Return to the Tauranga Half

Race Reports, February 09, 2020

Don't let expectations in the past prevent you from taking part in what you love today. Life is too short.

When Andy Vane (my training buddy) told me he was planning on racing the 2020 Tauranga half it spurred me to put my name forward. I wanted to share in the training leading up to the January event, and I wanted to compare my performance as a 44 year old with my past results as a developing athlete.

As a young triathlete I always had the goal of competing in the iconic Tauranga Half. I achieved that in 1994 fresh out of high school just before heading down to Otago for my first year of Physiotherapy school. I was very pleased with my finishing effort of 4hrs 44min and made the top 100. Over the next 6 years I returned to Mt. Maunganui tweaking my approach looking for improvement. On the back of my 1999 Hawaiian Ironman winter training I managed my best result - 4hrs 11min, 13th overall in the 2000 race with Andy recording an impressive 4hrs 01min for 7th overall. After that race I went overseas for a couple of years then returned to last race in 2005 where before marriage, kids, a mortgage, and owning a business I recorded 4hrs 21min for 24th overall (Andy was 69th in 4hrs 41min - punctured on bike)

My beautiful daughters are now 12 and 9 years of age, I run my business EVERFIT physio & coaching, and along with my wife we have planned to work less, living in alignment with our values of more time with family, living simply, and caring for our natural world. I have carved out 9-11hrs a week for my “training” or more accurately termed "daily enhancing wellness habits" and I didn’t want to upset the balance with my training routine 20 years ago (15 hours/wk mainly swim squad, running, + and long miles on the bike with very little stretching, core, and strength work)

Currently my week has enough running, swimming, yoga, and full body strength work but the cycling time is lacking to effectively do the half IM distance justice. I take 2 RPM classes a week and commute to work (6km return trip) 3 times a week. Cycling is the major part of the half distance triathlon and I needed to carve out some sessions. My sessions now have the focus of making me feel better as a human rather than making me a faster triathlete. I wanted to stay true with that focus leading into the race.

Andy and I sat down and planned 3 key sessions leading into the race. All would be race effort bricks 3,2, and around 1 month out from the race. To boost the cycling training as much as possible I also managed to fit in another 5 rides on the road over those 3 months and put more effort into the RPM classes.

We organised to take one Tuesday morning off a month leading into the race and worked out a 4hr session comprised of a 80-110km bike with either big gear or race pace long efforts (10-40min) and ran off the bike between 7-12km either race pace, or with 1km faster than race pace efforts. Neither of us had time to complete the traditional long slow rides so we went for as specific as possible with the time we had.

Andy and I relished the key sessions and had awesome focus during the workout understanding that the time opportunity was precious. By the 3rd session we both had confidence we could race and enjoy the challenge.

Race day dawned with beautiful still warm conditions. Andy and I came out of the water together and rode exactly the same time (separated only by 3min due to a draft stand down for Andy). We both battled through the final run starting strong, then working on holding form as fatigue sapped the pace. We both finished ahead of expectation and thoroughly loved the experience.

Life is happening right now. Sometimes the biggest barrier to fully taking part is ourselves. I hadn’t returned to this race due to lack of time to train on the bike, and the anchor of past experiences. My life has changed making it unauthentic to try to squeeze past training methods and result expectations into the present. After sitting down and planning, letting go of past ego’s Andy and I came to understand that we could take part and do justice to the event while upholding our more important roles as husbands, fathers, and health industry workers. When we were both in our 20’s being an athlete was a far larger part of our sense of self and results has a far larger impact on our self worth. Joy, friendship, and a goal to give daily wellness habits framework is now the focus. Results on the day is a bonus, not the driver.

Lessons learnt on the return

1)After the age of 40 the daily habits provide the framework for the training. Prioritise yoga, full body strength, meditation, a whole food plant centred diet pattern, and sleep.

2)Schedule in key sessions with your training buddies then make your family aware. Write it on your wall planner (if you don’t have a central family planning board - get one)

3)Time is precious - make the sessions as specific as possible with time, terrain, intensity, and fueling.

4)Be grateful for the time and ability to spend time with mates doing what you love

5)Encourage others on the day and cherish the feeling as the discomfort rises. Smile and use the opportunity to be better.

6)Don’t let past experience and expectations rob you of doing what you love today. Life and you are constantly changing so change your approach to be authentic with the present.

Click the link below for a 16 week half IM plan.....

https://everfit.co.nz/Store/everfit-16wk-half-ironman-70-3-plan

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