Worlds/ Arizona / Done!

Very, very lazy with blogging and post's but in my defence i've had a full on travel schedule the past months.

Now i have no excuses i'm finished for 2009 !. What a welcome relief for 2009.

If you don't no already, i just capped off season 09 with a 5th place in the ITU long course World Champs and another 5th place in IM Arizona.

I would like to write more on the subject for Ironman Arizona.

As if you don't no already i have some deep mental scares on that race, it was my 1st debut ironman the previous year in 2008, i finished but had a terrible day as most of you fellow ironman athletes may also have been through the same pain of completely "bonking".

This year i had my own personal demons to overcome, in so many ways i had unfinished business with this race particular, i had to battle my own mental obstacles over this alluring event if i want to ever be successful over the Ironman distance.

I did so! finally, placing myself nicely with the leaders in the swim, being extra careful on the bike, and running a sub 3hr marathon, (a perfect day to put those IM demons to rest).

Now i know i keep saying i will regularly update my blog, but this time i will! 2010 is going to be a big year, new ideas/ new racers and i have a new laptop to keep ya posted.

Time for RnR.

Signing off for 2009 and looking forward to what's to come in 2010

Best wishes Ambrose

Back in Oz

Ok. I'm Back in Oz again.
I've come back from the states after racing 3 weekends in a row. In and out this time, no time for hanging out this time around.
I've come back to race the ITU Long course worlds, which will be in Perth Australia this year. A great chance to spend more time with friends and family and racing on home soil. (Even though i will be racing for Great Britain).
I'm excited to see how things go, this race alternates its distances every 2nd year, last year was the long version 4km/130km/ 30km but this year will be shorter but faster 3km /80km /20km., which i believe will be more similar to racing a short course race, (all out).
Being back these past few days in Sydney has not been quite what I've expected, after the scorching hot days in L.A the past month, I've come back to quite a cold week of weather back in Sydney. And me being me, their was no time to muck around, i got back in training after a 14hr flight and jet lag, with the whole cocktail of issues rushing back into training, I've stupidly court the flu, which i hope to get over real soon.
Drinking tea and resting
Paul

L.A

Ok well in in L.A now. going to crack out a few solid racers whilst i'm over here.
I realise theirs been a neglect of blogging on my behalf, and frankly theirs too much too tell and not much time to write about it, so i'll just skip to the present.
I just raced Malibu olympic tri where i had a solid performance against these short course fast guys which i was pleased with.
Then i continued the following week with Cancun 70.3, which had to be one of my hardest days i've ever raced in. It was ridiculous how hot it was race day in Cancun, it was roughly like 40 degrees Celsius and 100% humidity to give you any type of indicator.
Previous to these racers i was able to train back in Sydney for a few weeks in between my European season and now my present U.S one.
It was great to get home earlier this year, as i normally wait out going home and training abroad through the summer U.S/ Europe seasons are concluded.
This is the place i can get re-focused and always good to catch up with family and friends which its hard to stay in contact with, during the vigorous travels as a pro triathlete.
I'll try and keep you posted as best i can.
cheers Paul

Road trip 09

Ok well after Iron Austria it was time for some serious Rest and recovery.
Which for me usually means 'party time', as i have a habit of not being able to sit still and just relax and enjoy my free time.
So i decided to go visit my old home town of Roth, which also had the big Ironman triathlon on too that weekend, so it was great timing to pack up my things to start the begining on which became a 3 week road trip.
Down in Roth during the week, i bunked up with the crew from majic foods, which i shared a carivan with them for the 4 days during the festival.
To say the least their was not much time for RnR as i got court up with the awsome vibe of the Quelle triathlon vestival, (which meant way too many late night with no sleep). It was refreshing to be on the opposite side of the race course.
I had alot of fun catching up with the guys and girls racing the Ironman and hanging out with the staff behind the scenes of the race.
It was quite an inspirational day for myself, which i have sometime doubts of why i am in this sport, to watch these guys/girls have an epic day of racing.

more to come
Paul

Ironman Austria

Ok my training for Ironman Austria was going ok, but just 'ok' not great or bad i was happy that i was fit and had a good pre season base under my belt.
After Challenge Kraichgau, i teamed up with Chris McComarck and we did some last minute 'cram' training weeks together as we were both worried that we had not trained enough miles as we had such a full race schedule.
This may have not been the best idea, as in one of the 'cram' training runs i pulled up with a swallon shin.
This problem did affect my training abit as i has to do a forced earlier taper for my running.
Klagenfurt- i decided to drive from my homestay in Limburg to Ironman Austria, which was a pretty drive, but a long boring drive when you do this solo.
Come race day i was really excited to race, as the stories of Klagenfurt being one of the most beautiful Ironman in the world held up to my expectations.
(I thought if i am going to suffer in a race that goes for over 8hrs, i want to at least enjoy the scenery.)
I was lucky enough to come first out of the water during the race.... as the bike leg went on, i was too scared to take any chances on the bike, as i am new to this type of racing so i sat with the first group all of the bike leg, doing turns but did not want to ride solo as i wasn't sure how to pace myself.
Though i now regret not 'having a go' on the bike as i still fell apart on the marathon at around 15km. I was able to run the whole way which i was happy with, but i think my lack of long runs in training realy showed during the marathon.
This is all a learning curve for myself, as i can take alot of knowledge from this.
I was still happy i could place a strong time and place, with my total lack of experience over this distance.
Slowing putting the pieces togther for the enduring event which is an Ironman.

Sore any ready for some RnR
Paul

Europe continued

Ok, after challenge Barcelona i raced Switzerland 70.3, Which was another hard race.
The course in Switzerland was hilly as you would imagine for Switzerland but the back section of the bike can be quite technical and fast.I had another solid performance i thought, as their were only minutes separating the top 10. Which shows again the depth of tallent over here in europe.
Next i raced challenge Kraichgau in Germany, which like Switzerland was also very hilly, but unlike Switzerland race day became quite hot, as i had a solid swim/bike placing 2nd in both, but i end up suffering with cramps during the run which i struggled to finish, though i was happy with the performance considering the circumstances.
These racers have been more like a building blocks of training, trying to sharpen up and touch up some last minute performance edges for my goal race Ironman Austria.

Challenge - Spain Barcelona

The Challenge series is a new series which has a combination of Ironman distances such as the famous race in Roth and now with a selection of half ironman distance racers which are starting to spread across the world.
Myself, i am a stronge supporter of other race organisers having a go to open a wide market and selection for triathletes who wish to race other events outside the stonghold which WTC Ironman has other the triathlon market.
Saying that i still love to race WTC Ironman event's, i just like that their are other events such as the Challenge series 'having a go', which i believe is good for the sport of triathlon to get more of a global presence and more opportunities for triathletes within the sport.
Challenge Spain - this was the first year for the event, so saying that everthing didn't go perfectly. But all in all a nice race and venue for hopefully many years to come.
The race for myself was a very tuff race, as in europe i find that the depth of the fields are always very stronge, and Challenge Spain did not disapoint in that regards.
The swim was in the ocean, with abit of choppy sea's making it hard to navigate during the race.
The bike was fast but very undulating, with rolling hills, and a field of stronge euro biker's who new how to stroke a peddle.
The run was hot but very nice along the coast on some softer service area's such as hard sand or dirt which i prefer over the pounding of pavement all the time.
The Finish was up a hill which felt longer than it was, but with a big croud finishing in a athletics track, which helped abit with the pain.
The after party, a perfect venue for party life, every night where the race was held was a party night, so it was very hard to sleep before the race, but after lots of fun.

Germany

Well after 25hrs of travel time and a serious dose a jet lag i'm finally in Germany.
Usually this time the previous years i'm in the States doing the usually 70.3 race season and getting settled in Colorado and getting used to the altitude.
Well this year i wanted a change, both a training change and a race season change. I believe the only way to get better is to keep 'mixing it up', keep your mind and body guessing and theirs nothing more different than coming from the states and staying out on the green farmlands of Germany.
It is a very different way of living a training here, the sessons start later, the food is fresh straight from the fields and the breads are too die for.
Myself not really knowing a word of German and not able to cruze down town to 'hang out' at a local star bucks, theirs really only one thing to do, and that is TO TRAIN.
With the fresh air and the quite roads it's no wonder why German triathletes are typically good bike riders, i hope to learn a thing or two ove here, whilst taking on some of the best athlete in the world in this very competitive boarded countries which is Europe.

From Noumea - Byron ( 2x podiums in 1 week )

Well after China i was pumped to race again.
Though catch twenty two is that i got sick for 2 weeks and struggled to get any sort of decent training together.
Noumea International: staged quite a strong field with a depth of talent in the field; from Ironman Champions, 70.3 Stars and some young fast ITU guys it seemed like the perfect venue to knock out my first season race back.
The race went well, as i was concerned that training for Ironman would of made me too slow to race these Olympic distance events.
Noumea and Byron seemed to have a similar unfolding of the race, myself placing a strong swim, then opening up a gap on the rest of the field on the bike and holding a strong run together for a podium finish.
Though the two racers were not identical, but in Black and white version that's my very shortened summery of the 2 Olympic event which were only a week apart.
I am very happy with these results so far, firstly i only meant to race these as (training racers) to sharpen myself up from the slow Ironman training, and secondly it shows that if i can mix it up in my not ideal distance of racing, that i should be in impressive for for my goal racers which are the longer Half Ironman distance and Ironman racers.
A good return to racing and ready for Europe
Paul

IM China (disaster)

Season 09.
Well i haven't been blogging at all lately, as the past 3 months i've been in lockdown just training and sleeping.(that's right no late nights out and partying, which has been really hard).
All this was for my 1st hit out of the season which was Ironman China.
I really wanted to race well in this one, as i had a point to prove to myself that i can be dominate over this distance.

Ironman China which didn't go as expected (it was a disaster, a really poor organised race), i got sent off course on the bike with Tim Marr by police vehicles ,which i was coming into 2nd place and only 40sec behind 1st place and we road off course for 25km before realising that we where off course.

Then we had to ride back 25km onto the course, which we continued to race, and then was able to ride back into 2nd and 3rd place but 25min now behind 1st place.
Later we got Disqualified for riding off course, as we were told at the race briefing that it was impossible to go off course (i guess we proved them wrong).

So all in all, it was very disappointing that i was unable to finish and complete the race the "right way", and finish the Ironman i was so prepared to race.

Back To the drawing board. Paul