Matty White

Kona Bound

The last week has certainly been an eventful one as I have been on the edge of my seat watching the last round of WTC qualifying points races before the Kona slots were allocated last week and watching my ranking drop from a comfortable 26th right down to 43rd! with nothing I could do about it whilst sitting at home watching the rain pour down my window in RADelaide.

It was close but I just made it!, this year the pro Hawaii qualification changed in that the first 40 athletes in the KPR points at end of July will be offered a spot with previous winners automatically qualifying, the qualification process involves a compulsory Ironman race and 4 other WTC races. Making qualification very difficult especially if you are an Aussie athlete who can’t travel the world chasing big points races.

My personal situation with work was not enabling me to travel until earl;y August thus meaning I would miss a heap of potential points races to bank up my ranking. Essentially I had to rely on my Australian season points to get me through which they did…..JUST! but I have my spot and that’s all that matters, also I got offered a pro 70.3 World Championship spot in Las Vegas as well which worked out perfectly as I intended on racing a 70.3 race before Kona so

I can now sit back and relax now and finally get things organised with travel etc, as I leave to Boulder Colorado on the 16th of August, directly after Yeppoon 70.3, I am really looking forward to getting back there and training with all the great athletes and most of all enjoy some warm weather. I really think that having a full time prep in Boulder prior to Kona will serve me well, and if I can get in the shape I was in last year I will be on target for a good Hawaii.

I will be staying with my adopted American/Australian parentals the Mortons who are great people and their son Lachlan who is making big waves on the cycling circuit. On another note its great to see so many of my mates doing well on the Tri circuit in the US with the beer loving gnome Tim Reed killing it on the 5150 circuit which I believe he is suited to and Joe Smokin Gambles who ripped up Boulder 70.3 in a course record and will be a big favourite for Vegas 70.3, also good luck to my old mate Tim Van Berkel who is defending his Ironman Challenge Copenhagen next weekend in a star studded field.

Personally my form is good and I can’t wait to get to Yeppoon and race, I have had a great 5 week block after Challenge Cairns focussing on specific strength work and I have never felt fitter. I will update again soon after Yeppoon with a race report, anyway time to go and get some colour on these legs before I leave..

Matty

Back on Track

After a decent break from Challenge Cairns (2 weeks) I have managed to drag my body back into some sort of training routine in preparation for Yeppoon 70.3 and my US trip hopefully to Kona which I will elaborate on later!

So far I have been back for about 4 weeks and have been feeling great. I have implemented a few different things into my preparation this year which include upping the ante with my altitude simulation training and increased WATTBIKE sessions with an emphasis on building strength, Wattbikes are great for these types of sessions as they are so specific measuring wattage, distance, heart rate, speed and everything else that you can think of, even a pedal graph which shows how your pedal rotations are working on an even axel! Plus with the cold winter its easier to stay indoors.

As I will be travelling direct to Boulder I want to make sure I am acclimitised before I get there so I can hit the ground running, so I have been really working the ATS simulator hard with hard interval sessions at 3400m, and believe me they are gut wrenching. I have been using the system for 7 months now and the increase in performance is amazing as when I started with the unit I was wiped out from just doing 1hr at 1800m at an easy pace so I am a big believer in this type of training and the results are speaking for themselves.

SO what else is new? Not much really apart from battling the elements here in RADelaide, I am lucky enough to have a few riding buddies down here who keep me company in the cold which is great, but I tell you what, those bakery stops are getting harder and harder to get going again especially on the colder wet days. I have decided to stay in Adelaide a bit longer this year and try to peak later on in the year with the hope of racing Kona as a pro again. KPR points is the magic word at the moment for most pro athletes trying to crack the top 40 by July 31st, currently I am 37th on the list with a few big races left and not knowing who will take their spot leaves me a little bit frustrated by not knowing if I am racing or not. Plus adding to the fact they take another 10 athletes in August and bang you have qualified for Kona as pro and here is 6-8 weeks to get ready, book flights and accom! But that is the new ruling which certainly tips the advantage toward US athletes with the abundance of points races so we just have to accept it. I believe Aussie athletes will be a lot better off next year with a heap of new 70.3 races on the circuit.

On the sponsorship front I have recently joined the Shimano Global Tri Team which I am extremely excited about as I have been using the products for a while now and the DI2 system is without a doubt the best shifting system on the planet and with the Shimano worldwide support network I will never be without the best products and support wherever I may be racing or training.

Also I have just been issued with a new running shoe from Saucony which is cutting edge in terms of minimalist running, its called the Saucony Hattori and is literally an extension of your foot. Unlike other very minimal shoes, the Hattori’s mitten-like toe box gives your toes room to naturally arch, grip and push off. To further leverage natural toe movement, the sole features a visible flex groove in back of the toes and in front of the metatarsals, it weighs about 125grams and you don’t even realise you are wearing it!
It is designed for forefoot runners and that suits me perfectly you can check it out here at Sauconys new Aussie website which has just come online! http://www.saucony.com.au/201261-black-slime-green.html

I hope everyone is getting through the cold of winter and enduring the late nights watching the Tour De France, it is always hard for me watching the tour as I used to live in France in my early 20s racing for a French club in Le Provence and we would always go and watch some stages, I was lucky enough to be on Mount Ventoux when Pantani and Armstrong duelled it out as well as Alpe Du Huez for the famous hill time trial! So there is great memories watching this epic race.

I also have been working hard with my good mate Dan Peters from http://danpeters.com.au/ on a really cool little video which we are just putting the finishing touches on, I won’t talk too much about it but Dan has some serious talent and can’t wait to get it out there, so as soon as its online I will post it up.

I am conducting an info night for any SA athletes interested with the Physios from Back in Motion Campbelltown on Wednesday the 27th of July at 8pm, the night is free and will provide some great information on injury prevention and general preparation for anyone looking at running the City Bay Fun Run in a few months, so call 83645907 to book in.

Take Care.

Matty

Oz Season Recap!

It has been nearly 2 weeks since I finished my season on a high with a 2nd place to Macca and all I am wishing for now is that my golf game can perform half as good as my tri career at the moment! As I am writing this I have about 4 days left of my break and I am heading on a golf trip with the boys from the fire station, I dont get an opportunity to do this due to travel and training commitments so am really looking forward to it.

The Australian season was a great success for me in terms of results and getting me closer to an ironman win, my last 2 ironman races have been 2nd and 2nd, so I am really looking to jump up one more place on the podium next season.

My results for the last 12 month period are as follows:

3rd Mooseman 70.3
4th Boise 70.3
6th Ironman Cour D Alene
2nd Racine 70.3
3rd Steelhead 70.3
8th Boulder 70.3
4th Cancun 70.3
5th Timberman 70.3
1st Shepparton Half Ironman
2nd Ironman Western Australia
1st South Australian Sprint Champs
1st South Australian Olympic Champs
1st Triman Half Ironman
8th Port Macquarie 70.3
2nd Busselton 70.3
1st South Australian Half Marathon Champs
2nd Ironman Challenge Cairns

As you can see it has been a crazy 12 months with 11 half ironman races and 3 ironman races, Overall I am really happy with my consistency and overall performance, now its time to set some new goals and hit them harder with an aim of stepping it up even more.

I have made the decision, well the decision was made for me essentially from my work to stay in OZ and compete in one of my favorite races Yeppoon 70.3 in August, this was my first ever half ironman win and I have not been back since so can’t wait. After Yeppoon I am heading straight over to Boulder again to prepare for either Kona or Challenge Barcelona, with some 70.3 races in between. I really want to go back and hit the Euro scene again as I love France and Spain with its great food and culture, plus a holiday after Barcelona is a good option.

I will put up a full schedule of my events once I have more of an idea but that is the skeleton schedule so far.

Overall I hope to really step it up this year and I have implemented some different tools into my training programme which I believe will help me. I have generally kept my training very consistent throughout my career with the strong belief that each year you can get stronger, as long as you stay injury free. This year though I implemented altitude training in my regime and as uncomfortable as it may be, it has helped me produce my best season ever. Plus I found it is a great time efficient training tool as you only need about an hour exposure to increase red blood cells, plus it has great benefits for your skin and general health. It is definitely worth a look if you are a time needy athlete chasing results. www.ats-altitude.com.

Hope everyone sticks it out in the winter and gets the hard yards done. Thanks a lot for all the great support as well throughout the season, I have some great sponsorship news in the pipeline which I will reveal once it has all been signed off on so stay tuned.

Also check out this interview I did with Herbert from slowtwitch here:

Matty White Interview

Take Care

Matty

Challenge Cairns

There are only a few ironman races in the world that can captivate us athletes, and, draw our minds away from our pain, and Challenge Cairns is one of those races. With a bike ride showcasing views that are unparalleled anywhere in the world, along the most majestic coastline in Australia if not the world, sometimes it was difficult to stay upright on the bike as my attention was drawn to the crystal clear blue waters which crest the coastal ride all the way out to Port Douglas.
The inaugural Challenge Cairns race lived up to its pre race hype and expectations bringing with it a huge prize purse and some of the best long course athletes from Australia and New Zealand. Headlining the act was two time World Champion Chris MacCormack, along with other ironman winners , Tim Berkel and Jamie Whyte plus Graham OGrady, Clayton Fettell, David Dellow and John Hotchkiss. With the late withdrawal of 10 time ironman NZ champ Cameron Brown, I believed the door had opened for a podium or a possible victory for me. In the week leading up to the race there was a lot of talk in the local media about Macca questioning who would step up and challenge the world champ. Macca, who is never shy of talking up a good game really put the challenge out to us younger guys to step up over this new course. On a personal note, I managed to slip under the radar and stay relatively stress free in the days leading up to the event which really helped my mindset and focus, I did this by deciding to stay out of Cairns in beautiful Palm Cove, where I enjoyed the great weather and beaches which is what North Queensland is famous for.
I was feeling really confident in the lead up to the race having won the SA state half marathon the previous week, in a PB time of 1.09 so I knew that my running legs were firing. I was familiar with the Cairns course after having spent six weeks there on a training camp in 2009 in my lead up to Hawaii. I knew the run would play a huge factor in the race because the first half of the run was in the full sun along the Captain Cook Highway, and due to the distance between T2 and the finish line, we couldn’t see the majority of the supporters until the 19km mark when we arrived in Cairns- so in a way it felt like a reverse Hawaii, with a tough Queen K highway run! I had upped my running mileage in the weeks lead up to this race clocking on average 100km per week including some good quality sessions.
Race morning began with a 6.45am start at Yorkeys Knob beach, the water temperature was a perfect 22 degrees, and with wetsuits allowed, it made for a comfortable swim. I settled in to a rhythm mindful of the fact that superfish Fettell and O’Grady would be out in front. I exited the water with Berkel and Whyte in 49 minutes, a shade under 5 minutes behind Fettell and about 2 minutes down on Macca, Dellow and O’Grady. I was feeling really comfortable in the swim and was right on track with my race plan, the only issue was knowing that Macca was further up the road riding with a few strong bikers. I managed to find a good rhythm on the bike and shared good company with other strong riders such as Hotchkiss, Berkel and Whyte. We picked up Dellow at the 30km mark but we were losing to time to Macca, Fettell and O’Grady. The ride was out to Port Douglas and back twice which made the ride one of the most picturesque courses I have ever competed on. The fact that the road was fully closed to traffic made it extremely safe all the way back to T2. I was lucky enough to get a few time checks on the course from my wife, Danielle, who was racing the half ironman and who, in no uncertain terms, told me to move my A@# because the gap from me to Macca’s group was about 5 minutes.

Heading into T2 at Yorkeys Knob, the wind picked up, as did our pace and I noticed Berkel begin to struggle off the back in the last 5km. I actually thought Tim’s day was done as we came in to transition, I would later be proved wrong when he caught me at the 30km mark of the run! I hit T2 still 5 minutes down on Macca’s group and I had company with Challenge Wanaka winner Whyte, Hotchkiss and Dellow but, after a quick transition, I went off in hunt of the guys in front. I didn’t know what to expect from Fettell and O’Grady as it was their debut ironman and, being extremely talented athletes, they are capable of anything but, during a hot, tough ironman anything can happen. I knew it was inevitable that the fast pace on the bike would have hurt the lead guys, so for me, the key was to run a solid yet consistent pace into town and let the crowd carry me home in the last hour.
In the first 17km of my run, I hit my target pace and felt really good, I managed to pick up O’Grady at the 10km mark, followed by Fettell at around 15km, finding myself in second still about 5 minutes down on Macca. I knew Berkel was about a minute behind and was coming back after his horror last 5km on the bike, then Whyte, Dellow and Hotchkiss all vying for a piece of the huge prize money on offer. I hit the 20km mark of the run and started to feel cramps coming on even though I was running well, and as most athletes know cramps can play havoc especially after about 7 hours of racing in hot conditions! Berkel was gaining on me and I hit a little bad patch for a while. When Tim caught me at the 23km mark I let him go, I knew I was still running at a solid pace but I didn’t want to push too hard in case cramp ended my day. So I kept plugging away and concentrated on my nutrition- chugging down some SIS gels and fluids, coke, ice and anything else I could get my hands on. I started to feel better and found myself running alongside Berkel at the 30km mark! Despite being friends and training together, running with Tim is not ideal for me because I know Tim can run a fast marathon and I didn’t want to face a running race with him in the last 10km. While we were running the second lap of the three lap course together Tim asked me if it was our last lap, when I told Tim we still had one lap to go I could see the mental anguish on his face when he realised we had to run around the esplanade again. I took this opportunity to make a few surges into the headwind and finally managed to drop Tim then pick up the pace with a tailwind back into town.

At this point I was about 10min back on Macca and feeling the pain, Tim was hovering about a minute back just waiting for me to cramp up and then there was a gap to Whyte and Fettell who was having a great ironman debut. Coming into the last km in Cairns I knew I had 2nd place in the bag as I knew Tim was hurting as much as me and the crowd has an amazing effect in dispersing the pain, so I really got to soak it up and enjoy the great atmosphere of downtown Cairns, running passed all the cafes and pubs was awesome with people stacked 3 deep, and hitting the famous Challenge red carpet was something I would never forget with balloons and spectators going nuts. I crossed the line in 8.28 about 12 minutes behind Macca, Berkel tumbled across the line a minute behind me having given everything out there, Jamie Whyte came home strong in 4th and Fettell finished 5th showing everyone in no uncertain terms that he has unfinished business in ironman.

For me now its all about rest and recovery after a great 12 months on the triathlon circuit, I have made some great friends and experienced some fantastic places along the way, but without a doubt Challenge Cairns is a huge highlight of my year and an excellent way to finish off my OZ season. I feel privileged to be part of the Challenge family now and it was really great to see the way they embrace the whole family concept, allowing competitors to run down the finish shute with family members and loved ones, so a huge congratulations to the Challenge Family and USM for bringing this new event to Australia and I am sure with the worldwide exposure it is going to be even bigger and better next year.

Matty

SA Half Marathon Championships

This weekend I competed in the SA State Half Marathon Championships in the beautiful Barossa Valley town of Tanunda, for those of you who don’t know Tanunda is nestled in the heart of wine country in SA and plays host to numerous wineries all around the district.

I decided to race at the last minute as opposed to doing a last hard run by myself the week before challenge Cairns, and I managed to convince my mate Josh Rix to come down also for a run.

The race was designed along a new course with a straight out and back section with a slow gradual uphill until the last turn then a gradual downhill and a long flat section to bring it home. I had been running quite well in the lead up to this race with some good kms and some good quality sessions. It is pretty rare that I get a chance to test myself over a straight out running race when I am at close to full fitness so I was pumped and ready to roll with some hardcore Lady GAGA on my ipod top get me through!

I was hoping for a fast time, but certainly didn’t expect to cross the line 1st in a 1.09, with Josh not far behind in a 1.12 making it a triathlon 1,2. I managed to break away at the start of the race so to run that time in a solo effort is really encouraging, also a big shout out to young triathlete Krystal Smith who won the females in a slick time of 1.22! also making it a huge triathlete day out.

The last few weeks have been lots of fun for me being able to mix it with some of SA’s best bike riders at the road and TT champs and then win the State Half Champs, but I am looking forward mostly to racing Challenge Cairns next week. I have not raced an ironman since Busso in December last year where I finishied 2nd.

Thanks again to all the SA runners who cheered me on in the run yesterday, it sounded like every second person was cheering and really lifted me.

I will check in again next week from sunny Cairns.

Matty

PAINFEST 2011

Last weekend I competed in the South Australian Road Race Titles for a bit of fun and some good training for my upcoming assault on Challenge Cairns ironman on June 5th. The Saturday consisted of a 40km Time Trial around Langhorne Creek which is about 45min from Adelaide, the roads were not great and there was a slight head/cross wind but I still managed a credible 2nd place in 54 minutes which I was really happy with, even after the tech officials at Cycling SA threw my seat back about 7cm due to regulations. Hence to say it was the most uncomfortable 40km of my life!

Next stop was the road race titles which were a headcracking 16x10km laps with some little bergs thrown in each lap! I was definitely feeling the effects from Saturdays TT effort and looking around the bunch of teh elite men I didnt recognise hardly anyone who raced the previous day, the pace was pretty cruisy for about 120km yet my legs did not feel great. I decided to test them out at 130km and did half a lap on the front and before I knew it I had a small gap with a few laps to go. I decided to give it a red hot go at this point and try and get something out of this long ride so I ended up extending my solo lead out to 30 seconds with about 10km to go! with about 5km left I actually belived I might grab a state road title (imagine if a triathlete won the SA state road titles!), unfortunately the hard work of some of my mates managed to reel me back in with about 1.5km left and I ended up in about 6th place. I was really happy with the weekend on the bike with some huge quality kms and some big HR numbers. ( my Garmin had me above 180BPM for 54min on the Saturday)

If you are a triathlete I thoroughly reccomend to get out there and do some bike racing to mix things up a bit, and I guarantee you will hurt like nothing before.

I have another week of ironman CRAM training before Cairns but the signs are good, the main thing now is just to stay healthy and injury free.

Here are some pics from the Road State Titles…check out the pain on the last photo.

Matty

Busselton 70.3 Race Report

It’s amazing what a week can make in this sport! After really suffering with illness and having a mechanical issue at Port Macquarie 70.3 I just rested and recovered by doing nothing all week in the lead up to Busso 70.3 as I really wanted to redeem myself as Port was not a true indicator of my current form. So my first swim bike or run session was race morning at the race! I still was not 100% with a bit of a chest infection hanging around but feeling 80% better than I did leading into Port 70.3.

The field was a cracker as was last week with a few of us backing up with sore legs and bodies.Tim Berkel, Tim Reed, Josh Rix, Ollie Whistler, Jamie Whyte, Leon Griffen etc where going to make the pace fast over this course, I knew race times were going to be quick as Luke Mckenzie posted a 3.47 the year before so the win would be around there if not low 3.50s. Race morning was bloody freezing as it was only about 8degrees C during the night, but the sun was coming up and and I knew it was going to be a clear day.

The swim started quite fast and I settled into a good pace swimming with Whistler, Griffen, Berkel etc coming out the water about a minute down on Guy Crawford and Bryan (don’t do your quid at the pro briefing) Rhodes and David Dellow. Due to being sick and not feeling great all week after Port I decided to conserve and really focus on a good run and just keep everyone in check. Toward the end of the bike things got a bit congested as we caught the age categories and that was when Rixy and Whyte made a small 30 seconds jump toward transition, myself and a few of the other guys had no idea as things were so congested on lap 2.

I managed to have a good transition and hit the run into a solid head wind all the while keeping Berkz in sight. I was caught at the 3km mark by a beer loving gnome like character Tim Reed and a heavy breathing Dellow and Leon Griffen and I held onto the back of these guys for the remainder of lap 1. I noticed Griff drop back and Dellow looked like he was hurting and so was I, so I let the boys go and just concentrated on my own pace knowing that Tim Reed had raced hard the week before and I thought the effort might catch up to him. At about the 10km mark I ran passed Dellow and noticed a small gnome creature up ahead who I was gaining on. I started to feel great and really light on my feet passing Reed who had run out of gnome juice for 2nd place and holding on to the finish line in a time of 3.52 just over a minute behind my good mate Tim Berkel who had his first 70.3 victory, Tim Reed had a great day in 3rd and Rixy proved that Adelaide is working for him by finishing in 4th place.

So another 2nd place in WA after finishing 2nd in Busso Ironman in December! I am very happy to be healthy and racing hard again and it was so good to see such a good pro field racing both 70.3 races, lets hope this is a sign of things to come now we have more 70.3 races in Australia. A quick mention must go out to the fantastic effort from the Triathlon WA crew by treating all the pro athletes like superstars all weekend and getting us involved in the whole festival, right from the VIP breakfast, the chat with the pro evening and the Kids Triathlon.

For me now its time to Buckle up or as my good mate Dirk Bockel says “BOCKEL” up for some hard training in prep for Challenge Cairns in 4 weeks. I am also racing the SA State Time Trial Championships on Saturday which I am really excited about then backing up with the State Road titles the next day..OUCH! so I will keep you in the loop.

Thanks Again for all the support it really means a lot.

Matty

Pretty Happy about finishing 2nd

Port Mac 70.3 Race Recap

Well, everything that could go wrong did go wrong this weekend so let’s hope that its all out of the way ready for my next race at Busso 70.3 on Saturday. It started early last week when I decided to taper up for this block of racing after a really great prep when I felt a slight head cold coming on, then things started to get really bad after flying all day Friday and arriving at Port Mac in a snot drenched mess! I decided to race nonetheless and would see how I would go.

Race start was great as it was a 9am kick off which enabled me to lie in and go and watch the Ironman swim which passed my hotel, and got to see Pete Jacobs gap the field considerably. I made the liesurly walk down to race start and had to endure the carnage of having to navigate my way around a blocked off street in order to get into the 70.3 Transition which only opened up after a 30 minute delay causing a lot of anxious athletes to wonder around aimlessly pondering their day.

I didnt feel great in the morning but kept telling  myself I was ok, plus I needed to finish this race for points in order to get to Hawaii. My swim flet surprisingly good considering I had a major coughing fit 2 minutes before the start coughing up all sorts of glob. I felt comfortable and came out the water leading the 2nd pack with Joe Gambles, Berkel, Reed, Rix and Griffen which was right where I wanted to be positioned as my bike riding has been great of recently I decided to drop the hammer and start charging. Gambles set a cracking pace out of tranistion and I managed to stay with him going up the first few hills before disaster struck when I changed down into my small chainring. It got caught in my crank and caused no end of grief as I watched the heavy hitters ride away into the distance. I struggled to get going again having to mount up on the steep hill and lost about 1.30min to the main group, so sortry to the spectators on that hill who must have heard all types of language come out of my mouth.

As disheartening as it was I pushed very hard to the trunaround to see what the damage, I placed myself on the rivet for about 50km and managed to catch the group containing Rix, Berkel and Reed, this gave me a lot of confidence as I knew I was not 100% but still managed to catch some strong athletes after a setback. In saying that I got off the bike in a terrible way with heavy legs and breathing through a straw! Suffice to say I still tried hard for about 3km before I realised I was doing more damage than good especially knowing that I am racing Busselton 70.3 6 days later, I decided to drop the level down and ended up jogging home with Griffo who was also having a bad day for the last half of the marathon coming through in equal 8th place.

A big Congratulations must go to Pete Jacobs who lead from start to finish to take out the ironman and also my mate Joe Gambles who is in devastating form as he leaves to the states.

The next day I felt terrible and managed to get into see a Doctor who prescribed me some antibiotics and the good news is that I am feeling about 80% better, so all signs point to a happy healthy Matty White at 70.3 Busso which I am really looking forward to as I have never raced the half ironman over this course and having my career best ironman result there in December is still fresh in my mind. Also keep an eye out for me as my cool sponsor Scody has designed me a new kit which I will debut at the race, its a really new design and will definitely turn some heads.

I am also racing the SA State Titles and Road Race the next weekend in South Australia which I am really looking forward to as I was 3rd at the TTs a few years ago and I defintely am a different bike rider since then so fingers crossed and it should be great fun and great training for the Cairns Ironman in June.

Thanks again for all teh support over the weekend, it was great to see so many South Australians competing and doing well. I will post again after Busso with some better news!

Matty

Port Mac and Busso Prep

Hi everyone, I thought I would check in and let you know how things are going in the lead up to Port Mac and Busso 70.3 events in a few weeks, I am pretty excited about hitting these races especially after coming off a tough win at Triman Half Ironman a few weeks ago so I know the form is there and it has just been a matter of fine tuning since then. The legs did not recover that well from Triman especially after the long drive home to Adelaide, so my recovery was really hampered and basically wrote the next week off as recovery week.

I have recently signed with BACK IN MOTION Physios who provide me with state of the art care each week and they were much needed the last few weeks especially after cranking the running mileage and also trying to recover from Triman. I also am happy to announce signing on with SPIDERTECH Kineosology tape, for those of you who don’t know this tape provides great relief for all injuries/aches and pains, recently I have been struggling with calf/Achilles tightness and this tape is really helping. Just before Triman I also signed with SIS (Science in Sport) nutrition, I have used this product before when I was in the US racing and really enjoyed the flavour and diversity of the products. Things have been pretty busy lately with signing on with new sponsors and re-signing with my existing supporters which I am really happy about, such as SCODY, RYDERS and COMPRESSPORT (who are releasing a new Matty White exclusive product at Port Mac so keep an eye out for this one).

As for training the last few weeks it has been going really well with a few 120km plus running weeks and more swimming, I have found that since I started training with WATTBIKE my riding has improved immensely, I actually really enjoy it as it is so time efficient and precise that you can monitor your efforts 100%, plus being so smooth it beats the old ergo or wind trainer hands down. I also have been combining this with my Altitude Training Machine and the results have been speaking for themselves.

I really can’t wait to race the next few 70.3 races, both fields are packed with great triathletes and whoever podiums will have their work cut out for them, I just hope the weather is good, especially as its starting to get cooler and darker in Adelaide at the moment. I am really looking forward to not be curled up in the fetal position after Port Mac Ironman and cant wait to test the new 70.3 course in Port as well as racing Busso Half which I have never done before. It will be a tough ask backing up 2 half ironmans in a week but I have done it before in the US so hopefully that experience will help.

Good luck to everyone racing in the Ironman in a few weeks and hope the prep is coming along nicely and enjoy your taper.

See you out there

Matty

Triman Race Report

As I am writing this my legs are aching after an epic travelling weekend at Triman in Torquay Victoria, initially I never planned to race this new half ironman event, but a phone call from Anthony Marchesani the week before twisted my rubber arm. So I planned the trip over and decided to use the race as a bit of a form finder and really try and get as much out of it as I can, plus I have never been to the surfcoast before so it was a good opportunity to see this beautiful coastline of our great country.

It is always new and exciting competing in a first off event in a new location and the best thing is that whoever is the winner gets to claim a guaranteed course record. The weather leading into the event was quite windy and cold to say the least especially for the athletes who travelled down from the northern states such as NSW and QLD. The mens field was surpisingly peppered with some quality athletes all chasing a Triman  title, they included a youthful injury free Mitch Anderson, ITU long course winner Jimbo Johnson, Joey lampe, Luke Whitmore and a beer loving gnome like character called Tim Reed. Race kick off was at 6.45am and as I attempted to do a warm up swim I was surprised how cold the water was adding to that the shoreline was littered with rocks which made the beach start rather tentative, but thanks to the local lifesavers we were guided away from the dangerous section.

My start in the swim was unusually slow for me as I generally get a good start in the beach starts and I blame that on the cold as I felt I was running on the spot for the first 5 seconds, but I managed to get going and dive into the 18 degree water in a good position. Luckily I had my Scody Sleeve one piece suit which I was thankful for in the cold conditions.  One of the negatives of first off races is the “teething problems” there are a lot of knockers out there who retrospectively have a crack at race organizers, but from a personal point of view I have organized triathlons before and things go wrong it is human nature, its just whether we learn from these mistakes or not the lesson will lie! So in saying that the 2 lap swim course was carnage for me as I was sitting in 2^nd place with Tim Reed and at the start of the 2^nd lap we hit the age groupers who had started their 1^st lap and I have never had to swim through so much mayhem so I apologise for anyone who I elbowed or kicked. I came out the water with Reed about a minute down on Lampe which was no surprise as Joey is a great swimmer. The swim was definitely short  as I exited in about 18minutes and proceeded to climb the Alcatrazesque steps toward transition.

Once on to the bike I found my legs quite quickly and put my head down into catching Joey who I could see up the road. I knew I was riding well as I broke the course record at a local event the week before by over a minute on a 26km ride. I found myself riding up to Joey at the 15km mark who stayed with me until the start of the 2^nd lap where I found myself riding solo with Johnson about a minute behind and Anderson who was looking strong about 3 minutes back. Once I saw the deficit at the turn point I decided to drop the hammer at the start of the 2^nd lap and see how far I could gap the field, and at the last turn point I turned into the blustery wind and noticed that I had extended my lead which gave me confidence heading back into T2.

I got off the bike with a healthy 3.30min lead of Anderson, so I slipped into my Saucony racing flats and hit the tough windy 21km run (or 22.5km) according to my Garmin but lets not go there! The run course was a slog as there was a considerablye uphill section and coming back there was a headwind along the coastal path so it definitely was not a fast run, but I did enough to capture the win with a 2.30min to Mitch Anderson so I was happy with my race, my legs really started to struggle in the last 5km due to my bike efforts so I took the throttle down a notch to avoid cramping and I was lucky enough to cruise home and enjoy the great finishline.

The podium was rounded out with Anderson, Johnson, Reed and Whitmore so I was in good company. Overall the race was a great confidence builder for me leading into Port and Busso 70.3 events in early May. Obtaining the fastest bike split against solid riders such as Anderson and Johnson in tough blustery conditions tells me that a little tweak in my training has had great effects so I thank Wattbike Australia and ATS for helping me get the power down to the pedals.

Next up for me is a solid block of training and I hope to hit the early May races with fast feet, so thanks for all your support and I will see you out on the race track.

Thanks again to Anthony and the Triman crew for putting on a great race, the atmosphere was excellent and I am sure this event will be a highlight on the calander for 2012.

Matty

Winning Triman 2011