Author: libero56

72 hours on: Reflections from Windsor Duathlon

Posted on by libero56

I thought I should follow up from Sundays Windsor Duathlon race report with a few reflections now that I’ve had a couple of days to process the event.

But first I would like to congratulate all the medalists from Sunday and especially Messrs Mahon, Wood and Pollitt who won the medals in the Mens 55-59 AG. Duncan Wood and Martyn Pollitt dealt with the disruption of being held up mid race brilliantly to come back and finish really strongly, thoroughly deserving to win their medals, thus knocking me out of the top 3 in the process. Here is the revised result:

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Now, when I crossed the line I was wonderfully knackered and experiencing that sense of exhaustion that comes from really testing yourself to your physical limits. It’s a pretty euphoric sensation and it can tend to distort your view of what’s real. When things have gone well then the feeling is total elation and when things have not gone to plan then the world can feel like its about to come to an end. Neither is rarely true even if it absolutely feels that way in the moment. But on Sunday I was experiencing a mixture of confused emotion. I thought I’d won a medal, which gave me such a high for several hours, but on the other hand I knew I hadn’t quite nailed the performance and at that time I was ready to blame external factors.

With the benefit of 72 hours to reflect, to gather more information relating to the results confusion and importantly to offload the unhelpful feelings I was experiencing, I’m now in a mental place to learn from the event.

Reflection is such a powerful performance tool as it can help to identify the important factors that have impacted on an outcome such that they can be built on or changed the next time, or if they are out of your control then they can be forgotten about.

The controllable factors for me from Sunday were:

  • Dealing with the conditions: I got most of it right in that I stuck to my normal transition bike set up routine but I should have carried the bike out to mount line “cyclo-cross style” to get my bike leg off to a faster start.
  • Dealing with my chimp factor: since my Gran Canaria camp with TriSutto I’ve been wrestling with what to do about my bike as its too small and I’m now just waiting for the new bike to arrive. In the meantime I should have been much more relaxed about the bike and used my past performances as evidence that I can ride strongly on it. Instead I think I was looking out for any indications that reinforced the negativity I’ve been feeling and on the first lap I found lots of examples to get my chimp agitated. This definitely cost me time on the bike.
  • Avoiding distractions on run two: as I get tired I must continue to focus on what enables me to run well and not get distracted by such things as the race commentary, the pace of others, what might be ahead etc. I need to stay in my bubble where I know what to do and how to get the most out of myself. On Sunday I forgot all this!
  • Run hard until the end. Ultimately its about getting the most out of yourself and if you do this then the result will take care of itself. I found myself scanning the other runners to see who was coming from behind to ensure that I held off others who may have been in my race rather than ensuring that I squeezed every last drop from myself.
  • Roll with the punches better. Things will always go wrong and often these are out of your control so I need to ensure that I don’t get bothered by things I can’t do anything about…..and on Sunday there were more of these than at most events!

Finally, given the theme of my blog “Faster After 50” and inspiring others to chase their dreams I can’t finish without giving huge respect to Gill Fullen who missed out by a mere 5 seconds on being crowned overall Womens National Champion whilst representing the 50-54 AG. Gill you are phenomenal and an inspiration to us all.

The Windsor Duathlon : Queues, Quagmire, Queen and Query

Posted on by libero56

Wow that was one tough race. A stunning setting with challenging conditions.

My experience of the inaugural Windsor Duathlon, hosting the British Championships, left me with a battered set of legs, a memorable return to Windsor two years after moving away and a sprinkling of confusion over the results.

The executive summary would read: Queues to get into the car park caused the race to be delayed. The race delay led to The Queen’s plans to drive across the course to cause havoc with the race and this led to confusion over finish times that have left me considering querying the result. Oh, and the quagmire around transition added a whole new level of challenge to what was already a pretty tough mornings fun!

So, to my race report.

Race morning was bright and chilly. I only had a two mile ride down to the start so I didn’t have to endure the stress of many of the competitors who were stuck in traffic queues waiting to get into the race car park before 7:30am. Not a great start to their days, I can imagine and the queues just kept getting longer so ultimately the race organisers decided to delay the start of the racing by 30 mins. The heavy ground conditions were making it difficult to park cars safely.

Fun and games really began in transition which was sited in possibly the boggiest part of the Great Park and being a former local I can confirm that this area is always likely to flood with a bit of bad weather!

As athletes began coming in and out of transition to set up bikes etc the whole area was quickly churning up and turning into a mudbath. These unique conditions were playing havoc with mindsets as experienced athletes were changing their normal bike set up regimes as whispers went around about whether the mud would make it more difficult to put bare feet into cycle shoes after running through the quagmire to the mount line. For a minute or two I even found myself questioning my normal strategy, but then quickly came to my senses and reminded myself to stick to what I know. I prepared my bike as normal, with shoes clipped in ready for my feet to slip into at the mount line. This was definitely the right thing to do.

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Race briefings are a mandatory part of every event and they are a bit like the safety briefing on an airline. Everyone is half listening and half focusing internally on what is about to happen. Right at the end of this briefing however my focus was brought fully back to the briefing as we were informed that the race was due to be held up at some point between 1030 and 1100 as the Queen and some Royal friends and family were going to drive across the course. Was I imagining this? Was it April 1st? No, it was real. The announcer went on to explain that a timing mat would be set up either side of the road that the Royal Party would pass through so that any athletes held up would have their timing chip stopped on one side of the road and restarted when they crossed the mat on the far side plus these affected athletes would be given a 20 second bonus for inconvenience! I can’t imagine a more bizarre set of circumstances for a race, but we were being given the treat of using The Queens back garden so I guess this was the price we were paying for getting access.

The race started at the foot of a stinging climb heading towards the “Copper Horse” with one mass wave of all male standard athletes jostling for a good position. The hill goes up in three steps and was a punishing way to begin. Once at the top we then had a fast flat section that led onto the beautiful polo fields. The first 6k was all on roads and then the terrain changed to footpaths and then a long downhill section on a sandy horse trail. This was the bit I was least looking forward to as it is normally loose sand but fortunately it had all been compacted and so was pretty good to run on. Once we emerged from this forested section it was then cross country across fields of mud before popping out onto the long walk for the final section back to transition. This was a tough first run and so I was pleased to have completed it in a solid time.

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The mud was definitely getting thicker as we approached transition, so I gave myself one tiny reminder to do what I normally do and before I knew it I was heading out after a fairly smooth transition. In hindsight I should have carried my bike “cyclo-cross style” out of transition as the tyres picked up lots of mud which caused a few issues over the first mile on the road but once this cleared I forgot about the mud.

The bike leg was four laps of an undulating technical course which was made even more tricky with the sheer volume of riders on the narrow Park roads. The first half of each lap was twisting with lots of short punchy hills, so very difficult to get into a rhythm. A few close calls with other riders who made unexpected lateral movements in front of me didn’t help to settle me down and I found the first lap very hard mentally. My legs didn’t feel good, I couldn’t get into a relaxed position and then I realised that my saddle had dropped. My “chimp” was now getting into overdrive and I spent the rest of the 1st lap battling with myself to think positively. By the time I got onto lap two I was in a much better mental place. This definitely relaxed me physically and I then began to enjoy the challenge of the two distinct halves of the course. The 1st half brought the twists, the changes of gear on the climbs, a few little moments out of the saddle, the chance to hydrate and take on fuel, whilst the back half of each lap was about sitting in the best aero position I could find given the lower saddle and powering a big gear. I felt I was performing better as each lap went on and once the sprint athletes had completed their two laps it was much easier to navigate the thinned out traffic and push on with confidence.

Turning right at the end of the 4th lap for the final mile down the Long Walk with Windsor Castle in the background was truly spectacular. This for me was possibly the best moment during any race. There did not seem to be anyone else on the road at this precise moment and I had this awesome view to myself. Maybe I got distracted by this because before I knew it I was at the dismount zone and misjudged my dismount by perhaps a quarter of a wheel length. Unlike most events there was not a line across the road so (in my defence!) it was really hard to know exactly where the line was. I should have dismounted a few metres earlier as this mistake cost me time. The official called me back and made me stand for what seemed an eternity before releasing me back into the trenches of transition. Fresh shoes were waiting for me and off I went, gingerly picking my way towards the timing mat at the edge of transition.

I often describe the sensation of running off the bike as being a bit like running through treacle. The legs are heavy, the blood seems to be in all the wrong places and the brain hasn’t yet worked out that you are now trying to propel yourself on foot again. Well imagine this normal sensation combined with actually running through a treacle like muddy field for at least 400 meters to reach the stability of the “Long Walk” metalled road. I almost lost my shoes twice in the mud but managed to navigate my way to safety and was given a real boost as the race commentator recognized me, and flatteringly mentioned me in his announcements. The second run was a dead straight out and back loop of 2.5 km. The first lap was agony as my legs were struggling but then on the second lap I began to feel stronger and think I picked up the pace a bit, although the time for this 2nd run was poor, so maybe I was imagining it!

The beauty of these out and back runs is that you can usually eyeball your competitors but the problem yesterday was that there were no distinguishing features such as colour or letter coding to identify the different age groups. Given that this was the British Championships I think it was a shame that this hadn’t been done.

I finally crossed the line feeling totally spent. I’d given my all and was totally satisfied with how I’d performed. I’d made a couple of errors but overall I’d done a really good job and was delighted to hear on the tannoy that I was across the line in a medal position (unofficially).

Now I’ve never done well in the British Championships so the thought of a medal was massively exciting. For a couple of hours I was elated until I was shown a copy of the updated results that revised my finish position to 4th. Its still unclear to me what happened but I can only assume that the guys who were finally placed 2nd and 3rd were caught up in the Queens crossing incident. If so, they must have been behind me at this point in the race as my wife told me later that I went through the crossing point just before the Queen arrived and so I was blissfully unaware of any disruption this may have caused behind. My split times for each leg of the race appear to add up to a faster overall time than the guys placed 2nd and 3rd and so I am assuming that their “finish time” is their actual chip time whereas the splits represent the times at each point from the start.  I hope that there is a clear explanation and the results can be adjusted to reflect the true reality of what happened. You can see below how the results are currently being shown.

I’ve spoken with BTF and they are going to get back to me.

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Whatever happens it was a great day. We caught up with a number of friends that we haven’t seen for ages, I got cheered on by, hopefully, the next generation of duathletes and I got another strong race in my legs. But, where was the Erdinger Alkoholfrei as we crossed the finish line to recover with? I missed you!

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So now its back to training to prepare for the next biggie, European Long Distance Championships in Copenhagen next month.

 

Stepping Up a Notch and a Return To Windsor

Posted on by libero56

This weekend things step up a gear as it’s the first standard distance duathlon race of the season for me.

I did a sprint duathlon a month ago and I gave my run legs a good test over a half marathon three weeks ago. The body responded really well to both and I’m so happy with the way I’m recovering from these races. Much better discipline towards nutrition, massage and foam rolling is paying massive dividends as I’m not getting injured nor am I needing to take long periods of time to get ready to train hard again.I can’t emphasise enough just how much of a difference this makes to the way I feel about everything and how much belief it instills.

The last 3 week block has involved a few monster sessions and I love the challenge of completing these tough workouts. They are very different to racing as there are no distractions and it is all about how well the session can be executed. Even so, the physical challenge can be just as demanding. Not only that, but the mental benefits that come from training on the edge are always helpful assertions for me on race day. I just love training hard as it gives me a feeling of being so alive and testing myself.

I think I’m ready to step up another distance notch.

This weekend its back to racing and it is the Windsor Duathlon. Windsor is hosting the British Championships and it’s a few years since I’ve competed in the Brits. I’ve never done well in the past, so it will be interesting to see how I get on. I’m really excited to be going back to Windsor to race as its two years since we left the town and moved out of our home of over 20 years. There will no doubt be lots of fond memories swirling around in my head during the build up to the race and hopefully we will have a chance to catch up with lots of friends afterwards. Windsor Great Park is hosting the race and we are really lucky as it has been opened up for racing for the very first time and I know it will be a brilliant venue.

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What makes it even more special for me is that these roads and trails of the Great Park used to be my training venue of choice. The short punchy climbs that make up the bike course were where I started to take this sport seriously so hopefully my legs will remember how to smash it up them without going too far into the red until the last lap at least. And the run laps will be equally familiar as I’ve completed hundreds of sessions along these roads and trails. I can’t wait to get back there and compete.

I’ll let you all know how it goes!

I love it when a plan comes together.

Posted on by libero56

I love it when a plan comes together.

I love it even more when I can see evidence of a dream coming true.

Yesterday I ran the Liverpool Half Marathon. It’s a while since I’ve run a big City race with many thousands taking part and there is something really special about the atmosphere of these events. This gathering of people of all shapes, ages and ambitions to celebrate health and fitness, to enjoy being alive, filling bodies with fresh air, cheered on by loved ones is an example of humanity at its best. If you haven’t been along to support or participate in one of these great events then you really must. With 6500 people in the field yesterday, there were 6500 different stories and probably 6500 different reasons for taking part. What a fantastically inspiring way to start a Sunday.

For me, the reason for taking part was to test out my run form.

A year earlier I’d run a more low key half marathon near Wrexham with only around 10% of the field size and I had stunned myself by running a new Personal Best of 1 hour 26 mins and 59 seconds. I’d gone into that race hoping to run under 90 minutes and I chose that word “hope” very deliberately, because for years I’d felt that I had the potential to run under the 90 minute barrier but had never succeeded. I knew I’d trained well leading into that race, but proving I could do it created an uncertainty, a doubt about whether I had what it takes to convert potential into performance. Not only did I go under 90 mins ( I’d have been overjoyed with 89:59 ) but I truly smashed it by going more than 3 minutes under my target time.

So I’d done once, but could I do it again? Another year had gone by. I’d trained really well. Consistency has been excellent. I’ve not missed many sessions and I’ve completed them all in line with Coach Annie’s plan. I was ready to test out where I’m at ahead of another big season where I’ll be running many more half marathons, but just to make them a bit more of a challenge, they’ll be at the end of Middle Distance triathlon races.

Conditions were ideal. It was cool, bright and just a gentle breeze. Just before race began I got a message from Coach Annie. “Smash it” read the message. “Better do as I’m told”, thought I.

The race began at 9am sharp and runners filtered slowly across the start line. I took the first couple of miles easy as I had not been able to warm up ( 20 minute queues for the loo had put paid to that) and then at around 3 miles I caught up with the 90 minute pacer who was accompanied by a huge group of runners. As I approached them I was deciding whether to tuck in alongside them for a few miles as I was clearly going more quickly than might be sensible or go past straight away. My own pace felt comfortable and so I went past and didn’t give them another thought for the rest of the race.

We then entered Sefton Park and for the next 4 miles I enjoyed discovering what a beautiful public space this is. At 8 miles I decided it was time to take a gel. Last week in the duathlon I’d made the mistake of forgetting to have one with me and so this week I was better prepared. Fatigue was just beginning to kick in as a few little things were starting to bother me. The running surface suddenly seemed more uneven, the odd runner was now getting in my way( they weren’t it was just my interpretation ) the heavy “breathers” sounded louder in my head. I was mentally tired and starting to get irritated. It’s interesting though that physically I was still knocking out the miles as consistently as earlier. This tells me that I get mentally fatigued way before I get physically fatigued and my brain can easily trick me into slowing down if I let it.

Fortunately this didn’t happen. The gel worked its magic over the next mile or two and as I entered the last 3 miles I was once again sharp and focused on maintaining form to the finish. This was actually the trickiest part of the course. The riverfront promenade was twisting and turning with long sections of cobbles to deal with. It was definitely beginning to hurt but I was thinking straight and knew that I was heading for a special finishing time and so I just kept it going. I didn’t once try to calculate what my time might be. This felt unnecessary. I had the mindset that if I just focused on what I was doing which was staying relaxed, ensuring that I safely navigated each of the twists and turns, then the result would take care of itself. This worked as the last 5k was my fastest of the race. I entered the finishing straight and saw the clock had only just passed 1 hour 25 minutes.

One hour 25 minutes and 3 seconds was my finishing time. I was so happy. I’d well and truly smashed it! Kathy came rushing over to the finish and she knew straight away that I’d done something special. I could see in her eyes that she was delighted for me.

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Once again I’ve set a new personal best. I thought 1:27 was pretty good, but to take a further 2 mins off and set a new best of 1:25 is really exciting. Who knows where my limit will be? I’m just really enjoying the process of discovery and putting into practice my belief that we can be faster after 50.

I don’t know which part of the brain confidence comes from but the tap inside me is definitely wide open right now and confidence is flooding my body. Knowing that I am going faster than ever is such a powerful sensation. Hard evidence that proves that at 56 years of age I’m running faster that at any other moment in my life gives me such a boost of belief to keep chasing that dream of winning at Kona one day.

This race has been so important for reinforcing the power of benchmarking progress to build confidence that I know will help me as I prepare for my “A” races this season.

I’d better get back to training then!

 

“It’s that back to school feeling again”

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No matter how much older I become or how much more experience of racing that I accumulate, the start of a new season seems to always feel like the start of a new school term. That magical cocktail of stomach twisting nerves combined with the excitement of what might be around the corner is a feeling that I never want to lose.

I occasionally wonder to myself how much longer I will want to continue doing all this and the easy answers are to say never or to say that I’ll stop when I begin to decline, but I think that the key trigger for moving on will be if and when I no longer have that start of new term feeling.

During the days leading up to Sunday 6th March that feeling was well and truly building up inside and I processed this as a sign that I was ready to start racing again.

The race at Oulton Park is one that I’ve done for a number years now and so it provides a familiar environment to test myself without any pressure. I chose to do the sprint this year for two reasons. Firstly for fun as the new drafting format is so different and I find the bike leg to be a huge buzz, where you need to keep your wit’s about you and your concentration sharp at all times to ensure that split second decisions are being made about positioning on the road, awareness of others and intensity of effort required to get yourself back into transition as quickly as possible whilst preserving as much energy as possible for the final run. The second reason for choosing the sprint was the time of year with a risk of being cold, I didn’t want to be racing for too long, especially on the bike. At 0830 stood in the car park with snow coming down this felt like an inspired decision!

By 10am when the race was starting the snow had stopped and the sun was out and I began with gloves, arm warmers, calf guards but no hat. This was the correct combination for me and I managed to stay warm without overheating throughout the race. With this race being a World Champs qualifier there was a large and high quality field in all age groups and over 300 honed athletes stood on the start line focused on their own goals.

For me, this meant testing out my levels of fitness, sharpening my race craft and most importantly staying safe. With the snow that had just fallen I agreed with Coach Annie that I was not going to take any silly risks on the bike as this was not an important race in my year and to treat it as a hard training session. I didn’t need to worry about qualification as I’m not aiming at any Sprint Championships this year and my place on the start line for the World standard race is already assured.

The first run went exactly to plan. I set off strongly and then settled into my own rhythm as the field began to sort itself out. No matter how many times I run around the Oulton Park circuit it never gets any easier and the back side of the track is pretty challenging with two punchy hills to deal with. I was encouraged by how quickly I recovered from the second and steeper of the two hills and ran strongly over the last kilometer into the first transition to record my fastest single lap yet, even though I didn’t know it at the time. Good start.

Transition to the bike was smooth and I was out onto the circuit chasing down a small group that had formed up the road and it took about half a lap to get in amongst them and recover from this hard effort. I prefer to be up near the front of the group so that I can mark any attacks that might be made to try and get away and also because I feel a bit safer with fewer wheels in front of me. As a result I probably do more than my fair share of the work, but as this was principally a hard training session for me this didn’t really matter. The five bike laps were soon complete and I was leading a group of about ten riders back into T2.JON26093

A little issue getting my left foot into my run shoe delayed me by a few seconds and one of my 55-59 competitors was in and out ahead of me. My legs dealt with the transition into running really well and apart from the shoe that was still not sitting correctly on my left foot all was well. I was confident that this would resolve itself as I got into my running and so did not need to stop to make any further adjustment. However, unconsciously I allowed my focus to switch to this shoe and lost concentration about the important matter which was this other competitor disappearing down the road. By the time I was relaxed in the knowledge that the shoe was now sitting right I realised that my rival was already 200 yards ahead and I just couldn’t catch him. I described after the race how I’d fallen asleep over the first 1500 metres of this 2nd run and during this period I’d been consumed by the shoe and whether it would cause an ankle blister rather than focusing on the run mechanics that help me to maintain form and pace in a fatigued state. (I’d forgotten to take a gel out on the bike to give me a little boost for the 2nd run so was probably more mentally fatigued than I should have been).

My second run split was down by almost a minute on the 1st run which I was instinctively disappointed about but I think I need to get things into perspective. This is very early in the year and the last time I did this race was just two weeks before the world champs last year when I was flying and in peak fitness and then I cracked out two identical run splits. This time I’ve gone even faster on the first run so need to believe that the indications are really bright for yet more performance gains as the season progresses.

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The final result was a 3rd place AG finish in a solid time. I finished feeling strong and as always when I’m beaten, gave myself an additional shot of determination to apply myself even more in training, in recovery and in preparation.

As for my race goals, well I’m really happy with where my fitness levels are, I scored 10/10 for staying safe and I learned a few important lessons about race craft.

Lets get back to training for the next four weeks before the next race at Windsor.

Winter Training Camp, Half Time Report

Posted on by libero56

What a great week I’m having.

I’m totally inspired by the people I’m mixing with everyday.

First there is Brett Sutton, the legendary coach himself. I love his wisdom, I love his individual approach to coaching (and by that I mean the way he thinks about what each athlete needs to help them be better). There is no one size fits all solution to performance improvement for him. I love the way he wants to understand what is going on inside the head of his athletes and what it is they are trying to work on as they perform the swim, bike and run. I love the way he asks questions. I love the way he shows how principles about performance can be so easily translated from one sport to another. And I love the way he gets his message across.

I’m inspired by the performance levels of the world class professionals that we are training alongside. Observing them in action is something else. The commitment to practice and the level of consistency of effort is so impressive. As an example, 80 x 100m in the pool this morning (don’t be silly, not by me!) performed at such a high and consistent level was a sight that will stick with me for a very long time. Nicola’s rhythm and balance in the water is what I’m aspiring to.

I’m equally inspired by each of the other athletes on the Camp. Everyone is here because they want to get better, they want to be the best they can be. Some, the youngsters are just starting out and yet have travelled from Hong Kong to be here. Others are coached regularly by Brett and have such a professional approach to training. Its hugely impressive.

Finally, there are also the other Age Groupers like me and this is the most inspiring bit of all. There are only 3 of us on this Camp and each of us is beyond 50 and yet we are all here because we want to improve, we want to go quicker and we do not see age as any kind of barrier to performance enhancement.

If ever I needed further affirmation about my goal of inspiring others to chase their dreams beyond 50 then this Camp is it.

Thanks TriSutto.

The Night Before Winter Training Camp With TriSutto

Posted on by libero56

A mixture of excitement and anxiety are the key emotions I’ve been feeling during the build up to my week with Brett Sutton at his training camp in Maspalomas in Gran Canaria.

 

I’m really excited about joining in with his elite environment, even if its only for a week and I’m also excited that I’m putting myself out there for analysis, criticism and anything else that might come my way. I’ve set myself some lofty goals over the next few years and I’m excited to be taking the next step towards achieving them.

 

Most of the surface level anxiety has been about all the silly unknowns. Will the accommodation be ok, will my bike arrive on the same flight, will the weather be good, will I get on with the others on the Camp etc etc ?. And guess what, I’ve been here for 24 hours now and the answer to the first three unknowns is a resounding yes, so I reckon I should be putting anxiety in its place.

 

Me and my bike have arrived safely. We’ve been reunited on a lovely little ride today up into the hills behind Maspalomas to get the journey out of the legs and really enjoyed the 25 degree temperatures.

 

However, its never simple with me and my over active “chimp”!

Another huge unknown that’s been causing me concerns is what will the training camp entail ? Unlike any other training camp or event I’ve taken part in the only pre Camp information I’ve been given is “be outside the pool at 0755 on Monday morning.” For someone who likes to prepare by visioning what is coming up, this has been quite a challenge and I’m expecting the rest of the week to be a sequence of leaps into the darkness where even in the middle of a session I might not know what’s coming next. This really will put me way outside my comfort zone, but because I trust in my coach, Annie Emmerson and she trusts Brett, ( he used to coach Annie) I believe I’ll be able to ensure that this discomfort doesn’t become debilitating.

 

As I sit here the night before the Camp I realize that this is probably why I’m here. I want to be taken so far out of my comfort zone that I can discover new things about myself. How will I react to everything that is thrown at me over the next week?

 

And of course, how will my swim stroke, the biggest source of performance anxiety cope?. What will he think, can he spot any potential in it and can he help me improve?

 

Over the next few days we’ll find out!

 

Discovering and Overcoming Limiting Beliefs

Posted on by libero56

I love it when I find myself doing just what I try and help others to break out of and that is allowing limiting beliefs to restrict performance.

For those similar to me who like to think of themselves as committed to life long learning, to continuous improvement, to trying to be the best they can be then it can come as a bit of a bolt from the blue when we realize that the way we think about ourselves is dramatically restricting our potential.

I recently met with Annie my coach for a swim session. Swimming is the weakest of the triathlon disciplines for me and everyday is a challenge. I’ve moved on a huge amount in the last year as I’m now happy to describe myself as a swimmer, rather than a rubbish swimmer which I realised was a defeatest mindset. It doesn’t come easily to me but I’m determined to improve and dream of coming out of the water in contention. So meeting with Annie was a great opportunity to get some feedback and identify some of the technical aspects of my stroke that have scope for improvement.

Head position was the first thing to adjust. Get it lower in the water to allow the bum and legs to come up higher. Brilliant, an instant improvement and I simply need to keep reminding myself to keep the head low. Conscious competence here I come.

Timing between arms and legs was also out and this adjustment will take much more work and will no doubt be consuming much of my brainpower over the coming months. Conscious incompetence on the path to conscious comepetence me thinks!

The biggest revelation however was what happened next.
“I want you to start breathing bi-laterally “ said Annie.
“Ah, sorry” says I, “I’ve tried that and cant do it”.
“What do you mean, you can’t ?”
“I just can’t. I don’t know why, I just can’t”

What was interesting, is that Annie didn’t challenge this, she simply said “Watch what I do and copy”. There was no room for discussion or negotiation. This was a clear instruction. I was thinking ( or rather my Chimp was thinking) she is not listening to me, but I only had two choices. Either do as instructed or don’t.

So I did as instructed and whilst it felt extremely awkward, it immediately had a positive impact on performance. I started hitting 50 secs for 50 metres, even though it felt like I was going slowly and operating well within myself. 50 seconds for 50 metres is indisputable. My Chimp, who wanted to believe that I couldn’t do it or if I could that it wouldn’t make any discernable difference, could not argue with this factual evidence. Swimming even in the very wooden early stages of bilateral breathing was enabling me to swim faster than before…and instantly.

Bingo, what could be better ? In addition to buzzing about this performance breakthrough I was also buzzing about the fact that I’d uncovered a new limiting belief and have transformed it into a new positive affirmation “ I can breathe bilaterally and I will master it”

For the last year or so as I’ve been improving as a swimmer I’ve totally ignored this key area and have unwittingly stopped myself from taking advantage of the benefits that breathing bilaterally can bring.

Annie’s refusal to even consider my “I can’t” was exactly what I needed. I trusted her enough to give it a go and was so encouraged by the facts she used to provide feedback rather than more subjective approach of “that looks much better” that she could have said. I’m not sure I would have accepted this as it certainly didn’t feel instantly better.

So, Its exciting to identify these performance barriers that are totally self imposed and completely within our control to overcome. As I get older its going to be more of a challenge to make pure physical step changes that will make me quicker, so to discover that there are these mental shifts I can still make that will unlock not just marginal gains but significant gains, well that is really something.

So what are your negative beliefs? What are the things that lead you to say “I can’t”? What would happen if you could? Who do you need to engage to help you reframe your negative beliefs? What is required to get your Chimp onside…remember, its your chimp that puts your negative beliefs into your head and its often evidence like facts of an improved 50 metre swim split that help to turn them into positive affirmations

Welcome

Posted on by libero56

Welcome to my blog.

 

The purpose of this blog is to share what I’ve learned about how to turn dreams into reality and hopefully, along the way, inspire a few people to go and chase their own dreams.

 

Now, I’m just a regular fella who turned 50 a few years ago and almost overnight decided it was time to start believing in myself.

 

My first 50 years were very happy, working really hard to build a great career, a loving family and some amazing friends.Mixed up within the hard work, I also spent much of my first 50 years dreaming of being a sportsman, whether that was to be scoring the winner at Wembley, sinking the final putt on 18th at Augusta or receiving an Olympic gold medal in 1500m. The problem is that I just didn’t believe that things like that happened to regular guys and yet on a regular basis these dreams became frustrations and like an itch that just can’t be scratched they wouldn’t go away.

 

Becoming 50 was a turning point. I realized that the difference between dreaming and achieving is belief, commitment and lots and lots of practice. I decided it was time to go for it. I was going to become a World Champion sportsman .

 

This guy is crazy, you are probably thinking but please suspend your disbelief and bear with me.

 

The world, society and our education system all seem to conspire to put limits on us. One of the most obvious limiting beliefs is that 50 years of age is too old to become a sportsman. Well, let me tell you that doesn’t have to be the case.

 

5 years later I was picking up a gold medal as World Duathlon Age Group Champion.

 

I’m now confident enough to describe myself as a sportsman, I train each day, I’m still getting faster and I’m setting myself scarily challenging goals.

 

If you’ve always dreamed of doing something, but struggled with the confidence and belief to go for it, then please stick with me and lets see if my ramblings can help inspire you. Dare to try.

2015 Season Review

Posted on by libero56

It’s December 10th and I’m lying in my sick bed for the 1st time all year. The dreaded man-flu has caught up with me and so I’m doing what doesn’t come naturally, the smart thing and dealing with it! I’m now starting to feel better and thought it would be a good moment to reflect on the season.

 

My ambitions at the start of the season, my first as a Erdinger Alkoholfrei sponsored athlete, were:

 

To represent GB AG team at triathlon for 1st time

To step up to standard distance in duathlon and win medals at European and World championships

To complete my 1st Middle Distance triathlon excited enough to want to contend at this distance in the future

 

So two of my three ambitions related to triathlon rather than duathlon and this in itself was quite scary as I enjoyed such a phenomenal year in duathlon in 2014 and it would have been totally justifiable to have focused on reinforcing my performances over the sprint distance again this year. Instead I wanted to take myself completely out of my comfort zone, by having my season defined by swimming as much as my strengths of running and cycling. And even my growing belief around my ability in duathlon was to be severely tested as I was to race double the distances.

 

Why make it easy?

 

Over the last few years as I’ve begun to take racing and training more seriously, I’ve been eager to learn from Pro’s about what they do and how they do it to make themselves successful, as I believe that (other than a handful of exceptional individuals) winners aren’t simply born. If we want to succeed then what is the key? Consistency of preparation is the answer I’ve heard more frequently than any other from Pro’s. So, consistency in training and consistency in recovery have been the things I’ve been trying to achieve this year (and for someone who has always feared getting into a routine this has been a difficult challenge to embrace).

 

So how have I got on? The training numbers look pretty encouraging I believe

 

380 quality sessions were completed leading into my final race in October, with more swim sessions, 140, than ever before. Massive thanks to Annie, my coach for putting together the ideal programme to build my fitness and get me ready for each and every race.

Only a handful of run sessions were missed through a stupid injury, playing cricket!

No time was lost through illness until this week.

Weekly sports massage has definitely been key to enabling me to be so consistent, so huge thanks goes to Charlie my masseur. Also, the expertise of Dr Will at Endurance has monitored my blood levels throughout the year and helped me to tweak nutrition at times to keep me in tip top health.

My early season form was encouraging. I smashed out a PB over half marathon distance in February, clocking under 87 mins and performed well in the Oulton Park March duathlon ahead of the European Duathlon Champs in Alcobendas, Madrid. This was the 1st of my 3 championship races of 2016, all of which brought their own challenges. Here it was the weather. An outrageous storm blew in on the morning of the race, making the bike course treacherous. I was delighted with the way I plotted my way through the race, given that I’m still pretty nervous cornering after my crash in 2013. To win silver was huge. It gave me a real boost of confidence that I’d made the right decision to step up from sprint distance. I now believed I could be a contender at this longer distance.

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After Alcobendas it was time to switch into triathlon for the summer. My first race was a sprint in Nottingham, where there was a large and high quality field. So I was delighted to pick up 3rd place. I then had my best swim spilt to date in the deva tri in Chester where I knocked out a sub 27 min 1500m to set me up for my best ever time here. Again it was a very strong field as it was the English Champs and I got 9th place. This was a bit of a reality check as despite a huge improvement in the water I am still too far back to give myself a chance of winning as the top age groupers just don’t have a weakness in either bike or run that matches my (current) swim deficiency. Heh ho, its all work in progress and I’m improving.

 

On we went to the next major championship, the European Triathlon in Geneva. The location was beautiful, the atmosphere was electric and the scale of the event was another step up from the duathlon champs. I knew I was here for the experience, but I didn’t expect to be let down by my two strong disciplines. When I got out onto the bike I had no power in my legs and continued to struggle right through to the finish. It was probably my most disappointing race ever as I felt good going in, but just had nothing to give when it was required and the only thing I can be proud of is that I kept going, didn’t give in and managed to find a way to enjoy the experience.

 

Its still a bit of a mystery as to what happened but one theory is that I was too fresh, having had a good taper into the race. Maybe driving all the way to Geneva also had an impact on me?

 

I put this disappointment behind me very quickly as I had the scary challenge of a Middle distance race looming a few weeks ahead. I’d originally set out to complete my 1st Middle at Bala in June, but this race had been abandoned in tragic circumstances with the death of an athlete. At the point the race was stopped I’d been going really well and so I took some very positive thoughts into my 2nd attempt, The Gauntlet at Castle Howard, Yorkshire. I felt like I really bounced back in this race. I loved every kilometer of it, even the final one, where I discovered I had made a crucial elementary error and hit the wall as I ran out of energy stores. Up to this point I had been high up in the top 20 overall and I know that as long as I take on more nutrition earlier in the run then I’ll be able to hold it together for the full distance. Despite this error, I won the age group and think I’ve discovered the triathlon distance that could be the one that plays to my strengths. (We’ll see in 2016!)

castle Howard finish

I planned to take a bit of a mid season break after my 5 hour middle distance race but was surprised at how quickly my body recovered and so didn’t need quite so long to step back into training.

 

A couple of average triathlon performances completed the summer before one final duathlon in the build up to the big trip of the year to Australia. This build up race was the 1st ever draft legal AG sprint race in UK. Next year, sprints will become draft legal and so the event at Oulton Park was experimental. I went into it thinking it would be my one and only ever go at this format, but I loved it so much that I think ill try and do a draft legal race for fun each year. The bike leg was such a blast, forming a group and being part of organizing it such that the speed kept getting higher. Despite recording a faster bike split I came into the 2nd run with really fresh legs and smashed out a time that was exactly the same as the first leg. I was buzzing as I crossed the finish line, winning my AG and 15th overall!

 

Off we went to Australia feeling fit and ready to compete. I imagined there would be some tasty Antipodean athletes that don’t travel to Europe to race and this proved to be correct. The winner of my AG was just too good on the day and his biking was at another level. He has certainly set the benchmark for me to aim at over the next couple of years. I finished the race 4th, only a matter of seconds behind 2nd and 3rd. I could not have done more on the day and was really pleased and proud of my performance. It was my best race performance of the year. I was 8 mins quicker than in Alcobendas in April and I pushed myself to the absolute limit, which is all I ever try to achieve. My bike leg took lots out of me and so I was struggling in the 2nd run but I wanted to discover how well I could cope with the 2nd run on very tired legs. So, I believe that my race execution was good, even if it highlighted how much stronger I’ve got to become for that all important 2nd run. Stepping up to the standard distance was a big challenge which I think I coped with well and whilst coming so close to a medal is frustrating it has actually motivated me even more to work harder for next year.

Pete on Bike AdelaidePete Finish line adelaide

So what a great season I’ve had. I’ve picked up another silver medal in a European Championship, I’ve competed for GB at triathlon and I’ve not only won my AG in my first Middle distance triathlon but my performance should be good enough to qualify for the 2016 European Middle Distance Champs. On top of all that my racing has taken me to the other side of the world where I put in a world class performance. It’s a season to be rightly proud.

 

I’m really grateful for the support of Erdinger Alkoholfrei as a sponsor and have been proud to race in their colours this year.

 

Next year is going to be even better…I can feel it already.