Andrew Tong | Triathlon coaching » Middle Distance

Huskisson II Long Course Triathlon

Tongy — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:02:16 +0000

Last weekend I ventured down to Huskisson where there were a number of Tri events held over the weekend. The main event being the long course tri on Sunday. Both the weather and the racing were hot.

For me I was actually participating again being well over 2 years since I raced anything close to this distance and also a number of people from my coaching and swim squad were participating and as usual I am always keen for them to do well. What is always pleasing seeing the majority improve on their overall times and also some much improved swim times too, proof that structured swim training is worthwhile.

My own race tactics were somewhat conservative, mainly as I do not get to train as much as what I once did and ensuring that I finished in reasonable shape. I took the swim really easy and found myself overtaking many others in the last half of the swim, getting out of the water almost bang on my target, for the bike I was determined to ride to a HR in the 140′s, whilst initially I had to consciously hold back once in the rhythm all was well and found myself keeping a very consistent pace, much like the swim the longer the ride went on the more I overtook. Towards the end of the bike it was noticeably hotter and the wind had picked up too. Onto the run and I felt good and shamefully would admit that a few years ago I would have just run as fast as I could for as long as I could, which generally resulted in a slow shuffle / stagger at the end and a very disappointing run time. Like the bike I made a conscious effort to hold back and was still running slightly quicker than planned. At the end of the first lap (10k), the heat was starting to play a big impact. Onto the last lap it was a struggle to maintain the same effort and the legs starting to feel tight. I did slow a little but was determined to keep pushing on and was glad to reach the final turn for home, each aid station could not come soon enough. I was extremely glad to see the finish line and was spent and it took some hours of until I started to recover.

Overall I was happy with my time and placing knowing that I need to get a little more running in my legs before the next race at Cairns in June and it was GREAT to be racing again.

Vitruvian Triathlon 2010

Tongy — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 04:07:06 +0000

The Vitruvian triathlon was held at the beginning of September with a delayed start due to heavy mist on the water. Jackie (with a little coercion or encouragement from me) was on the start line for her very first middle distance race.

Most people face these races with a little bit of in-trepidation and this was no different for Jackie, and has said “The race yesterday was amazing I was so nervous and doubted whether I would be able to do it … I am so chuffed that I did it”. Going by the comment you can tell that Jackie completed the race and achieved her main goal. like most triathletes she is already talking about next year.

The Vitruvian is a great race and one of my personal favourites, well done to Jackie for completing her first and look forward to seeing her on the start line again next year.

Antwerp 70.3 and Milton Keynes Races

Tongy — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:45:18 +0000

Update on 2 really great results over the weekend

Simon raced Antwerp 70.3 treating the race with a view of “dipping the toe in the water” to try out some longer distance racing. All the training for the year has been tailored around Standard distance. Simon flew around the course in a sub 4:30 (4:28) and picked up a slot for the world champs in Clearwater along the way, well done

Eleanor went to race Milton Keynes standard distance after a great race at Upton just a couple of weeks ago. A major goal for the year was to get under the 2:30 mark for this distance, which was achieved with a time of 2:28 a new pb by around 8 minutes. To top the day off this great time also placed her 3rd in her age group. Well done

Races Update

Tongy — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:32:25 +0000

The Race season in the Northern Hemisphere is in full swing and I have been a little lax in updating progress of the team (too busy prescribing the training). I have also re commenced training the South West pod in Sydney for Can Too for the Blackmores running festival, we will always welcome more people if you want to train, we meet on Wednesday nights in Liverpool and Saturday mornings in Georges Hall.

Due to my delay in updating results below is a summary of recent performances

Eleanor, had a good start to the season with Thames Turbo sprint 1 posting a pb by 3 minutes and has dabbled in a few cycling events, most notably a 50mile TT, where she was second female overall

Ellen, recently competed in the UK middle distance champs at Bala, however treating this as a training racing looking to her full distance tri. It was a good result also considering that for many of the competitors this was a major race on their calendar. What was most impressive was that Ellen posted the fastest run time of the day for females and the 22^nd fastest run time overall.

Jackie, raced Liverpool standard distance, posting a 9^th in her age and a swimming PB she is aiming for faster times over the coming months

John, after being plagued by injury for a few months, but with the help of some medical advancements in treating Achilles problems, was able to race Austria 70.3, achieving a PB and raced Royal Windsor standard distance achieving a pb of 13minutes. I think one of Johns goals for the remainder of this year is to stay injury free and be able to race fully fit.

Parys, raced her first middle distance tri in Switzerland 70.3, coming 9^th in her age. A great result for the first attempt.

Richard, also raced Austria 70.3, carrying a slight strain to the hamstring was given the all clear to race conservatively and managed to achieve a PB, narrowly missing out on sub 5hrs.

Simon, raced the Dambuster standard distance tri. A pleasing performance almost attainging a PB, with a blistering run on what is not considered to be a fast course and is looking forward to the ETU champs in Athlone. Simon also competed in the Crystal Palace sprint Tri, improving on last years time by 1 minute and coming 2nd vet.

Tamsin, raced Switzerland 70.3, coming 11^th in her age, but more importantly improved by a massive 30minutes on last year, well done.

It is always pleasing when people race to their potential, with most of the team improving at every race and showing signs of improvements for the remainder of the season.