Matty White

2011 Recap and Busso Race Review

2011, I cant believe another year has passed! I was speaking to another athlete just recently who also travels the world competing and has been for a number of years and we spoke about how quickly time passes when your having fun and you don’t see a winter for years on end. Literally my years between 21 and 30 felt as though they went with a blink of an eye as my early years racing as a pro were spent in the South of France during the winter months in Australia and now the same in the US. I guess time flies when your having fun so its not such a bad thing after all.

This year has been a good year for me with some fantastic results, and on the other hand it has been a major learning experience as I have had to deal with some bad luck in races and my first injury in the last month. I would have to say the highlight of the year for me was Challenge Cairns where I finished 2nd to Chris Macormack as it was such a fun place to visit and the atmosphere at this first time race was like no other and I am looking forward to getting back there next year. As much the same as Cairns I have had a string of 2nd placings in major races with a 2nd in Ironman 70.3 Busselton and Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon by just 5 seconds, I also managed to snare a few wins with a win in the innagrual Triman half Ironman in Victoria and the Australian Duathlon Championships in October.

I also have learned a lot in training and racing this year and found that there are a lot of ups and downs that comes with this sport at this level, more importantly the need for rest is something that is harder and harder to come by with the racing going all year round now. I have seen it notably this year with Crowie succumbing to illness in April and taking an enforced break resulting in his best year ever, which says something about letting the body recover.

I only just recently tore my calf muscle and things have been pretty hectic since this as I had to pull out of Port Mac 70.3 and Shep 70.3, and more recently Ironman WA while in 3rd spot at the 26km mark of the run, all of which disappointing as the form was red hot. The reason I tore my claf was an interesting one as the week after I won the Australian Duathlon Championships I decided to compete in a local fun run near my house, the run was 15km and I had won it about 4 times before. I really enjoy this run as it is on single tracks and the hill climbs are brutal (20% for 2x1km) add to this the insane downhills and it’s a fun day! Well that is what I thought. I actually worked the night before at the station and I thought the race started at 8.30 so I rolled up and registered thinking I had enough time for a warm up run before the start, so off I jogged at 7.45 thinking I could cruise for 15 minutes before the start, when I turned around to run back and noticed a couple of hundred people running toward me with numbers on. I realised that I missed the start and ran back to the car with the intention of going home for a run, but then I had a stroke of genius which was to give everyone a 10 minute head start and destroy my body and try and catch up! This was a great idea at the time as I set off and felt great eventually pegging everyone back except 2 runners where I finished 3rd. My individual time was 6 minutes faster than the winner which was encouraging but the soreness I had was unlike anything I had experienced from the crazy downhill running. Later that week the soreness in my stabilizer muscles got increasingly worse and I felt my calf tear on an easy run Thursday night after the race. I knew it wasn’t good and went straight to my physio at Back in Motion where they diagnosed a grade 1 tear.

In the meantime I had a few days off but tried to train for Shepparton and Ironman WA but not giving the injury time to heal was my biggest down fall with other issues arising due to my body compensating for the tear.

This was the problem I had at Ironman WA as my soleus muscle contracted so tight I was unable to run which was greatly annoying as I had a good swim coming out with the main players like Bracht, Twelsiek, Crawford, Farlow and Rix in 49minutes, I managed to string a good ride together in 4hr30 which put me in 2nd onto the run course where I really started to feel good. The injured leg was in a good state for about 1hr and a half where I was in 3rd spot a minute or so behind Bracht and making up time on Fettel but at 26km I was unable to run properly at all let alone walk properly so I had no choice but to pull out as I was in to much discomfort and did not want to risk a major injury. An unfortunate way to end the year as I had the form for another podium, but I gave it a crack and believe me if I could have run I would have.

I am under strict coaches (ME) orders for the next 3 weeks to do nothing except rest and recover which I am really looking forward to as the year has been huge, well the last 2 years have been big with over 20 half ironman races and about 6 Ironman races not counting the smaller distance races and huge amounts of travel and training associated with this sport as a pro.

I will post again in a few weeks with my schedule for next year which is mostly sorted out and definitely includes Ironman Melbourne and Cairns so it will be a big year. A big shout out must go out to my great support team which are essential in this sport.

SCODY – for the brightest and most comfortable custom gear

http://www.scody.com.au/

SIS– For the best and most up to date endurance nutrition.

http://www.scienceinsport.com.au/

SAUCONY – also for the brightest and most comfy running gear and apparel

http://www.saucony.com.au/

RYDERS – For a great range of high performance glasses
www.ryderseyewear.com.au

MERIDA – For the best looking and performing bikes
www.meridabikes.com.au

SHIMANO – For the best shifting and componentry
www.shimano.com

WATTBIKE – For the finest and most accurate training tool around
www.wattbike.com.au

Altitude Tech Systems- For state of the art training tools at any altitude

http://www.ats-altitude.com/

TRAK Cycles Norwood – For great support and service

http://trakcycles.com.au/

DTR Sports Management – For keeping my head in the right place

http://dtrsportsmanagement.com.au/

All these great sponsors have helped me achieve what I have done and I am so gratetful for their support in achieving my goals.

Thanks

Matty