Matty White

The Sea Was Angry that Day!

I arrived in Busselton on the Thursday after getting up early at 4am and leaving Adelaide on the “Redeye” at 6am to Perth, incidentally I actually woke up with a “Redeye” as well which is quite ironic as I had a burst blood vessel in my right eye, so I was thinking this was going to be “one of those weekends!” Once arrived in Perth I made my way down the Highway toward Busso stopping off at Bunbury Primary along the way for a school talk with Ollie Whistler. This was going well until Ollie asked the assembly of grade 4’s why the young girl at the back was wearing a different coloured uniform! I cringed at this point thinking maybe she was a special ed student or had some sort of issue, but lucky for me she was in the school skipping team, so we were obligated to watch a skipping show from the skipping team. So a big thanks for bunbury primary for making us feel welcome.

I arrived in Busso at 4pm after a long day on the road and was eager to build the new Specialized Shiv TT bike back up and go for a quick spin to loosen the legs up. I just signed with Specialized a few weeks before the race and had only been on the bike twice before the race. I was lucky enough to get a BG fit from Craig at the concept store and this was a massive gamechanger for me as I had never been fitted on a bike before and suffice to say I felt amazing the day before I left with a whole new setup which included different size cranks, seat length, change ring, bar width etc. I am lucky enough to be part of the Shimano Global team which have awesome componentry and a lot of the gear is fully adjustable such as the Missile aero bars which we changed dramatically.

I had a great night sleep Thursday night as it was my first night away from my new born baby girl so I took full advantage and got a solid 12 hours! Suffice to say I felt great and Saturday was quite cruisy with the press conference in the morning and the kids triathlon in the afternoon which a lot of the pro athletes attended and we had a blast handing out the medals to 200 kids.

Race day was an early one which is always good in Perth as being on eastern time its easy to wake up early! The weather for Saturday was quite pleasant with a slight chance of rain, but the biggest factor and main talking point was the ocean, non withstanding the “wildlife” but most of all the chop which had come up on shore. This would favour the stronger swimmers for which there were numerous with names like Mcniece, Hodge, O’Grady, Bell, Mckenzie, Crawford, Bailey etc. On paper I knew this would be a factor as when you throw in a few short course ITU athletes it can make the pace a lot quicker, which I wasn’t ready for and quickly ended up in a group with Whistler, Millward, Mackay and a few others. We went the wrong way a few times in the chop and this caused us to slow down and eventually we came out in a slow 28 minutes which was disappointing as my swimming has been going great. I decided to put this behind me and put my head down in chase of the leaders up the road.

I felt really great as soon as I jumped on the Shiv and managed to find a good rythm straight away. I looked behind a few times and noticed I had Millward and Mackay with me as Whistler had a crash on the first corner coming down hard but with no major damage luckily. At the first turn I noticed that Hodge had a good lead on a group containing Mckenzie, Bell and O Grady. By the end of the first lap I had reeled in Crawford and Bailey and was feeling good as I put the hammer down on the main straight at the start of the first lap. There was a slight tail wind along this section and I remember hitting 53km/h at some points, this enabled me to get away and try and hook up with the leaders which I did at about 70 km.

Once I caught the group I sat back a bit and decided to save my legs for the run as I came in to T2 with Mckenzie who had a great transition and left me chasing in 3rd with Hodge 1min 30 up the road. James Hodge was having a great day and I was told about him by Joe Gambles in Melbourne at the ironman as a man to watch, he is only 20 and won the U23 race in Devenport ITU and he was super strong across all 3 disciplines so I was not surprised with his performance. On the run I caught Luke at the first turn and started to feel really good as I got to within 45 seconds of Hodge but the hard chase on the bike started to take its toll on the last lap. A big shout out must go to Justin Grainger who helped me out on the 2nd lap of the run by allowing me to sit behind him into the head wind section, so thanks Jus.

Overall I hung tough for another 2nd in Busso (thats three 2nd placings in four races) with Callum Millward in 3rd about a minute back on me. Times on the run were a lot slower than last year with the wind where last year I ran 1.14 and overall times were slower as I came across in 3.56 a minute behind Hodge. Some great positives came out of this race for me with a super strong bike time of 2.06 and a solid run.

A big thanks to all my sponsors which include Nev from Ryders who is a local WA resident and is always fun to catch up with out west, Shimano, Specialized, Saucony, SIS, Back in Motion, Scody, Wattbike, ATS Altitude, Xterra.

For me now its back home to my girls and time to get the kms in for Cairns Ironman next month, I finished 2nd there last year and hope to go one better so fingers crossed!

Thanks for all the support.

Matty

Ironman Melbourne

Ironman Melbourne, what a fantastic event and one which I am sure will be around for a long time to come, especially now that an Australian course can lay claim to a historical sub 8hr performance. No one really talked about a sub 8 on this course and they were careful to do so as it was untested and no one really knew how fast the Eastlink would be, plus there was the unreliable Melbourne weather which if things were bad the winning time could have been about 8.20, with Eastlink being so open and if there was a north wind runners could have faced a block headwind for 42km! But with all that being said conditions could not have been better as there was hardly any wind and it was favourible giving runners a gentle push toward Saint Kilda.

On a personal note I could not have been in better shape for this race and was so looking forward to hitting it hard. I arrived in Melbourne and was staying at the Mercure Swanston in the CBD courtesy of a generous Ricky Jeffs who made my stay very enjoyable (so much for staying away from all the shops!) as I was righty in the middle of Cllins Street mall.

The field for this race was in no uncertain terms absolutely stellar for this race headed by Craig Alexander who at 39 years old is just getting faster and stronger! I will not name all the big names but give or take a few Germans you would not be far off the Hawaii 2011 field.

The race started at Frankston pier which caused a bit of mayhem as competitors had to travel down on Saturday to check the bikes in. A big shout out to the Melbourne Mullet, Tim Bradley who ferried me down there on Saturday. The set up in frangas was great with a bustling atmosphere not to dissimilar to the Busselton area.
Race morning dawned early for me on Sunday as I had to travel from Melbourne CBD and I was lucky enough to have a good friend Ryan Harris come and pick me up and take me down to Frankston, so it was a 4.15am kick off for me as I walked down through Elizabeth Street to meet Ryan at Flinders Street Station. The irony hit home as I was heading down to one of the biggest races of my career all the while passing a drunken reveller with his head in a garbage bin throwing up his what looked to be Yiros!

As I walked further I tried to hold down my SIS Rego Bar which I had for breakfast and hastily got out of there toward Frankston. In transition I was lucky enough to have my great sponsor Shimano there who helped with my mechanical needs prior to race start and with a few more pre race routines I found myself in the dark water of Frankston, and I say dark as there were 47 pro males on the start line all yelling to a 15 year old life saver on a board “where do we go”! this was very hard as he kept saying go straight, but with no lighted buoys straight didn’t mean too much. I got off to a great start swimming well and having a clear run to the turn buoy, I settled in to a rythm and came out in 50min flat with Alexander, Brown, Rix, Ogden and a couple of euros. Once on to the bike the pace was on as I sensed the urgency in Crowie as we had a few minutes to make up on the likes of Lanos, Van Lierde, Mckenzie, Bell, Bennet, Mathews and Gambles etc who were another few minutes behind the lone wolf Fettel. I really think that this group let a chance go begging as there were some strong riders in this group and coming out the water a few minutes up on Crowie they really should have dropped the hammer and put him away. In saying this the pace was ballistic for the first 40km as I went through in about 56 minutes quickly bridging across with Brown, Rix and Crowie plus the euros.

Once the main group was caught this left Fettel out front and a large group of about 14 hovering about 2-3min back. At about 120km we caught Fettel and the pace really turned up with Van lierde trying to make a break, this caused the group to splinter causing a lead group of 7 to enter T2 and that included myself, Gambles, Crowie, Brown, Van Lierde, Matthews, Lanos and Bell. The last 40 -50km of the ride was really fast but personally I felt quite good and was a good sign of things to come as running for me was my strong point. Coming off the bike I noticed that my time was a huge PB of 4.24 which was 3rd fastest for the day only 20 seconds off fastest set by Crowie and Brown.

The pace out of T2 was insane and I decided to let the guys go and just hold back to my 3.50 pace with a plan of running a very strong last 20km. I was losing drastic time at this point so essentially these guys were running 3.30 – 3,40 range! At about 8km into the race I felt some uncomfortable sensations in the arches of my feet, I just put it down to the joyous feeling of being in an ironman and trying to run off a 4.24 bike ride! But things got bad at about 10km which I went through in about 38 minutes and I had to change my gait to compensate for these huge blisters which had formed. At 18km I had to stop and check to see what was going on and I apologise to the spectators who had to witness this! I knew it wasn’t good and had to start walk/running which was disappointing as I was in 9th place at this point.

I decided to try and get to the finish the best I could and I was lucky enough to have my Cairns mate Guy Besley encourage me to get going at every hundred meters, and I don’t think I had a choice as he wouldn’t let my dirty sweaty body in his new Mercedes to get back to the finish line!

Overall I am disappointed with what happened but I should have checked my socks when I placed them in my gear bag as I used an older pair which essentially caused the issue. I can take some great positives from this race with a solid swim and an all time huge PB bike leg, my run is where it needs to be so for now its just a matter of recovery for a week then ease back into things to get ready for Busso 70.3 and Cairns Ironman. I was 2nd in both of these last year so I would love to go better, and hopefully the 2.41 marathon that Brownie ran will still be in his old legs come Cairns!

Also on another note I am patiently waiting the birth of our first child which is due in the next few weeks, so its a busy time in the Whitehouse! We don’t know whether its a boy or girl so this will be a huge surprise for me and something cool.

My next few races are extremely important and I know the fitness is there so stay tuned for some big results, just need a bit of luck!
Have a Happy and Safe Easter everyone.

Matty

On Track

So far so good and things are going really great for Ironman Melbourne in a few weeks, the last 6-8 I have been steadily building up the mileage and more importantly the body is holding up great, I have had some great support from my physio Monique at Back in Motion especially now with the body absorbing a bigger workload, so things are looking good fingers crossed.
I had just returned after a fun weekend at Tim Berkels wedding on the Gold Coast, plus working lately so adding in ironman training has left not much else on the schedule, but I managed to find a race in my own backyard last weekend and it fitted in my schedule perfectly as a great lead up race for Melbourne. The Victor Harbor Triathlon is possibly one of the biggest races in South Australia and just keeps getting bigger each year with this year the numbers topping over 1500 in the combined distances, and being a National age Group selection race there was a host of interstate competitors in the mix.
Prior to victor I had clocked up over 130km of running in the mix of a 40 plus hour training week so I knew it would take me a while to get warmed up in the race! And that was exactly what happened as the race was a non wetsuit swim in the 20 degree water and I felt every drop of it. This really hurt me as I have hit a lean 67kg this week and I just couldn’t get going in the water and just got colder and colder as the swim went on, my stroke felt really short and constricted so I was happy to get out the water and on to the bike where I managed to take the lead about 3km in from my mate Andrew Dillon. I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike during the whole 40km but managed to stay out in front and hit the 10km run hard eventually winning by a good 3minutes.

So the signs are good and I have one more hard week to go before I start resting up for Ironman, the field is stacked solid for Melbourne and I am really excited to race such a high quality field, but like any race the key is to get there healthy and fit so I apologize in advance for being anti social in the next few weeks but its cotton wool time.

Matty

Thanks for great shots from last weekends race from Aise Dillon.

Geelong Urban LD Race Report

Geelong Multi Sport Festival was held last weekend and was a great success for everyone involved, a big shout out must go out the USM crew and all the associated sponsors such as Hotel Urban for making the weekend a great triumph, I really think that this is where multi sport is heading now as weekends such as this include everyone from the community and involves much more than just sport with a festival atmosphere with events like fun runs and open air cinemas. It was just a shame the weather didnt want to play the game.

On a personal note I made the trip over on Friday enduring the long drive from Adelaide arriving in Geelong Friday afternoon to wonderful sunshine, that would soon change as I woke up Saturday to a huge downpour on my ride around Geelong. This was pretty much a sign of things to come as I stayed inside for most of the day resting in preperation for Sundays race.The Urban long Distance race was a high quality affair with athletes such as Fettell, Griffen, Berkel and Jacobs etc in the mix so it was going to be a fast day. Personally I was not sure how the racing form was after a long break during December to fix my calf issue and not racing for a while, but I was feeling fit and healthy so I just aimed to give it my best shot. I knew the swim would be a fast affair with Clayton and Pete taking off leaving myself with Tim and Griff about 1min45 off the lead. I have been swimming really well at the moment but the 2 up front are at a level which is unreachable in the water for me and most athletes so I cut my losses and comfortably swam with the group of 3 in the 2nd pack, out of the water and after receiving time checks on the leaders I climbed the heartbreak hill out of tranistion with Griff powering up front, I have been doing triathlons for about 14 years now and I still remember this hill from doing junior selection races and it still hurts! The bike for me didnt feel great as I was pushing the whole way into the terrential rain, and all the while Clayton was extending his lead eventually pushing out to about 4 minutes at the end of the bike with Griff, Tim and myself coming off the bike in equal 2nd with Pete about 45 seconds back. I knew after about a km of running that the legs were not going to enjoy the day so it was a matter of getting through the run and maintaining my position. The boys at front were running hard with Griffo having a good day eventually grabbing 2nd place to a barnstorming Fettell who had a phenominal day in trying conditions, Berkel held 3rd with me in 4th spot and Jacobs crossing the line in 5th spot. I was actually happy to finish a race without injury and the good news is that the calf held up and the signs are good for Ironman Melbourne in a months time. The lack of racing really found me out on the weekend, but I have to start somewhere as I am an athelete who needs to race myself into form so the result is encouraging from that stand point. I have one more race in SA on March 11th which should be a good lead up into Melbourne, but as it stands now I am in heavy heavy training and have recovered well after Geelong.
Thanks again to USM and Urban for making the weekend a pleasurable one despite of the weather.

Matty

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

Shepparton 70.3 (The story behind the story)

I usually wait a few days to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard (yes, literally one finger per letter) to write a race report but I feel I need to so I can clarify what actually happened on the weekend at Shepparton 70.3 which incidentally is one of my favourite races of the year.

I arrived at Shepparton on the Friday without the long 10 hour drive under my belt this time as I flew into Melbourne and hired a car, I was lucky enough to be hosted at the fantastic Shepparton Quest Apartments which was opposite the new aquatic centre. So a big thanks to Simone and the crew for facilitating this, adding to the great organisation of this event was a prelude welcome night on Friday evening where dignitaries got to meet the pro athletes and mingle in a nice environment.

The weather for race weekend was perfect really with slight overcast skies and warmish conditions, so I was thinking that times would be fast. For me personally I was in no mans land after injuring my calf last week just before flying out to Port Mac 70.3. I have never experienced an injury before, so I was not sure how the body would stand up to a major 70.3 race. I had been having intense Physio from my great sponsors at Back in Motion and the calf had been getting better most of the week even though I decided not to push it by testing it too much.

The night before the race I went for a light jog with my mate Tim Berkel and it felt ok which gave me a lot of confidence, and as I was feeling fit I decided to have a good crack at defending my title from last year. Race started at 7am and it was off to a cracker with noted swimmer Matty Bailey and Paul Ambrose setting a fast pace. The passed few weeks I changed a few things with my swim stroke and felt great in the water settling in behind the 2 leaders and was comfortable with Ollie Whistler on my feet. We exited the water with about a minute on the chasers of Leon Griffen, Rix, Berkel and Co so I was off to a great start except when I stepped out of the water and up the bank into transition where I felt my calf twinge. I knew this was not good and the run toward the bike confirmed this! Check the FOTB video which captures the moment when it happens…and I apologise in advance for the language I used!

http://www.firstoffthebike.com/races/2477-703-shepparton-updated-to-include-race-video

At this point I decided to keep going onto the bike as I knew I could still ride but in the back of my mind I was not going to run a hard 21km on a torn calf, especially with Ironman WA in 3 weeks.

The ride for me was going great as I set the early pace with Bailey, Whistler and Ambrose. Ambrose dropped off early due to a virus and coming into the end of the 1st 45km lap we had a lead of about 40 seconds on a solo Griffen. This is where the DRAMA unfolded as I was in the lead at this point trying to drive the pace high to keep the chasers at bay. The main thing that most amateurs need to realise is that at this level and especially in half ironman these days the pace is so fast, and at this point we were averaging 43km/h for the first lap. If you put yourself in that position while leading a major race and add to the fact that you have followed this car at every turn point so far on that lap, then add some more adrenaline as you pass through a large crowd it is only instinctive that you will follow the lead vehicle around that point, especially when the round abouts are very similar.
No one stopped us or yelled at us that we went the wrong way and the lead vehicle just kept going so in my mind nothing had happened and the race was running its course.
This is not an opinion but it is what actually happened and was going though my own mind at this point in the course, I am not defending my actions or blaming anyone I am just getting the point across that this is what went through my mind at that time.

As I entered Transition to start running I was issued with a yellow card to which I didn’t really understand as I had received no notification on the course, so there was a bit of confusion and as you can see on the Video Peter guy and the TO’s did a good job of explaining it. I cant see the point of arguing as it gets you know where and full credit to Matty and Ollie who also did the same.

Fortunately for me I had a little bit of time to test the calf out while waiting for my 5 minutes to end, and the signs were not good as it was really tight so essentially I was not to upset as I couldn’t run anyway. I did feel bad for Bailey who would have had his best result if he didn’t get the penalty. Ollie on the other hand was in a state of massive confusion as he was issued with a yellow card on the course for drafting as well, speaking to Ollie after the race, he thought the 5 minute penalty in transition was for his drafting violation, he was not aware that he had 2 penalties hence the reason he was DQd at the finish.

Overall I hope this clears things up for people and the Shepparton Crew who worked so hard to put on a showcase event this year. These things are a learning experience for both the athlete and organiser. We should know the course and personally I was confident of the turn point as the roundabout are very similar, the lead car just put my mind set at rest and convinced me (which is not hard to do with a HR of about 180bpm and 45km/h!) Secondly I think it highlights the need for a separate pro briefing which happens at most events these days, as parts of the course like this need to be highlighted more so for the pros who will be leading the race at that time. There was no pro briefing at Shep this year which I believe will change next year after this event.

I was disappointed not to defend my title this year but I will certainly be back next year, also well done to the Shep Organising Committee for a great event, it’s just unfortunate that a small issue such as this can be highlighted in such a way as there were so many great positives of this race. On a personal note I am back at the physio trying to sort my calf out for Ironman WA, I know I am fit which is great but as is the case these days half the battle is just getting to the start line 100%.

Hope this clears everything up

Matty

Kona and Australian Champs Race Report

Sorry about the delay guys, but things have been crazy since getting back home, straight back to work and a lot of family stuff happening but, I am feeling quite good and refreshed, which is a good sign considering I have a good block of racing coming up in the next 6 weeks culminating with Ironman West Australia in early December.

To cut a long story short Hawaii just wasn’t my day, I had a good start to the swim as opposed to the last time I raced and had a clean start which was great and managed to stay with the front group until the turn point where I lost a bit of concentration and lost contact, leaving me in the 2nd group with Cam Brown, Bracht, Lovato and a host of others. On to the bike and I felt quite strong as we were sooned joined by Ronnie Schildnickt and a few others, but the whole time I was vomiting up a lot of water which was concerning and losing time to the lead group!

At the turn in Hawi I felt great and picked up the tailwind on the way home dropping the guys who were with me. At about the 150km mark I caught a tired Matty Reed and Eneko Llanos who were also having bad days, I decided to push on even though the lack of fluids was at the back of my mind and the vomiting just seemed to get worse toward the end of the bike.

I got off the bike in about 20th spot and decided to start the run, I actually felt terrible off the bike but then soon fell into a good rhythm until about 5miles were I actually thought I vommitted every internal organ I owned in my body up, it was there and then where I decided to call it a day as my body was not playing the game.and I didnt not want to risk further damage and end up on NBC crawling around the energy lab on all fours! Especially with some good Australian races coming up.

Looking back I am happy I stopped when I did as I am sure I would have done serious damage and to be quite honest with people, it did not appeal to me running around the Queen K highway in pain in that environment.

After the race I was still quite sore but was happy I didn’t do the marathon that’s for sure but on the flipside it was so great to see Australia continue their dominance of the Ironman with Crowie taking out the victory in the new world record and Pete Jacobs getting a well deserved 2nd place.

Once I got back to Australia I decided that I needed to do a race in order to unleash a bit of all this energy I had from Hawaii, and I was lucky enough to find the Australian Duathlon Championships right in my backyard in the Barossa Valley, only 45 minutes away, the Barossa course has been good to me the passed 6 months after winning the State Half Marathon Championships in June so I was really looking forward to a fun day.

The course was really different in that the bike went up Menglers hill 2 times, which is a steep 2km climb that I have never done before and I was surprised by the severity of it, especially after a hard 10km run. I was lucky enough to have some speedy runners in the field from WA who can over for the race, Paul Mackay and Thomas Bruin who pushed the first run under 33 minutes, which was a little shock to the system especially after just getting off the plane on the Friday before!

On the bike I felt great straight away and decided to push hard to bridge the 40 second gap to Mackay. I managed to reel in the leader at the top of Menglers and set about building a comfortable 5 minute lead at the end of the 40km bike ride. I got off the bike and pushed hard onto the 5km run, getting the fastest run time to win my first Australian Duathlon title.

Next on the list for me now is Port Mac 70.3 and then Shepparton 70.3 to try and defend my title from last year, also Ironman WA where I finished 2nd and am hoping to go one place better pm the podium.

Thanks for everyones support leading into Kona it really meant a lot, the main thing now is to move forward and be positive with the upcoming races, I am feeling great and had a huge winter build up in Boulder so am hoping to use it in the next few weeks.

Matty

The road to Kona

It has been a great 7 weeks here in Boulder Town and it is starting to get pretty lonely here with a lot of the big hitters already in Kona for their ironman prep. I decided to hang back here for another week because the weather is still warm, I feel really comfortable here with a great host family, plus my wife really likes it here with great hikes and things to do while I am out training most days.
On a personal note, my time here has been great with some of the best training blocks I have ever done, plus I have had some great people to train with. The same guys are here as last year and I have been doing a lot of training with Dirk Bockel, Tim Berkel and Tim Reed plus a few longer rides with Crowie and his group. Recently the Shimano Australia crew arrived in town and we took some great shots on one of our long rides with Crowie, Tim and myself all being Shimano athletes so am really looking forward to seeing the great shots from Paul (Robbo) Robertson.

I leave for Kona on the 30th of September and really cant wait to get back to sea level and the big island. Vegas 70.3 gave me a lot of confidence especially after coming off such a big training week, I felt amazing on the bike and my swim was where it should be, even though I shut it down once I got my penalty I took a lot of confidence away from it and got back to a huge few weeks back in Boulder and have not felt better physically and mentally.

Away from the bike we have been going on some cool hikes up in the National Park which is about 10,000 feet (see attached photo). Colorado is such a scenic place to live and train it really takes your breath away and I mean that literally as some days I really struggle to breathe at this altitude.
As for training I have included a few weeks of mine leading up to the Ironman and this is what I have been doing pretty much for the last 8 weeks, I have a lot of people ask how I structure my training as I am self coached, so here it is:

Monday: Ride 3hrs, Swim 3-4km, Run 1hr
Tuesday: Rest Day – easy swim 2-3km
Wednesday: Trainer Session 3hrs (4x20min efforts) with 1 hr run off bike, swim 3km
Thursday: Long Ride 5.30-6hrs, swim 3-4km
Friday: Long Run 2.15hr, swim 3km, Run 1hr
Saturday: Long Ride 6hrs, Run off bike 45 min
Sunday: Long run 2.30hrs, Swim 3-4km, Ride 1.30hr easy spin
As for Sponsorships things have been going great with Shane from Cafe of Life looking after me in Boulder this year with all my Chiro and massage needs. Also its great to have my new Merida firing on all cyclinders fully decked out with Shimano Di2 and C75 wheels which I will be running in Hawaii. I hope to make another big sponsorship announcement in the next few weeks so stay tuned. I will check in again once I am settled into life on the big island post ironman.

Matty

Vegas 70.3 Report

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, thats all I can say about last weekend as things started great and ended not so great for me. I was offered a Worlds 70.3 spot at the last minute and decided to add it to my schedule in a lead up to my main goal which is Kona on October 8th. I had arrived in Boulder after finishing 2nd in Yeppoon 70.3 and had a really solid 4 weeks training in the lead up to Vegas. I actually had a really heavy training week leading into Vegas which I anticipated to do as I am aiming to peak for Hawaii in 4 weeks time.

This was my 4th time in Vegas but my first time racing in this crazy town so I didn’t know what to expect as I was staying in the strip at Ceasers palace, so I got a few wierd looks wheeling my Merida Time Warp through the Cas in the early hours of the morning! But I made it to Lake Mead and resisted the temptation of Vegas and got their in one piece.

Race morning was a buzz with eager triathletes and the atmosphere was cranking as the sun rose above the majestic Lake Mead. With a crack field of pro men racing I knew it was going to be a fast and furious day but I was still confident of a top ten placing if I could have a good day. The gun went off and I settled into a good rythm in the main pack exiting on the tail of it just behind Rix, Bell, Gambles, Crawford etc. I was right where I wanted to be as I hit the bike ready for the hilly tough desolate bike course which climbs straight up out of transition, this was where the major moves were made and 2 main groups formed to chase down Potts.

I actually felt amazing on the bike and settled into a good rythm picking up athletes along the way, at about the 35km mark I was caught by uber biker Mich Weiss who was driving the pace big time, he bought my mate Tim Berkel along after an uncharacteristally slow swim, things started to really ramp up and I managed to stay with Weiss throughout the ride and share a lot of the work especially on the uphill sections. I checked behind me at the 70km mark and was surprised to see a lot of athletes had dropped off the pace, especially good bikers like Rix, Cotter and Crawford. At this point we were less than 2 minutes to the main front guys with Lieto 4 min up the road from them. At about 80km in I was overtaken by an athlete who surged on the uphill only to drop back drastically causing me to get a drafting penalty, this was slightly annoying as I had been working quite hard the whole bike ride, but I just took it on the chin and pushed the remainder of the bike hard. I took my penalty but the damage was done as I watched all the other athletes pass by for 5 minutes.

I got back on the bike but I really couldn’t get going again so decided to shut it down and just get to the finish. It was a dissapointing way to finish the day but on the flipside my swim and ride were right where it needed to be especially after a hard week training the week leading in, so I am taking away some great positives from this day into my main goal of Hawaii.Crowie went on to win the race in a great aussie double with new sensation Melissa Rollinson taking the females.

So now its back to business in Boulder after a fun weekend catching up with the guys in Sin City. A special thanks to Luke and Amanda Mckenzie for hooking up a great VIP night at XS nightclub, even though the body sayd the opposite it was a fun way to finish a good weekend!
I will check in again soon in the lead up to Hawaii, Boulder is getting a lot cooler now so I cant wait to get to the big island before I lose the colour on the legs up here in the cold mountains!

Cioa

Matty

Yeppoon Race report

Somedays in this sport you just don’t have it, and Yeppoon was one of those days where I had to force the issue all day and just not give up until I crossed the line.
I have not raced Yeppoon since 2009 where I won in a close battle with my good mate Tim Berkel so I was eager to escape the Adelaide winter and try to defend this title, plus with this year being a 70.3 event with increased prize money and KPR points on offer it was not a hard decision to make the trip up here.
With the late withdrawl of Kieren Doe and Jame Bowstead the field was trimmed down but still retained some quality athletes such as Ollie Whistler, Richard Thomson, Leon Griffen, Mark Bowstead, Nathan Stewart, Ric Munro, Luke Whitmore and Matt Bailey. My fitness leading into the race was good so I was confident of a good result but with not having raced for about 8 weeks I was a little aprehensive of where my conditioning and top end speed would be, I also had a brand spanking new machine courtesy of Shimano and Merida which I had ridden once before the race so it was just a matter of jumping on and winding it up hoping for the best.

The race started at 8am which was great as I was staying at the Capricorn resort and with a short walk to transition I could sleep in a little bit, after a light breakfast I made my way down to transition and the long walk to the swim start. I was surprised to see a few waves in the ocean on the point to point 2km swim which would make things interesting. The race was a beach start which I usually like but this time as the gun sounded I tripped over and fell on my belly as soon as I hit the ocean which set me back a bit. I managed to turn the first can and swim my way up to equal 2nd with Whistler, Stewart and Griffen with Bailey just ahead.

I came out the water in about 4th with Griffo and Stewart with Whistler just ahead, and I was really suffering when I hit dry land and as I mounted the bike things just were not happening for me with Griffo, Ollie and Stewart riding away from me with ease. I really was pedalling squares and I was contemplating pulling over and calling it a day as I was feeeling that bad, but I decided to slow things down and keep it steady until Rick Thomson caught me and rode straight through catching up to the lead 3 of Whistler, Bailey and Griffo.

At about the 45km mark I noticed Griff on the side of the road with a puncture and I was about 2 minutes back on the lead group at this stage and was starting to warm up the engine, knowing that my running had been going well I was still confident of a podium finish if I could put my head down and not give up. I got off the bike with Stewart and Bowstead about 3 minutes down on the lead 3 with some work to do on the run. I set about working on a solid pace knowing that the run course here is not a fast one at all with a lot of winding paths and bush trails, and that is the hard thing about this course especially when you are running from behind as you cannot see the athletes up front until you are just about to pass them, and with no turn point you really are running blind.

I managed to reel in Bailey at the7km mark and then Thomson at the 15km with Whistler about 1.30min up the road, I was starting to feel really good as the run went on and was turning the screws yet without time splits and no indication of where Ollie was I was running blindfolded.

With about 1 km to go I ran past Lisa Marangon who said that Ollie was just up the road but I was not sure how far until I ran out of the bush trail and I noticed ollie just up the path about 50m, I put the afterburners on but with the resort path winding into the finish line it was hard to pick up speed and I ran out of road finishing about 5 seconds behind Ollie in a thrilling finish.

I was happy to finish on a good note and this race flet like it blew a few cobwebs out and to get the fastest run by over 3 minutes was really encouraging. For me now it is time to get down to some serious full time training in Boulder in preperation for World 70.3 Championships and Hawaii Ironman World Championships so the signs are good and can’t wait to get back to the US.

Matty

SPENT

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