What's next?

This is about the time of year when many athletes are close to - or have already - finished their race season and kicking back a little, both physically and mentally, and reflecting on the season past and...the topic of this article...the next season. For some the thought of the next season may hurt their head, but I'm talking more about the strategic planning and direction rather than nitty gritty.

Without wanting to sound too philosophical, your time in sports is akin to a journey where each race season builds fitness and experiences that are cumulating in nature. That is, the fitness you built for the season just past is great background for whatever you want to tackle next. Further, the things you learned over summer in preparation, training and execution of races will help you no end in the future. The strategic planning I'm talking about takes all these things, and more into account, in coming up with an idea for what next to do.

In triathlons, many people see their journey beginning with short, beginner races, then sprint tris and some Olympic Distance events, working up to IM 70.3 and finally Ironman races. Yet again, some other people jump straight into IM races, seemingly without 'paying their dues' in the shorter events!! The thing is, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to decide which events you want to do - some people love sticking with shorter races their whole life - where there are also a myriad of other factors to consider, like family and work.

Nonetheless, if you are interested in taking a strategic approach to your development as a triathlete, now is about the time to be thinking some more about it and loosely putting together some plans. In the same way that you train to train, the work you do over the off season will set you up well for being in the kind of shape you need to be in for the races you're seeking to do next season. Almost regardless of your goal distance events next season, the same principles apply to your training over winter, albeit with some variation to allow for the necessary workload you need to be considering.

Starting with short-course athletes, some of these folks will choose to stay in this realm of competition which is great because it allows them to consolidate their abilities, know already what their strengths and weasknesses are and work to develop each. They have the "luxury" of not needing to do copious amounts of volume, but can focus on some finer aspects of their event, eg, bike skills, speed and power, and so on. They can also consider some off season races to keep some familiarity with racing that is not so important for longer course athletes.

For short-course athletes looking to step up to long-course (IM 70.3) racing, now is the time to be thinking about your progression in training volume and workload to build your base fitness. Thinking again of training to train, the coming months will build cumulative fitness - and fatigue - so you need to approach this carefully and hold your enthusiasm back a little. Hasten slowly. In addition to fitness, you will need to start preparing for other aspects of LC racing - nutrition, equipment, tactics (pacing) and more. LC racing is complex in a different way.

The next group is/are LC athletes stepping up to IM distance events, where the main points are factoring in the extra training volume you'll need to be doing, and learning more about use of pacing in training to prepare you for race day - IM requires it's own mind-set to race to your potential. But even while stepping up the volume, you can and still need to include variety in training pace and effort, to develop all-round fitness but it's just that the emphasis on the amount of each type of training and fitness varies according to your chosen distance. I should also mention that all-round fitness also includes constant focus on core strength work, as constant as brushing your teeth each day!!

The final group of athletes are IM athletes who are looking to be better IM athletes. These folks typically start with a great base of fitness, which provides good scope for planning out a structured program over a number of months, which may not include many races between each IM...although some races are great to do. Consistency and avoiding boredom are the biggest challenges, and most important things for achieving the progression they're after.

A left-field group of athletes are those who choose to step down in distance, which is a different kettle of fish, and requires a re-adjustment of training focus...and a more careful adjustment of their body to higher intensities and the associated risks with that. However, these athletes can often have the most fun as it's kind of like a game of the "older folks trying to mix it with the kids", a bit like Macca going back to ITU racing!!!

So at this time of the year is a great time to think about what is next, and what you need to be thinking of and planning for in order to achieve the goals in the events you're aiming for next season. Enjoy the challenge of it all!!

Thank-you, Virgin Australia

It was only a few days ago I was writing of our frustration with Virgin Australia about an experience with them at Perth airport, where we had to desert them and fly with Qantas in order to get home that day, which we finally did. Well this post is to acknowledge and thank Virgin Australia for their response in the situation, which has been great. Here is what has happened over the last few days.

I wrote my blog post on the (Qantas) plane flying back, and posted it that night once we got home. The next morning (Thursday) while running I had the chance to think through it some more, pondering the options and potential ramifications of taking it further. I was motivated by it being a interesting story which I thought others might find interesting...if only because it might be a lesson for other pregnant women who might be flying soon. I also was curious to see how social media might play a role in bringing it to the attention of Virgin Australia, as an alternative to letter...I suspected the combination of pregnant women versus big organisation would press some buttons!!!

It even crossed my mind to go the full mile and get the media onto it, like A Current Affair and Today Tonight, but I prefer not to lower myself to their low level.

When I got home I said to Ms A I would do a post or two via Twitter and Facebook to see what happened, and maybe contact the Herald Sun, to which she kind of laughed... So I fired up my laptop and armed with my blog as a description of what happened, proceeded to hit the social media universe.

First I went to Facebook and updated my status with “Virgin Australia screwed us over yesterday...thanks for nothing!!” and a link to my blog. Over the course of the day it got 8 comments and a few Likes, where the court of public opinion seemed to be on our side...phew!!! Then I went to the Virgin Australia page and made a similar post, again with a link to my blog...but this post didn’t last long until it was deleted, not surprisingly. Next was Twitter, where I started following Virgin Australia and then did a tweet saying “@VirginAustralia screwed us over yesterday. Thanks for nothing.”

After this flurry of activity I shut the laptop down and went to work...it’s so quick and easy to stir things up!! All morning I was waiting for something to happen (other than Facebook comments), but nothing. Humph!! What do you need to do to get some attention?? So feeling a bit left out, after lunch I went to the Herald Sun web-site and posted a news tip about “pregnant woman versus corporate Goliath” to see what would happen...this was becoming a bit of fun game!!

After a meeting I came out to, finally, some developments!! Virgin Australia had replied to both my Facebook and Twitter posts, apologising and that someone would be in contact with me soon. I also had a missed call from a journalist at the Herald Sun. Finally some attention for us!!!

First up I called the Herald Sun back, who were interested in the story, so I went over some parts of it again in addition to what they’d already read on my blog. By coincidence, when I told the journo who our obstetrician was, she said he was same doctor she’d had for her two kids!! Anyway, they wanted a photo of Ms A, so I gave them her ph nbr knowing full well that the thought of her picture in the Herald Sun could well put her into labour early. As it turned out, they weren’t able to get in contact with her to arrange a photo, but the story was “in the can”, so to speak.

Then a little later on came the best part of the whole thing. I received a phone call was a guy who introduced himself (I missed his name), but did hear him say he was from the Office of the CEO of Virgin Australia. Now you’re talking...and I was all ears!!! He was a terribly nice fellow, with a very soothing voice and gentle nature (over the phone, at least), and also very keen to talk through the whole thing. I explained our frustration was not with the airline as a whole, but with the particular application of the pregnancy policy where, in the circumstances, we felt some discretion could have been used in applying the policy, to accept the verbal and email advice from our doctor rather than require a written, signed letter head version of the same information on a public holiday.

He was very understanding and started out by acknowledging that the pregnancy policy was hard to find on their web-site, under “Special Assistance” which suggests wheelchair type issues rather than pregnancy. So he said he’d have the information moved to be more accessible. Then we went on to say he was very concerned about getting our confidence and support back for the airline, and to that end, offered us some free flights!! Wow!! He promptly followed up with an email, and to contact him directly to arrange the flights...although it will be some months until we’ll be flying again...

I hung up the phone being really impressed by their concern with dealing promptly with the matter, treating it with great priority and importance, even if the matter wasn’t that big in the grand scheme...he was concerned with us and our lasting opinion. I subsequently spoke to the Herald Sun journo to say how Virgin Australia had followed up – the story (still) hasn’t been published yet.

So after all that I felt I should update the record about Virgin Australia, and say thank-you for the way they dealt with the matter, not just because we’ve ended up with some free flights, but the manner of personally working through it. Thank-you, Virgin Australia.

Arrrgh...Virgin Australia!!!

April is a lovely time to visit Perth and Western Australia. The peak summer heat has passed leaving days that are really pleasant and nights that are still comfortable to sleep during. Even if school holidays are on, things are generally that much quieter than back home in Melbourne and Victoria that you can easily get around without battling crowds.

My older brother has lived in Perth for well over 20 years, and so Ms A and I made a long overdue trip over to see him for a few days during which we went down south to Augusta, had dinner with various friends each night, and Ms A got to visit her uncle, aunt and cousins. It was a good trip, for many reasons.

The downside of visiting Perth are the plane flights each way...4hr or so going over, and 3.5hr coming back. Over time I’ve come to prefer either Qantas or Virgin Australia, paying a little more than the budget airline options for better service. For this trip we booked with Virgin who had some good prices on the days we were travelling. A small concern was Ms A being 32.5 weeks pregnant, but with our obstetrician assuring us it was OK up until 34 weeks and gave Ms A a certificate advising of her due date to show the airline should we queried.

The flight over was fine – none of the Virgin staff even blinked at her size (and getting bigger literally by the day!!), and the flight went fine. If only the return trip had been as hassle free...
The troubles started when we arrived, in plenty of time, and noticing the Virgin bag drop area being very quiet, meaning we straight up to the counter to drop our bag off, already having our boarding passes in hand. Things went well until the adjacent staff member, being unoccupied and friendly enquired about Ms A’s pregnancy, and how far she was. She replied 33 weeks (actually 33 weeks in 2 days time!), to which the staff member wondered aloud if it was still OK to fly. Ms A assured her it was, up until 34 weeks, and showed our Dr certificate and repeated the assurance he gave us. If only she’d been busy she might not have asked the question that set in motion all of what was to come.

Nonetheless, our check-in staff member did what was (probably) the correct thing and went off to check the Virgin policy while we continued making friendly chat with the adjacent staff member.

After an eternity she came back with a number of pieces of paper in her hand saying that we actually needed our doctor to provide assurance that – it wasn’t a multiple pregnancy, she’d had no complications, and was fit and healthy. Our certificate wasn’t going to cut it on its own.

So starting to get a little worried about the prospect of a long train journey home, we put a call into our Dr pager service and hoped he’d call soon, with the advice being that an email covering these things would suffice. It also seemed that it came down to the flight staff as to whether they would be OK with her flying, which may override the policy advice. Either way, we went up to the departure gate to see what we could sort out...me being the optimist and assuring Ms A that we’d be fine, imagining our Dr calling us, telling the staff it was all OK and we’d be on our way.

If only he’d called in time, and if only such common sense had prevailed. As it was, the staff at the gate said the same thing, that we need the email advice before we could get on the plane, and with only about 15min until departure it was looking a little slim. So we were bumped off the flight, and I must say I was a little dejected as it is clear, even without the Dr’s message, that Ms A was able to fly...in my opinion, at least!!!

So we went back down, waited a while to get our suitcase and then had a nice lunch at the airport pub...for me a good steak sandwich!!! Finally our Dr called, we explained the situation and a little while after he sent an email from his phone with the information needed – being a public holiday (ANZAC day), he was out of town.

Armed with this we went to the Virgin service counter where a guy helped us, and went off to the supervisor’s office to find out what to do. He came back with a printed copy of our Dr’s email, and a message from the supervisor that it wasn’t satisfactory because, in his words, “it needs more detail”. Now, the original check-in staff member gave us the crucial excerpt from the policy about what information was required, which we showed him saying that it included all the particular detail that had asked for. Still he said, it needs more detail...what detail?? Getting a little frustrated we asked to see the supervisor, and after some resistance he relented and led us to the door where we waited outside.

The supervisor came out and explained that the information was needed on a letterhead, signed by our Dr. She also agreed that the information was OK, and the email origin appeared to match the name on our original Dr certificate. We said that being a public holiday, getting a signed letterhead was nigh on impossible...but that didn’t make any difference. A policy is a policy. They went back behind the door and we called our Dr’s pager again.

Then we had a great scene...just as they came back out of the door our Dr called and so we put him onto the Virgin supervisor. Oh my god!!! Our Dr is a great guy, but it seems he let loose on the Virgin staff member saying how ridiculous they are, that this has never happened before in his 25 years of obstetrics, that Ms A was completely fine, and so on. I could almost hear his voice from where I stood!!! The Virgin staff member handed the phone back saying she would not put up with this tirade, so Ms A calmed him down, then handed the phone back to the Virgin supervisor...and in the end he got nowhere with Virgin as they were sticking to their guns, and that with him being out of town the earliest he could do a certificate would be the next day.

So it was a stalemate, and some tears were close to being shed (not by me!!). Our only option to get home that day would be purchasing a Qantas flight. On the one hand I could understand the Virgin policy and position, but on the other hand it seemed overly bureaucratic to require such information our Dr had provided in email, and verbally, on a letter head on a public holiday. The amazing thing about common sense is how uncommon it is.

Anyway, we headed down to Qantas, explained our situation, showed him the Dr certificate and email, and the sales guy made several calls to other folks, saying a few times that “I’m satisfied that the certificate and email provide the information we need” (their policy was actually quite similar to Virgin’s). Finally we made some headway with someone sensible, and bought a ticket for a plane leaving only 35min later...still 2hrs after our original flight.

I went back to the Virgin door to arrange a flight credit, knocked and was greeted by another guy who said the supervisor was in a meeting. I explained why I was there and he said, “So you’re here about the pregnant woman? Hmmmm, I’ve already heard about that.” So it seems our story is sure to be retold in the Virgin tea room for some time to come!!!

Even though we had a boarding pass, standing at the Qantas gate, we were careful to conceal the baby bump as we checked in, lest we get stopped again...but as I write this on the plane, Ms A is sitting happily and comfortably beside me. Only 7 weeks to go...

IM Melbourne Pro Run Analysis (men)

IM Melbourne was a great race for many reasons, one being that 7 men ran sub-2:50 (5 in sub-2:50), which represents exceptional quality and depth in an apparently certified accurate course. I noted in my Pro Lessons article that the fastest runners also look like the best runners, so this article is to examine 7 of the top 8 guys (missed Dellow) and make an unsolicited assessment of how they run.

I shot the videos below at about the halfway mark, capturing 3 seconds of actual running, replayed over 12 seconds back at 25 frames per second. This is a great place to observe as the athletes are well into a fatigued state and thus sees them with their “default” form compared to being fresh, or just out of T2. Any weakness will be on show at this stage, however they haven’t completely lost form yet, making it a “fair” assessment of their technique under fatigue.

Craig Alexander
Crowie is the gold standard for good running form. His hips are stable, back is straight, head is steady and he has a slight forward lean from ankles (whole body, good) rather than from the hips (just torso, not so good). The lean is a crucial part of his form, at a whole angle such that if he were just standing his nose would be above his toes. His body position means his body weight (and momentum) is forwards, and puts his hips over his feet at point of landing (rather than thinking of his feet being under his hips). The end result is that he is a mid-fore foot runner...not something you should aim for without consideration for your whole body position. Interesting to note his right hand swings a little more than his left, but it doesn't create any imbalance. His overall form is compact and relaxed, but his form easily allows him to "rev up" to faster speeds with ease.

Cam Brown
Brown is almost gold standard, with many of the same characteristics of Crowie. The main contrast is that Brown is more upright and thus doesn't quite get the benefit of rolling momentum that Crowie does, and the efficiency that comes with it. He is also light on his feet, with great agility, with another contrast being that his upright form sees him as a flat foot runner, which almost appears like heel striking but isn't. His form is very sustainable but wouldn't quite lend itself to higher speeds and efficiency of Crowie without considerable effort.

Fred van Lierde
Van Lierde runs very like Crowie, with mechanics that are almost identical (his arm carriage is a little lower). But if you put van Lierde alongside Crowie what you would mostly notice is their different body shape - van Lierde is simply a bigger guy, especially around his hips. But what this also highlights is that a guy his size can still run very well with good form, and that good form is possible (almost) regardless of body size.

Eneko Llanos
With Llanos we start to see variations to the basically ideal form of the first three. While he has good control of his hips / body position, and has a nice forward lean, I would say that he is leaning too far forward and running too much on his fore-foot. So while the top-3 place their feet on the ground with each step, Llanos falls onto his feet which apart from really loading up his calf and achilles (he's obviously adapated to this), has the effect of shortening his stride a little a front in that he doesn't get the very small amount of "float" the top-3 guys do. This might only be small, but certainly adds up over a marathon. I would like to see him run a little more upright and think about placing his feet down rather than his continuous falling forwards technique...I feel this could improve his speed and sustainability.

Paul Matthews
With Matthews we start to see a clearer contrast between the fast runners and the good runners. Matthews still had a cracking run, but to watch his form you see how he is sitting back on his form somewhat, and landing a more heaviliy on his feet. It would be interesting to see him at the 35km mark as I would suspect he might tend towards heel striking as his fatigue increases, but at this point he is landing flat foot. I would like to see him bring his hips forward a little more so his weight comes a little more forwards, so he "rolls" over the ground rather than running across it - a subtle but important change of body position.

Luke Bell
Bell runs in quite a similar way to Llanos in that he falls onto his feet, and has his body nicely forwards. A contrast with Llanos, however, is and that Bell tends to extend his head and neck forwads, and in conjunction also thursts his chest forwards a little with each step. The combination of this is that with each step his chest, shoulders and head are not stable, but rock forwads which I feel has the effect of upsetting his smooth, rhythmical momentum, decreases his efficiency and also shortens his stride to a greater extent than Llanos. So what I'd like to see him do, like Llanos, is to straighten up a little, lift his arms a little closer to his chest, pull his head back a little, stabilise his shoulders (without tensing up) and perhaps work on shortening his stride a bit. Also, his hips have a little tendency to be unstable. I think Bell has a lot of potential for form improvement, especially of the guys I videoed.

Joe Gambles
Gambles and Matthews wore the same kit, and also run in quite a similar way. A contrast is that Gambles holds his hips and little higher and more forwards (which is good) compared to Matthews, and isn't quite as heavy on his feet...so to that end his form is slightly better than Matthews. Gambles also tends to swing his arms a little excessively which may reduce his efficiency over IM distance.

I would love to have seen more pros, and especially the women since their standard of running is rapidly improving and would provide great contrasts between the "new breed" of fast IM runners and their female counterparts. I hope this analysis illustrates the key role of good running form, which is the combination of many parts, but is focused on hip and body position.

Run for the Kids - chasing my number

Run for the Kids (R4K) was established 6 years ago as somewhat of an extension to the annual Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday appeal that has raised millions and millions of dollars over many decades. A key feature of the fun run was the high proportion of the entry fee that went directly to the charity, this year being $29 of the $50 entry, thereby ensuring a large donation to the hospital each year. Right from the outset it was popular event, with two race distances attracting 30,000+ entrants - and some quality athletes - with part of the appeal being a course that takes in the Citylink Domain tunnel and Bolte Bridge, a toll road that usually never sees a footprint, let along from runners!!

During the first 6 years of the event I hadn't actually done the race, initially due to a clash with Ironman Australia and last year due to injury. This year was also going to be a miss due to its proximity after the 6ft Track Marathon...until that race was cancelled and I had a big hole in my race calendar. R4K popped up as a great option, until I learned that it was sold out...D'oh!! But a couple of emails and a big favour later I had an entry form being sent to me, which I duly filled in and returned with my $50 fee. I was in the race, but imagine my surprise when my race pack arrived which included race number 23!!!

In a race this scale the low numbers are usually reserved for very good runners as it recognises their ability and identifies them as runners to watch. While I might be an OK runner, I'm not that good and especially not deserving of such a number for this race...I was part proud, and part embarrased, and very much self conscious.

However in saying that this also gave me a goal, to beat my race number as a finish placing, which recent history told me I would need to run sub-50min for the 14.38km course (not sure why they don't round the distance a little??) to be close. I've run that fast before, including in the Aths Vic 15km race last year, but that was flat (and windy) whereas this was a very honest course with three distinct hills - coming out of the tunnel, going over the bridge and then the Collins St overpass. Plus, my running form / speed is still picking up after the 6ft Track campaign. Also, I had a cold all week which had left me worn-out and worried about how much energy I would have to race.

Anyway, race day came around and for the first time in 8 days I actually felt close to better, combined with the boost from a caffeine pill, and I lined up feeling like I might be able to put some effort into the race.

R4K is unique in a way that the only time you know who is racing is when you line up at the start, and in doing so I was agog at the quality of field for such a "fun run". In the men's field was a recent World Ch'ship marathon runner, reigning City to Surf winner, 2006 Comm Games marathoner plus a host of really good local runners - this was going to be a keenly competitive race, and my placing goal just went out the window. Interestingly, they all had race numbers much higher than mine!! We lined up nervously, as runners do, waiting for traffic all clear to start the race and set us off.

I don't recall if it was a gun or hooter, but we were away and I felt OK, with a bit of spring in my step...which is common in early race stages. But I actually did feel OK as we turned just after 1km to head down into the tunnel where it was very quiet and very still, not to mention smooth running as we headed down and down. But what goes down goes up as we then started running up and out of the tunnel, back into the real world atmosphere and the start of feeling that this race is going to require some effort!!!

Along the Southbank overpasses you can easily see Bolte Bridge where the road, and the race route was soon headed. Passing 5km in 16:48min, I was surprised to be running so fast but a little worried about holding onto the pace, especially since the climb up Bolte Bridge goes for over 1km and reaches 60m height - a fair climb in any situation. Fortunately the weather was superb with only a light breeze, clear day and nice temps but didn't stop me from slowing as I trudged up the climb, losing distance to some runners in front of me. We crested a bit before 8km, and then had a nice downhill stretch...I'm never sure if you make up the time going down that you lose on the way up. I generally think not.

Finally down the ramp we hit flat road again on Footscray Rd followed quickly by a turn into Docklands - the effort was really starting to accumulate, but the course was good and quite interesting as it wound it's way through various streets. Passing 10km in 34:09min (17:21min last 5km), I was still pleasantly surprised at my pace, starting to think that sub-50min was on the cards...but the race was far from over.

About 2km later was a nasty pinch as we climbed up and over the Collins St overpass over Southern Cross railway station...a nasty little hill that is cruelly timed to break your rhythm, and perhaps spirit. I was generally holding my placing around here but seeing the gap in front open up since the bridge crossing as I slowed...I just don't have the race fitness yet to push on as I would like to in the closing stages.

The last part of the course took us along the Crown Casio walkway, back over the river and finally rounding Flinders St station for the final run to the finish. Despite the effort I was closely checking my watch with rough calculations about the time remaining until 50min...I had to put faith in the course markers since the tunnel had ruined the accuracy of the GPS measurements.

The final run down St Kilda Rd was good with many people from the 5.2km event cheering, as well as other spectators and supporters, with the finish arch coming into view just around a final corner...a quick check confirmed that my goal time was safe, just as a spectator called myself and another guy just in front of me in 30th and 31st placing. The clock on the arch read 49:29min as I crossed the line. It's only when you finish you realise how hard you were running as I doubled over, hands on knees and with blurry eyes catching my breath...it was a hard effort.

My post-race assessment was quite positive, exceeding my expectations at this time and providing some optimism about the improvement I might still have ahead in the next 3 months before Gold Coast marathon. The race itself was really good to do, on a good course and in a competitive field...and for interest sake, the same time last year would have put me in about 20th place. Maybe next year I'll beat my race number!!!