To inspire.....or empower

Kristen after her marathon

The word INSPIRATION gets used a lot in triathlon.

My first inspiration came from my best mate at vet school, Kristen Hennessy. She came over from Boston to study vet, and had already run the Boston marathon. I was in awe of her! At that stage, my longest run ever had been about 4k. She used to take me around Royal Park in our lunchbreak, chatting away while I was dragging myself behind her and could barely breathe! She'd say, "you'll be fine, just keep running", when all I wanted to do was stop! She ran the Melbourne marathon in 2005, while I ran the 7.5k event (my longest run at that point). I was amazed at how strong she looked at the 25k mark, and when she finished, exhausted but so happy I thought "I want to experience that feeling".

Since then, I have been inspired by so many others in this sport. Some of those have been the elite, especially from the early days of Ironman; Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Julie Moss, Natascha Badmann. Others more recent, such as Craig Alexander, Chrissie Wellington, Mirinda Carfrae. (There's a recurring theme with athletes that come through in the run!!) But countless other sources of inspiration have come from the age group ranks. And particularly those that excel while juggling work, family etc. Ken Murley is one of those. Ken is 71 years old. He still runs a business, and managed to become world champion in THREE distances in a 10 day period last year. He is FIERCELY competitive, and just exudes energy and vitality. He is happy to say yes to a nice glass of wine too! A great example to us all. Ken is one of so many friends who are like this. They may not all be world champions in their age groups, but they all strive every day to be the best that they can, and to live their lives to the full. Other sources of inspiration come from those who would love to be able to get the the start line of another ironman, but are struggling with illness, such as Dave Orlowski (leukaemia) and Tim Pickering (Guillain-Barré Syndrome).

So what about me? Some people tell me that I inspire them. I take that as the biggest compliment ever, and often with a little disbelief. Yes, I juggle a fair bit with my work and training (and fitting in those nice dinners!) but I don't have kids, and I am sure throwing that into the equation would make those balls far harder to keep in the air! So I think there are people far more inspirational than I am.

Iron Cowboy

I was listening to another podcast on my long, very lonely, cold, wet ride on Saturday. It was an interview with the "Iron Cowboy", a triathlete who recently completed 50 ironmans in 50 states in 50 days! (I know, beyond belief - he also has 5 kids!!!) He said that rather than INSPIRE others by what he had done, he would rather EMPOWER them, to be the very best they can be. He has donated a lot of the money he raised to the Jamie Oliver foundation, to try to help educate people on healthy eating choices. He is also doing motivational speaking, and some coaching.

It made me realise that rather than aim to inspire people with what I do, I would rather empower them too. Not in the same way as Iron Cowboy. But in my job, I aim to empower final year vet students to go into practice with some coping strategies for the difficulties they will face (I give a lot of wellness and holistic advice, as well as the theoretical stuff). Similarly, I hope that through this blog, I can empower some triathletes, not just to go harder, faster, stronger, but hopefully to achieve all that with a bit of balance and enjoyment.

And during that ride on Saturday, I thought of a practical way I can empower some of them. When I have raced Hawaii, I will swim, ride or run with ANYONE in Melbourne who wants some company and doesn't feel fast enough to be able to stay in a bunch (as long as I'm not too slow for you!!!) I think there are a lot of people out there who would love to take up the sport, or start riding more, but just need that little bit of company to get them going, and I definitely know that many people struggle with a fear of the open water.

When I was a beginner cyclist, I would NEVER have been confident enough to venture up to Kinglake if my good friends Abbie and Phil hadn't waited for me at the top of every climb! (They seriously used to have time to eat a sandwich in Mt Pleasant, while I made my way up the hill from Eltham!) If I can give someone else that kind of boost, what better way to empower them to get active, enjoy the outdoors and get a taste of the most amazing sport ever?

6 weeks to go

Daring to dream....and a renewed determination

This week has been pretty tough. Most people reading this will know that Pete raced Ironman Japan yesterday with one goal; to qualify for Hawaii and race with me.

It was a huge gamble. He has never quite put together an Ironman run that would get him up in the places needed to qualify. But he's done way more running for this race, and we thought if he had his best day, and the race had either gone under people's radar, or all the gun athletes had already booked their slots, then he might just have a chance.

It was not to be. He will write a race report, but a superb swim and solid bike may still have not been enough, even if his back hadn't packed up at 19k into the run. For those of you who don't know, Pete has 2 vertebrae in his lower back which are now completely fused, with no discs left between them. He was told 10 years ago he could (and should) probably never run further than 10k. Since then he has finished 7 Ironmans and a marathon. He is a gentle giant, but he has more willpower than he ever demonstrates outwardly.

I hated that I could not be there for him. Just to keep him going on that run. To greet him at the finish line. Fortunately, he had some incredible support out there, and even more watching from all over the world.

So where does that leave me, and my headspace?

Us on our wedding day, Aug 2000

Clearly I am devastated for Pete. I was in turmoil all week, especially after we spent our 15th wedding anniversary apart on Wednesday. I didn't have much enthusiasm for training. Luckily my coach had anticipated this, and scheduled a much lighter week for me. I threw myself into my work, but that meant more mental fatigue and not great sleep all week, so I ended up feeling almost as tired as if I had trained fully. Yet another example of the impact that stress has on your body.

 I raced my final Cross Country of the season on Saturday, and the thought of Pete's big day got me through that really well, in fact. It was a pleasant surprise to finish closer to a couple of "real" athletes than I ever have before. Yesterday's run was awful though. I had a bit of an upset tummy, and plodded through it, while Pete was on the bike racing, and although it was only 90min this week, it felt more like 3 hours! I just wanted to get back to the computer to track Pete's race.

But whereas his result in South Africa left me questioning why we were even doing the sport (because he'd finished so dejected), yesterday was completely different. I have seen a really amazing transformation in Pete over the last 6 months. Other than in work, I've never really seen him grab a goal by the balls and really go for it before. He has been so animated about this race, his training, how his running was improving. It made me realise that sometimes you just need that stupidly big goal to put the fire in your belly that makes you want to keep getting up and doing the training.

So it left me sad for him that he didn't pull it off. But excited for him that he found that carrot that was dangling and just had to chase it.

Pete on the run, with Marina supporting

I will now go and give Kona everything I have and more. I won't lose sight of that balance I have worked so hard to get, but this race now means even more (if it could!) than it even did before. I'm racing it for Team Coombe. And every time it gets tough out there, I'll remind myself that I am blessed to have the ability to run, and to be able to push because my body lets me.

As for future goals? We love our destination races, and I'd love Pete to get the feel of a World Championship, even if it's not Kona. So maybe we'll aim for the Olympic Distance Worlds when they are in an exciting place, or even Long Course, since the distance (4k, 120k, 30k) would suit Pete. Team Coombe will choose together.

 7 weeks to go

My "FREE" running principles, and working on the mental aspects ofracing

I come up with most of the content for these blogs while I am training. It's a great way to take my mind away for a little while. This morning I did my long hill run on Kew Blvd, a wonderful place to ride, or run. I was thinking about what I consider to be the key aspects of running well in marathons or Ironmans. Remember, I'm not a coach, this is just MY take on running. What I came up with is the acronym "FREE" - which comes from:

1. Fitness - It makes sense that as you get fitter, so you run faster. I certainly don't have the "magic formula" for a program that will guarantee the best run result, but my gut feeling is that there isn't one. You just need consistency (which means staying injury and illness free and not too much fatigue), time and volume. Throw in some races and hills for good measure, and you will improve.

2. Rhythm - You need to be able to hold a good rhythm. Mirinda Carfrae (Ironman World Champ) totally believes that her ability to hold pace when others fade is that she has trained herself to hold a high cadence through fatigue. Check out her phenomenal running in the video of Kona 2013 below:

My cadence is currently 94 right foot strikes/min. I work during every run to hold that cadence, uphill or downhill, fresh or fatigued.

3. Efficiency - Similar to rhythm, but this relates to your technique as a runner. There are many sources of information about how to improve technique, but there is also research that shows that the most successful way to improve your technique.......is just to run! (see point number 1) Nevertheless, a really good tip, given to me about 5 years ago by Sean Foster is to imagine you are "pulling a rope". I particularly use this when I'm running up hills, or running hard on the flat. By imagining you are pulling a rope which is just in front of your body, you avoid swinging your arms too much, you relax your shoulders, and instead of feeling like you are pushing up a hill, it actually starts to feel like you are pulling yourself up (with the rope!)

4. Enjoyment - Here we are again with the mental aspects of the sport! But KEY to running well for me is enjoyment. Smiling WILL help you to relax, and improve your efficiency (see point 3). Not only that, enjoying running will make you WANT to go and do it again (see point number 1). And in a triathlon, isn't it better to get off the bike and say "great, now I get to do something I ENJOY for the next 3.5-4hrs" rather than "oh shit, now I've got to run a marathon"!!! Pete (my husband, and not historically a runner by choice!) has recently dramatically increased his run volume compared to any other race prep he has done. He came home 2 weeks ago and said "Do you know what? I'm actually ENJOYING running now!" I felt really pleased for him, but really sorry that it's taken 10 years in the sport for him to feel that joy! I'm sure most of that is the positive feedback he's had from simply improving his run fitness (point 1 again!)

So there it is "FREE" - Jo's guide to running!

Now a bit more on the mental side of racing- I've been listening to some podcasts while I've been doing my long rides, and yesterday I listened to an amazing one with Chris McCormack (Macca) about how he broke through in Hawaii, by improving his mental approach to racing. I've posted the link here:

http://www.trispecific.com/fb-98-macca-on-the-attitude-the-mindset-on-training-and-racing-to-win/

The key points he made which resonated with me were that:

1. Just training harder, faster, longer means nothing if you don't nail your mental approach on race day.
2. You can improve your mental approach in races by taking the positive thoughts that come up during tough sessions in training, and focusing on those, so that when it gets tough in a race, it is the same positive thoughts that pop up, rather than the negative ones, which are likely to drag you down.

Some of my thoughts during today's 25k run

Specifically Macca's coach got him to write down what he could remember thinking after a session, into a table with positive, neutral and negative columns. Then he acknowledged those negative thoughts, but didn't dwell on them, but really focused on the positive ones. This is where he developed his phrase "Embrace the suck" which was his mantra in becoming World Champion.
I decided to try this today. Obviously on a long run, you aren't pushing very hard, but you still have plenty of time to think! And as the fatigue sets in, so do the different thought patterns. What struck me was that doing this exercise was a lot like meditation. In meditation you are practicing observing your thoughts, but not letting them overtake you. This was the same today. A thought like "my legs are gone now" would come up. I'd think to myself that I must write that one down, and instead of being consumed by it, I then let that thought go. I'm going to try to continue this table, and work on those positive thoughts.

A friend of mine, Ollie Wilkinson, who is a vet, and a marathon swimmer (he broke the WR for swimming around Manhatten Island a few years ago) recently completed the Arch to Arc as a duo with his wife, Vickie (who incidentally is an outstanding triathlete and consistently schooled me whenever we raced!) Ollie has written a great blog on the swim part of their epic event. I thought I'd share it here, because he gives some really great insights into the mental challenges of swimming 9 hours across the English Channel. He also comments on trying to keep his thoughts positive.

http://www.olliechannelswim2009.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/swimming-english-channel-in-wetsuit.html?m=1

I feel that I'm in a really good place at the moment. I had a couple of really flat days this week, physically, but that was bound to happen after a huge previous two weeks (and a massive weekend last week). But my body is really holding up well, and I am so happy that I can spend some time working on the mental aspects of my race so far out, rather than stressing about how my training is going. It's ticking along very nicely!

I'm not fundraising for this race, but an Australian para-triathlete, Rob Paterson is. He was paralysed in 1991 in a training accident. He will achieve his dream of competing in Hawaii, but he has to do it in a wheelchair. If you have some spare money to donate, please go to his page

https://www.mycause.com.au/page/105811/robshawaiianironman2015

8 weeks to go

Living the dream....with 5 examples of gratitude

A big shift in my mentality recently which has a big positive effect on my life, and training is letting go. I realised that I wasn't going to have time to write and post a blog last weekend, but instead of stressing about it, I let it go. So this blog is a little bit about the past 2 weeks.

Last week I got to train in the aptly-named Sunshine Coast. Noosa has long been the Mecca of triathlon in Australia, and while Melbourne struggles on with its coldest winter for years, I had an opportunity to escape for my "big week" of training.

After a swim with Tony Caiafa

I'm under no illusions that the life of a pro triathlete is easy; I was looked after by my friends, the Caiafas. As in LOOKED AFTER! They hardly let me exert myself, outside of my training. A pro triathlete still has plenty of chores to do around their training, whereas I did not. I did manage to fit in a few hours computer work a day, which at least kept me from getting bored while my legs were up!
So my 

Example of gratitude number 1 is to the Caiafas. They are both ironman athletes (and vets, interestingly; in fact Tony lectured to me when I went through vet school). They both completely "got" what I was up here for, and did everything they could to make my week run smoothly. Tony is a great cook!

So how did I fare? Well I was really pleasantly surprised that by Sunday, when my long run came around, although I had a lot of muscular fatigue, my energy levels were still great. In fact, there was only really one day (Friday, which was a lighter day anyway) when I felt a bit flat. So my impression is that my base fitness is already pretty good, and the big increase in volume doesn't hurt me anymore.
I won't go into stats, as I promised not to, but my Strava profile is public, so for anyone who wants a nosey, here is my Strava page
https://www.strava.com/athletes/179268
What I know to be a big limiter for me is sustained efforts on the bike. I can ride and ride and ride, all day, and I can sprint flat out, but I always get dropped on any hill that is longer than a few hundred metres. During the week, I really worked on riding the hills strongly, usually seated. By the end of the week, I was definitely finding them easier. I think another big factor in feeling so good is that I sat within my aerobic zone throughout the long rides, apart from when a hill was too steep to allow that. This meant that I never had to dip into my anaerobic reserves. In other similar weeks, I've invariably pushed too hard at certain times, and ended up very fatigued s the week has gone on. For me, the whole idea of a camp like this is to give my aerobic fitness a big boost (with some muscular strength developed from climbing). To achieve that, it's important to sit in that aerobic zone, not the grey zone.
And what about my mental limiters on the bike? That loneliness? Well, I was lucky enough to be able to ride with Alison and some of her triathlete friends. They are all in their 50s, and although they were faster than me on a lot of the climbs, I would catch them on the descents, so we essentially rode together. But my 

During my long ride

Example of gratitude, number 2 came at about the 4hr mark of my long Saturday ride. I was rolling through Cooroy, about 20k from Noosa, when a chap called Russell, who was clearly a much stronger rider than me, invited me to sit on his wheel back to Tewantin. I protested that I would be too slow for him, but he said he wasn't in a rush, and he slowed down until I was comfortably able to ride with him. Such a nice gesture at a point in the ride when I needed the company. 

I grudgingly finished my 9 days in Noosa, having fallen in love with the place and came back to a chilly Melbourne but a lovely warm welcome from Pete. My first day back at work was full-on; teaching practical skills to vet students on the yards all day. I did pull out a chair a few times to rest my weary legs!!

Example of gratitude number 3 has to be directed to my supervisor at work, Peter Mansell. Not only did he cover some teaching for me while I was away, he told the students about my training camp, seemingly with some pride. I have had bosses who made life quite difficult for me when I was playing serious rugby in the UK. To have a boss who is so supportive is absolutely gold.  

Lucky to only be bruised

I had a couple of easy days training wise when I got back. On Friday I went for a spin on my beautiful new race wheels. I was busy looking at my Garmin in Albert Park and rode straight into a large plastic traffic bollard and hit the road, quite hard. Although as a rugby player, I learned to never put my arm out when I fell (in case of breaking a wrist), it appears I have forgotten that, and my wrist and elbow broke my fall. In fact, that probably saved my collarbone. So 

Example of gratitude number 4 is that I came away from my fall with a few bruises rather than breaking anything. 

I'd been quite nervous about coming back and doing my long ride in the cold and wet this weekend. It was damp, but didn't feel too cold at all. I had a lovely ride with a load of friends that I swim with, a great run off the bike, and 2hrs later I ran my best time at the Brighton 9k handicap; a brutal race that finishes with about 800m on soft sand! Yet another example of how I (or my body) can surprise me when I have no expectations. 

Gratitude is an enlightening state of mind. It needs to be cultivated from a place of kindness though. Instead of telling yourself you "should" be grateful, try asking yourself "what has happened today that made me feel grateful?" It's quite amazing how it can change your outlook on your life, your relationships and your training. Thank you to Rosie McCaughey from Rise Yoga for this picture. 

9 weeks to go

Postscript - my sister pointed out that there were only 4 examples of gratitude! My 5th is to everyone who reads this blog that closely!!!