Good things in small packages

After 2-and-a-bit years of studying and assignments I recently put my psych registration in the mail. I finished my honors in psychology a little while ago and have spent the last few years completing my supervised practice. As long as the psych board approves it this means I will be fully registered and can put a shingle out the front of my house. You know, "Scott Waters - Psychologist. As therapeutic as a puppy licking your face, just more expensive".

So I was thinking, pages and pages of assignments, supervision sessions, conferences, workshops, presentations, research, analysis - hours and hours of effort poured into the journey towards registration. Time away from friends and family as I tap away studiously on the keyboard (maybe a few emails were checked along the way - a healthy distraction). Yet here I was, standing in front of a big red Australia Post mail box, with ALL of this work and time represented by... A few sheets of paper that fit easily into an A4 envelope. Wow. Talk about a weird feeling! A harmless little envelope that is deceiving in its appearance. A lot more than meets the eye.

I thought, this is just like I feel standing on the waters edge on race day. I am one body, 73-odd kilos of man. That's it. Same as the person next to me. And the one next to him. But, under the surface lies hours and hours of training, repetition, pain, stretching, massages, physiotherapy, motivational reading, aerobic sessions, anaerobic sessions, time away from family and friends, ice-packs, time trials, early mornings, getting up before the sun, constantly feeling tire, in bed by 8... I think it is important to remember this on the day. To stop, reflect, and thank yourself for all of the hard work and dedication put into making this hunk of meat as efficient, powerful and effective as it can be in getting around the course quickly. That's your edge, it's what makes you different than the person next to you. Both of you are wearing a tri suit. Both have goggles. But guaranteed, come race day I have put in the time, done the 'one percenters', the stretching in front of the TV, to be able to give you a run for your money.

According to Freud, this is what is on a man's mind. Very perceptive man that Freud.

World Championship worthy? Maybe if I could ride like Cadel Evans.

Under 6 weeks. That's all that is left between today and a 2 hour race in Beijing. Funny when you look at it like that - in a 10-week training block I'll go through about 150 hours of preparation for a 2 hour race against the clock. What else would you put that much effort into for such a small window of time! Glory lasts forever though, right?

With a few years of racing under my belt I have taken the time to think about what I am doing differently to be 'worthy' of the World Championships. You know the saying, if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. Time to shake it up a bit. 

It's been a great build up so far. A solid ride with fellow Beijing'ers Adz and Jimmy (that's me on the right - shame about this photo - off to the right was a glowing sunrise over the ocean!). Not sure who's job it was to keep us 'aerobic' but whoever it was should be fired because it didn't happen! Too much 'length-measuring' I think! I have also added 2-3 sessions a week on the windtrainer using 'Spinervals' sessions. This gives me specific, targeted training that provides a great quality-to-time ratio. I can simulate time trials (long high intensity efforts) and threshold sessions. While some might find it boring bashing away alone in front of a laptop (ha! that sounds suspect! What I mean is I play the Spinerval sessions on the laptop) I am feeling a lot stronger on the bike. With a new bike from Chain Gang Performance Cycles arriving sometime soon I am keen to put together a competitive bike - run combination. 

I had a thrashing at the hands of Troy O'Shea (25-29 year old National Champ from last year) on the weekend - a brutal swim / bike / run session that involved 4 reps of 500m in the pool, 15 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes of hard running. Man that guy is an animal! For someone who has been working through a calf injury he ran like there was no tomorrow. Here's hoping some of it rubbed off on me!

That's the kind of thing I am looking for - something to shake the body into growing and pushing through to that next level. I have entered the Wivenhoe triathlon that is on in a few weeks. It will be a good hit-out before Beijing and a chance to iron-out any areas that need some attention. I'm looking forward to giving everyone a good run for there money - if they are going to beat me they'd better be prepared to enjoy some suffering!

If only I could ride like this guy I could continue being the slowest swimmer in the world and still rip out a sub-2 hour race...

What a machine!

Pure Awesomeness

This is it. Day 2 of a 12 week journey to Beijing. I've had 2 weeks 'off' since Cairns: a few spin classes with my wife, some yoga, a little from column a and a little from column b... no set plan. It has been good to reset the mind. Although I worry it has triggered a primal part of my brain. The part that would normally respond to the shorter days with less sunshine and warmth. The part that says "hibernate"... "eat more, stop moving and get some natural insulation around the middle"... It is going to take some killer motivational-carrots to dangle in front of me. The question is, what are they going to be?

Ok, so racing for Australia is quite inspiring. So plan A: keep this in mind. Ask myself how does an Australian representative train and then do it. But that will fade when the air is cold, it's dark and I am trying to convince myself that I can't think of anything better to do than jump in a swimming pool. So I think I need to build up a bank of plan B, C, D, etc so that when one fails there is a vault full of others that can quickly be withdrawn and used.

One that is working at the moment came to me last night. I was knocking out session 1, step 1 to Beijing - 2 hours on the bike. I was on the windtrainer and had Kung Fu panda playing. I had never seen it before, but something Po (THE panda voiced by Jack Black) said struck me...

"He was so deadly, in fact, that his enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness!"

When I heard this it reminded me of hearing Pete Jacobs talk in Cairns. He was such an easy-going guy, but at the same time was professional and driven to succeed in all aspects of the sport. When he spoke, it was clear that he took the time to learn from each opportunity that arose; from the people he spoke to, from books, from races, from injuries... He spoke of his constant search for improving his technique, in his running, placement of his foot, in his swimming, hand entry, catch, his search to constantly evolve his ability to be more efficient and more effective. Yet he also spoke of listening to his body, doing what feels right on the day rather than locking himself too much into a pre-set plan. He commented that some days he would get in the pool and after a kilometer might get out if he's "just not feeling it". Ok, so that is probably not great advice for me as I don't have the swim base and ability that he does. Plus I would be tempted to use that as an excuse. But the rest was relevant. So I will remember Pete Jacobs when I feel like pulling the doona back over my head in the mornings. I will remember what a true professional acts like. I will remember that if I'm not smiling (for the most part anyway) then something needs to change.

So, 2 days in, 100% completion rate so far! A ride and a swim. And a Kung-fu panda in my vault of motivation. A good start to the week all-round really.

Challenge Cairns

Challenge Cairns. 1.9k fighting the croc's in the water, 90k riding alongside pristine ocean views and winding roads, and 21k through downtown Cairns... actually, it was about 18k along the steaming asphalt highway before relief from the monotony by going into town and past the cheering crowds and smiling kids faces!

I was up there a few days before race day and immediately eased into the long weekend like sitting in an old well-worn leather chair. The sky was clear and blue. The air was cool but the sun warm on my skin. With skinny, smooth and super-fit looking bodies everywhere it was obvious of what was about to come: the mother of all triathlons! With the transition actually 17k north of the township, and the run finishing in Cairns itself, I was unsure of how well it was all going to run. But come race day, USM events demonstrated a silky-smooth organisation by having traffic flowing relatively easily around it all. Which made it much more spectator friendly than I first thought.

A swim in the sectioned-off race area on the Friday before both settled and intensified the nerves. Settled, in that the water was warm enough (especially with a wetsuit on!) and so enjoyable I could have stayed in there all day. Intensified, in that rumors were abound that there was a HUGE crocodile who lived just around the corner of the bay. Let the mind games begin!

In amongst it all I had an opportunity to listen to Pete Jacobs chat and answer some questions. What a laid-back guy. You'd never guess he had the fastest run split at Kona last year! After the informal chat, he gave away a new sponsors shirt - the prize went to the first person who called out his run split time from Kona. Another guy and I both called out the hours and minutes (2:41) and when asked the seconds I was onto it - 6 seconds! I always told Al my 'nerdiness' would pay off one day - I now have the shirt to prove it!

Come race day I was ready to go. After watching the pros and then age groupers head off for the Ironman event (they started about 40 minutes before my wave) it was a matter of keeping the nerves at bay. With support crew handy (thanks for being their mum and Holster!) and Lance from Reddog their ready to tackle the event also, before I knew it the time had come to zip up the wetsuit and head down to the waters edge. I was unsure how it would all turn out - with 600-odd Ironman triathletes already out on the same swim course I was expecting absolute chaos on the M-shaped swim. Imagine my surprise when I found my own bit of space within the first 50m! It was as if everyone was going really wide around the first buoy! Other than coping a massive kick right into my left eye socket (which resulted in two quickly successive thoughts - "F@#k that hurt!" to "Woo hoo! My goggles didn't break!") I made it through the swim in a PB for 1.9k. Whatever I did worked!

Apart from a minor detour from the swim exit to my bike (I followed the Ironman path rather than the half ironman path) I was on my stead in no time and heading out onto the scenic ride. Thankfully I drove over the course the day before, otherwise the section of hilly climbing near the middle would have really caught me off guard! It had felt like a quick bike course the day before, and again in the race heading north. I was into a nice rhythm at about 35k and my chain came off the rear cassette! I couldn't jump it back on so had to stop and use my hand. Such a frustrating feeling in the middle of a race, feeling good, and having to stop! Not much I could do about it though, so back into it. Thinking of my nutrition, staying on top of my carb intake, fluids and salt capsules. Guess who I found just after the turnaround? Macca! He was heading back towards town for his first lap on the bike. It's not everyday you get to ride with a world champion! In hindsight, without having to stop to put my chain back on I would have missed that opportunity. So there is proof that everything happens for a reason, right? The last 15k on the bike were tough. There was a bit of a headwind and it felt like the effort to speed output was nowhere near as nice as the first 70k. I enjoyed it though, as it gave me an opportunity to put a nice gap between me and some of the guys that had been leapfrogging me for the past 30-odd k's. I got into transition confident that I had put everything into that ride - my quads had been burning and ready to burst out of the skin so many times but each time I was able to spin it out in an easier gear for just enough time to refresh them.

Onto the run and the long lonely road down the highway into Cairns. Never have the aid stations felt so far apart! By now the heat had picked up and all I wanted was water and ice! I dialed-in a steady pace early on and was able to keep it locked in for the whole 21k. A few times my quads had the pre-cramp twinge, but I kept knocking down the salt capsules which worked. Again, I made the most of the run, took in the scenery and began the constant monologue going between my ears. "High hips", "relax the shoulders", "focus on the next aid station", "can't wait for a beer", "maybe that guy will give me a piggy-back", "catch that next guy"... Never a dull moment! I have to commend the volunteers - every one of them was smiling and went above and beyond to help me out as I made my way through. And so many kids! I ended up pouring so much ice down the back of my suit that my lower back went numb - and even then I wanted more! By the time I hit town I was feeling great - on a roll, steady rhythm and so far the body had not packed up and gone home. By this stage I was doing a fair bit of running alone and yet each group of people I passed in that last 3k clapped and cheered me on - I felt like a superstar! It made me realise what a HUGE advantage it is just to be someone like Chris McCormack - with everyone cheering you on you find this extra gear that somehow makes the pain (or the voice in your head that is happily telling you how much pain you're in) quieten down. I found my way down the finishing chute and have to say - "I felt brilliant!". I can't remembering enjoying a race so much from start to finish. I think it was a combination of a stunning location, good preparation, great support, experienced race and food plan, and the buzz of it all coming together on the day. For sure this is my favourite race format by far. While I enjoy the challenge of the full Ironman, there is something about the half that feels just right. Enough time to make a difference with a good ride and run, but not out there long enough that it takes 6 weeks to recover!

And the end of the day, I finished 2nd in my age group (and 10th overall) with a 12 minute PB (4:26:xx).

I highly recommend taking part in Challenge Cairns. For a first time effort they seem to have done a great job in a great location. A big thanks to Kev at No More Knots for the massages and Trent @ Reddog for helping me put it all together. Also, team Whippet for coming through again! Sometimes I think I have it easy doing the race compared to the efforts you guys put in to find the best vantage points!

A nice end (?) to the season

The other week I received something cool in the mail - a trophy from Triathlon QLD (TQ) saying I am the 'Triathlete of the Year' for 30-34 yr old males! Each season TQ has a number of races that give you an opportunity to win points towards winning this trophy. My efforts at the Long Course championships in Yeppoon last August, and my race at the Olympic Distance championships at Redcliffe last month got me over the line! A nice recognition for my efforts, unexpected but welcome all the same. It goes well sitting next to the pottery mugs from the Bribie races.

Another bit of great news is that I made the Australian team to compete in my age group in Beijing in September! What makes it even more exciting is that a) a couple of good friends are also heading over to race so we can run amok, and b) my wife is coming over as well so after the race we can take a week off and cruise around Europe or India or somewhere that is a REAL holiday (it's been a while since I had one of those!). I am incredibly happy to be representing Australia. Growing up I always thought it would be playing soccer, which was a genuine goal from a young age. A few injuries later and the *ahem* social side of Uni saw an end to that.

So normally this would be the part of the year when I kick back and enjoy 'unstructured' training - getting out on the bike when I feel like it, running when it takes my fancy and swimming... well, watching swimming on You Tube and thinking about getting in the water. But I've had to adapt a bit this year. After the Ironman in December gave me such a high I entered Cairns while delirious with endorphins. Plus it was early in the season and warm. So now, 5 more months of training and racing in my legs and the weather (and sunlight for that matter) dropping I'm wishing maybe I gave it a miss. The friendly organizers at USM Events have allowed me to drop back from the Full to Half Ironman which takes the pressure off. So in 3 weeks I will toe the line, ready to knock out 1.9k of swimming, 90k of riding and 21.1k of running. Given I am trying to recharge the body and mind now, I am sticking 'loosely' to my training plan without beating myself up over missed sessions. It'll still be an all-out effort, especially since it will be a qualifying race for me to join the Australian Long Course team that is competing in Spain next July. No rest for the wicked right? I am a walking contradiction - on one hand I am saying I will rest (I have even pulled out of Busso in Dec so I can focus on Beijing and take some pressure off) and on the other hand I am saying "let's go to Spain and race some more!". But really, who wouldn't want to go to Spain?

Expectations - motivators for success and destroyers of satisfaction

I think it is fair to say that we are our own worst critic. I facilitate programs with people struggling with addictions and help them to learn the skills of acceptance. Of learning to 'thank' our mind for both helpful and unhelpful thoughts without buying into them to much in order to stop struggling with trying to be happy all the time (it takes a lot of energy trying to live up to the 'feel good' society we live in! How boring to be happy all the time anyway! I digress - that's another blog altogether). What I am trying to say is I don't always practice what I know works.

So, I am my own worst critic. I believe that this is one trait that pushes me and others to do great things. But on the flip side, when the critic becomes louder than your other thoughts (and unreasonable) it's important to remember when to back it off and see the bigger picture. Which brings me to the QLD State Olympic Distance Championships. I was geared up, primed and ready to go. Sure, it was a little last minute. The original plan was to do Mooloolaba (which was a fortnight prior) then take a week or so off before beginning the build for Cairns. But after a great race at Mooloolaba, I thought "why not one more while I'm on fire?". It appeared the planets had lined up - it coincided with both Sydney (which meant some top dogs were away) and the Sprint Distance Championships, which meant less 'cream' to whip my way through to the top. Admittedly, there were signs that I would benefit from not racing. My body was pretty beat up after Moo'ba. It took two full days off before I felt like doing any semblance of training. But I persevered with the thought of having 2 different distance state championships to my name in one season (I am the current long course champ after my efforts at Yeppoon last year). How cool, right?

Which brings me to my expectations - I really believed that I was in with a serious shot at taking the title. So I slogged away for a few weeks of training, trying to balance resting my body and getting sessions in (logically I know it is rarely possible to heal from an injury and train at the same time, but sometimes logic is so debilitating ;) The signs were there for the inevitable - I woke up with quite a sore throat on the Friday morning before the race. Bugger! Off to the pharmacy for lots of Vitamin C and Echinacea throat lozenges. Admittedly, this seemed to keep the symptoms at bay although lethargy was creeping into my muscles and body in general. Never fear, I will still win!!! Which brings me to the big day - Sunday morning @ Redcliffe for the big event. With support crew present and accounted for, I dived into the glorious (chuckle - yeah right!) bay and came out of the triangle swim course feeling like I had done an ok effort (90 seconds quicker than Moo'ba, but different course so hard to compare). The legs were heavy heading into transition and once onto the bike course I could tell that the zing I had on the bike a few weeks ago was missing. It was a hard 6 lap slog. About halfway through there was a slight incline for about 500m - nothing really on a normal day but on this day it took a lot of concentration to keep the pedal down. Also, I could see someone I was racing at each turn, and they were maintaining a 40 - 50 second lead. This was frustrating and took me out of 'my square metre' - I was paying more attention to keeping up with him than what my body was telling me. I'll admit, for the first time in ages I was happy to get off the bike and onto the run. Out onto the flat run course and I could see Matty (Breakspear) about 400m down the track. Having spent some time training with him on our quick track intervals, I knew that on his day he has a blinder of a run. So I was constantly checking my thoughts - "you'll never catch him, 2nd for you (I thought he must have been in the lead)" to "forget about him, keep your pace, your race" to "he's faster than you, just give up" to "you're in good form mate, you've trained hard, you can do this"... you get the picture! How tiring, right! You know what? The more time in my space I got, not thinking about much more than 'high hips' and 'quick leg turnover', each time I tuned back in Matty was closer and closer. So close in fact that at about the 3k mark I was within 20m and closed the gap quick. I passed him with a quick hello and endeavored to keep the pace up and not look back. I knew I would see how the gap was going at each turnaround. At about 6k's I could see that I had put a substantial gap in - luckily as my body was fatigued and I could feel the difference my cold was making. I think I drifted off into la-la land for a few k's. I did give in to the 'negotiating' part of my brain - I made the deal that I could sit on this 'easier' pace (still solid though) until the last turn around, after which I had to put the foot down. Which I did. I finished strong and when I crossed the finish line was confident that I had put everything into it that I could. Back to managing you expectations: I expected a lot out of myself today and while I knew I was sick I still had that burning desire to take the win. I put everything on the line. Turns out, when they presented the medals I had finished in 2nd place - the guy who won had been almost 2 minutes in front of me! For a while, I felt really disappointed. I had high expectations of myself and had expected to win. I pushed myself to the edge to pass Matty thinking he was in the lead. My family had come to watch, my Aunty from WA was there - I wanted them to see me win! Expectations are great, but they can be an evil force without perspective. I've had a great season over the past 8 months. I've won a few races, I've finished my first Ironman, I've continued to set new personal bests. It can be motivating and a lot of fun to keep improving. It feels good and can be quite addictive. But should I 'expect' myself to win a race? Hardly. For starters, 'we're not racing for cattle stations', right? I think it is more helpful to 'expect' that when I toe the line in the sand at the start, I will give it everything I've got, at that point in time, on that particular day. I will put my heart into it and race with passion and a smile. With those kinds of expectations everything else will fall into place. It is when expectations turn into pressure that issues arise. My race was great, a new personal best for this distance. Typing this in hindsight I can see how ridiculous that way of thinking was when I first realised I didn't win - I finished 2nd at the QLD Championships! That's awesome! Yet my expectations had taken away (or at least postponed) some of the enjoyment of what is a great achievement. Thanks to my 'Whippet' support crew - you guys turn any event into an extravaganza! It is so inspiring to see you on the course. Now that I have had a *ahem* forced break (with my cold) the focus shifts onto some big blocks of training leading up to Cairns in June. Lesson learnt though - everything in moderation and a balance of expectations and perspective to keep my sanity.

Rainbows, blisters and pink budgie-smugglers - what more could you want?

The pinnacle of this tri-season has finally arrived - the Mooloolaba extravaganza! While my training since Busso in December has covered a few races along the way, it has been this race that it has really been tailored towards. Almost 4 months, about 240 hours of swimming, riding and running, buckets filled with sweat (the best way to see how much fluid you use is to catch it in a bucket and conduct a thorough scientific analysis of it later), fights with the alarm clock ("which idiot set the alarm for 4:30???), rashes in soft spots, massages, washing dirty smelly training clothes everyday, one pair of shoes worn to the nubs, 2 pairs of goggles, 5467 songs on the ipod to keep me sane on the long rides and runs, no time with my wife, 4 containers of Endura, 175 muesli bars, 4576L of water, 5,607,432 calories, 32 tubs of ice-cream... all focused on one day*. Pressure anyone???

But with support like this, how could I not conquer the world?


Thanks team WHIPPET!!! You guys rocked it out today! I had a fantastic weekend and was utterly spoilt by my support crew. They're setting a high standard though, you know you can't go backwards... ;-)

So the race itself... I've gotta say I enjoyed today more than any other race that I've had for a long time (other than Busselton - but that was for different reasons - new distance, new location). The Mooloolaba course is one of my favorites - a true 'ocean' swim where you can body-surf into shore, a vicious ride where you cannot escape the wind, and a run that requires the mounting of a hill not once, not twice, but three times.

I had a great swim, if the measure of 'great' is how it felt and not how fast it was! I found my rhythm early and seemed to stick to the front end of my wave start (I was in the 3rd wave of my age group - 276 of us 30-34yr males!). Also, I think I swam close to 1500m today rather than 2000m like last year (I followed a group of people who took the long way around the buoys!). A relaxing body-surf into shore and I was off up the beach. My legs were pretty heavy which tells me I should've starting kicking a bit harder in the last 100m to get the blood flowing away from my arms and more into my legs.


Down past my team (who gave me the sad news that Adz was 20 seconds or so in front of me) and into transition. Pretty smooth today. In and out. Onto the bike and worked my way over Alex Headlands and onto the highway. Having done the race before I knew I could build some lactic acid into my legs pushing it over the hill and still have time on the flats to spin fast and flush it out a little. Again, I found my rhythm early and started 'leap-frogging' people on my way out to the 20k turn-around point. Like a lion on the hunt for Adz, one by one I picked people off hoping he was the next! History tells me that we have a tail-wind out and a head-wind back in. I could feel it heading out and made it to the turn-around in about 28 minutes. Time to pat myself on the back. Check. Alright, then I turned around and THUNK! Wholly flipping ducks batman! It was like being smacked in the face with a 'POW!' or 'BAM!' from the caped crusader himself! The headwind was crazy! I eventually regained my composure and realised that everyone else was in the same boat. What a grind. Only 30 minutes of it. Only 30 minutes of it. Yeah, that mantra didn't really help at the time! I caught up to Adz at about the 28k mark, had a bit of a chat and pushed on past. No looking back (for fear that he would be right there!). It was a struggle, and every time I passed a few people there was a huge gap (and thus no one to be a wind barrier) to the next people! My efforts were more by feel than anything, and I hardly looked at the speed on my bike computer because it would not have mattered - what was coming out of my legs was it! I eventually started the rise back into Alex headland and had time to have a chuckle at a mate who was in the penalty box for drafting before preparing for the transition to run. Overall, a strong ride that I felt good about.

Another quick transition (no socks - body-glide gel in the heel of the shoe worked a treat and no blisters there at the end - but some nice busted ones under my toes!) and onto the run course. I love this course. The hills. I love them because people hate them. Powered out of transition knowing my fam was right there, then powered up over the hill for the first time knowing that the Reddog tent was right there, then powered on the downhill and onto the flats because, well, because I wanted to go fast! I felt GREAT! Into a nice pattern, what I thought was good form, and started knocking over the k's. While I used each aid station to get a cup of water, I didn't drink much but just rinsed my mouth and and threw it over my head to cool down. Did the trick. I saw some familiar faces on the course, and tried to cut into the gap (they had started in the waves before me so had about 8 minutes head-start). Again, I hardly looked at my watch to check my pace but was just running on holding that 'discomfort' level. Over the hill for the last time and I tried to put the pedal down - only 1k to go! Over the finish line and YEAH HA! For a race that I put everything into, I felt fantastic! Bring on the beer and ice-cream! (But maybe not together).


At the end of the day, my swim was 27:33 (84th - a bit of work required here!), my bike was 1:05:12 (3rd) and run was 36:28 (4th) for a total of 2:09:14 (7th)! Top 10 finish and I could not be happier! A minute 40 sec's (ish) faster than last year on a day that I think was heaps tougher. Fingers crossed that will be enough to qualify me for the Beijing Aus team! I find out in April.

* some of these figures about the lead up to Mooloolaba may be exaggerated :)