We’re just over two weeks out from the race that is for many, a culmination of a season’s worth of training and racing. For some, it is an annual ritual. For others, like my good mate Stuart Charman (@stucharman), it is a venture into the unknown – an introduction to the Ironman experience.

I say “experience”, because taking part in an Ironman event doesn’t lie in just what happens on race day. As you know, there are months of preparation that lie beforehand, and as race day draws closer, the little things get magnified and as an athlete you naturally question and scrutinise every single little thing you do.

If I can give you one piece of advice – trust your own experience and have faith that you have what it takes to achieve your goal.

This post is basically a collection of useful links and videos that you may find helpful in the lead up to Port Macquarie.

• 3 Weeks till Ironman Australia, make them count – 5 easy ways to get your body in race ready shape between now and May 1st.

A few of my posts relating specifically to Port Macquarie:

• Ironman University – Two Weeks Out… – a few of my tips to get your prepared.
• The Curse of the Ironman PB - ok, this post didn’t lead to the result I hoped, but it might help you!
• 6 Ways To Help Save Triathlon – just a few things you can do whilst in Port Mac to help keep the locals smiling!
• My Top 5 Ironman Triathlon Mistakes – read these and avoid learning the hard way.

Here are four videos from Mitch Anderson and the crew at FirstOffTheBike.com (keep in mind the course has changed in some parts this year, although much of it will be the same or similar):

This little video provides a short introduction to a small section of the course.Whilst it doesn’t show much, I find any vision I can get of a course before arriving in the town helps visualise what it will be like.

If you only look at one video, make it this last one. Thanks to TriSpecific and Urban Ninja for bringing it to my attention! If it doesn’t make you want to get out there and give it your best, I suggest you quietly pop your race gear back in its box and go put your feet up. Everyone else, get out there and race!!!

I hope you find some of this information helpful. Success in Ironman is about hard work, specific training and intelligent racing. Get to it!

Sometimes I learn the hard way. Having been through the “old-school” path of working up through the triathlon ranks to the Ironman distance, after sixteen years I’ve made my fair share of mistakes.

Some say that the best way to be successful is to learn from your mistakes. Others believe learning from failure is overrated and you should emphasise learning from your successes instead. I’ve formed the opinion that if you attempt to learn from all experiences – positive and negative – you’re on the right track.

As you may know, Ironman can be a fickle beast. One minute you feel on top of the world, the next you’re scraping the bottom of the energy barrel. Little errors produce little effects. Little effects gradually accumulate and have the potential to ruin your day.

I have selected five mistakes I’ve made in Ironman racing – some big, some small – but all have impacted negatively on my racing at some point. Own their own, some of these mistakes might not amount to much, but when you combine a couple of them you suddenly have a recipe for a bad race.
Continue Reading “My Top 5 Ironman Triathlon Mistakes” »

I bet you’re like me and you love visiting new areas to compete in a race. You arrive in the town, settle into your accommodation, go for a ride, trot out on the course for a run, have a swim and wander around town a bit. A few days out from the race, it seems everyone else is doing the same thing. We’re all having a great time! That is, except for the locals.

Sure, we fill up the accommodation, keep the restaurants busy and the baristas don’t know what has hit them! But how about locals who don’t feel an immediate positive effect from having 1,500 athletes plus their family and friends plonk themselves down in “their” town?

The recent announcement of the Ironman Australia course changes at Port Macquarie brought about what is a regular issue with big races held in regional towns. The effective “shutting down” of the roads and town centre for a weekend stir a response that is part frustration, part anger. Understandably, we as athletes are part to blame. I reckon the event organisers shoulder a good part of it too. Check out this article from the Port Macquarie News and read some of the comments – you’ll get the idea.

Continue Reading “6 Ways To Help Save Triathlon” »

The art of Ironman swim preparation came up in conversation yesterday. For those of us who have raced an Ironman before, we know what it is like to be among the 1400+ bodies thrashing it out for position. I somewhat doubt however, that any of us have forgotten how we felt just prior to our first Ironman start. Nervous. Scared. Niggling self doubt. All pretty normal really.

So this post is aimed at those yet to start their first Ironman, and also those who wish to move up the pack with some more specific training tricks. Although I say “tricks”, really, swimming well in an Ironman is little more than consistent swim training that is specific to the task at hand. Continue Reading “5 Tips For A Faster Ironman Swim” »

Everything in life has a cost. How we pay each cost varies. You might pay for new shoes with money, pay for a mistake by spending more time getting it right, or you might pay for an accident by enduring physical injuries.

There is one particular method of payment that athletes, particularly Ironman athletes, need to be acutely aware of. Turning a blind eye to this little beast can end in tears – either on the training track or on race day. Fatigue. It’s the sneaky beast. It’s the elephant in the room, sitting behind the worn out training gear, the nutrition boxes and your array of high tech gadgetry. Fatigue.

Fatigue can be your friend. It is an essential element of a training program but it needs to be managed. Unfortunately for many, once taper time rolls around, their body is in such a fatigued state that there is just not enough time to dig back out of the hole in time for race day. Essentially, these athletes arrive at the start line with their bodies already partially worn out. Clearly not an ideal way to start a race, let alone an Ironman. Continue Reading “Fatigue – The Silent Injury” »