( Not all things go to plan as you want them too - Just look at the All Blacks - they have just lost the quarter finals to France in the Rugby World Cup and they were just about unbackable - proves anything can happen if you put your mind too it ..... or if you don't!!)
Geelong 70.3 is 126 days away and Ironman OZ is 154 days away so I have the right amount of time to step up, put in the additional hard yards and enjoy my days training.
Step 1 - the construction has started!
Caff

"Not the end result I was looking for"

The the Gold Coast HIM has come and gone and needless to say - I didnt rget the result I was after.
As the day panned out, the run took its toll on me - i'm still not sure whether or not it was physical or mental ... perhaps both!!
A little wrap up for you all

Swim : 400 grams of caffeine doesn’t help! Felt calm in the water however after about 900mtrs my arms & shoulders became very heavy and I didn’t feel like I had any power.

Bike : as soon as I got on the bike I felt happy. I knew I was moving well as no-one was passing me and I was picking up plenty of people.

Got half way and told myself to relax and get my heart rate down – which I did. I was continually telling myself to relax and be ready for the run. I span the legs for the last 500m or so at a high cadence and was getting out of the saddle when I could so to make sure to stretch my back.

Run :

I got off the bike feeling ok – ran off at some type of pace for the first few hundred metres. I got to the 1 k mark and spewed up but wasn’t feeling too bad.

Continued to spew for the next 35 minutes or so – at the same time I kept telling myself that my legs will come.- well they didn’t until I had a crack with 2 k to go.

Was it mental – Yes.

Was I tuff enough - NO!!

I wasn’t tuff enough to have a total crack on the run - this is something I need to learn

So for me - its back to the drawing board. With only being in this sport for 12 months now, I still have lots to learn and we all know that you can learn a lot from your mistakes!! :) ..... And plenty were made.

So no time to rest, back into it.

Until we next chat

Caff