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So my time in Germany is up, and I have touched down safely down-under to enjoy a bit of time off racing.  The trip was honestly one of the best decisions of my life, and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if the opportunity came up.

 

The last 6 weeks away were a hell of a lot of fun, visiting a few different countries, and meeting plenty of interesting people along the way.  Mum spent a week in Crailsheim with me, which was nice…don’t underestimate how nice it is to have some clean up after you and buy you food every day! The last 3 league races were vital, and the team had to produce a few special performances if we wanted to win the league overall.

 

Race three in Schomberg featured a very strong field, and Germany put on its best weather for us (a storm that hit us, hit the women’s WCS field in Kitzbuhel only a few hours later – not much fun!).  A few issues in pre-race prep didn’t make for a very good race.  I missed a small break group on the bike, and got dropped once or twice from my pack going up one hell of a climb, and ran to a disappointing 17^th place...Luke had been saying that everyone needs to have at least one bad race per season (so I can safely say mine is out of the way!).

 

One week later our next race in Erbach…the weather put on a better show for us.  Some of my family made the trip down from the UK to watch me do this race (no pressure James!).  No complaints today – made it safely into a 12-man lead bunch.  El Capitano Luke Dragstra didn’t make the lead group, and sacrificed his race by sitting in the second pack rather than dragging them all up the road (which he could’ve done quite easily!) – Cheers Brother!  Off the bike our gun Frenchy Cedric “Wild-Schwein” Oesterle was quickly up the road and cruised to a 70sec victory, with me securing 3^rd and Luke finishing 12^th.  Benno suffered bad cramps during the bike and run, but to his credit got across the line as our 4^th man, and he secured us a team win by 20seconds!

 

A couple of weeks later I was lucky enough to travel with the Magic team to a little town in Germany called Roth, which every year is host to one of the most competitive, and certainly the most spectacular long distance race in the world, Challenge Roth. There must have been something in the air that day, because both the men’s and women’s long course world records were broken in a superior display of strength by Andreas Raelert and Chrissie Wellington, and I got to witness it all first hand.  This weekend was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. 

 

Liga Finale – Schluchsee:  A truly amazing town hidden in the Black Forest at 1000m altitude.  I made sure I was well tapered for this race…as it was very important to do well (Team Magic was level on points at the top of the table with Team Heuchelberg, so whoever had the best day here would take away the LBS Cup).    Another race where not much went wrong…rode in a 4-man breakaway over a brutal bike course, but we were caught by the bunch at about 20km.  Once again just didn’t have the speed to run with the winners, securing 4^th spot.  Magic got 3 in the top 10, including 1^st place from Cedric, which was enough to beat team Heuchelberg and take home the LBS Cup for a second year in a row! My 4^th place meant that I also took home 1^st in the LBS individual category.

 

The last two weeks in Crailsheim got a bit hectic with travelling and packing and unpacking, and training got a bit left behind.  I travelled to Lecco in Italy (a fantastic city on Lake Como) where I met up with Ben and a few other athletes and friends.  We spent the weekend sitting in Caffe’s and Pizzeria’s, also competing in the Lecco International on Sunday arvo.  It was a fantastic sprint distance race course along the city’s main streets.  I was lucky enough to place second.  After losing a bit of time in a very choppy swim, I tried to make up as much ground as I could on the bike and run, but just couldn’t reel in the eventual winner Mattia Ceccarelli (hope I spelt that right) who led from tape to tape.  In Italy, every is allowed to draft, and there is no lap-out rule, so things got a bit confusing when I would see three people sitting on my wheel who seemed to come out of nowhere…I’d later find out that they were a lap down!

 

A long day of travel back to Crailsheim, only to have to jump on another plane in 2 days time.  So I was frantically packing for the final day, and by the time Thursday came around, I was landing in Singapore where I met Dad and the West Aussie ‘Triathlon Excellence Program’ athletes and coaches.  I had a few days to acclimatise to the extreme heat and humidity before Sunday’s ITU Asian Cup race, which would wrap up my season.  Race day came, and I felt very twitchy…having too many rest days can do that to you!  Another choppy swim had me swallowing more salt water than I would have liked to.  Unfortunately I just lost the front bunch in the last few hundred metres and through transition, and found myself with another Aussie riding in no-man’s land.  Things we’re going well for us and we were pulling back time on the group in front, but that is about where my luck ran out, a tiny little stone got lodged in my tired, and within a kilometre or two I was riding on my back rim.  I was a good 2km from the spare wheel station so any heroic attempt to run to the station would have me at risk of getting lapped. 

 

Not a great way to finish the season, but what an awesome season it was!  So now I’m back home, enjoying a bit of rest & reflection time, and already getting a bit of fire in the belly for what promises to be a great 2011/12 season.

 

Until next time,

James

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Firstly I must apologise for my laziness in updating my blog.  I am in the middle of an 8 hour stop-over in Singapore ‘Changi’ Airport, and have finally run out of excuses not to start writing again.

 

Well the Australian 2010/11 triathlon season has come to an end for me…and what a season!  This was definitely a season full of transitions, including a transition from age group to elite, a new bike, a new coach, a new hometown, and a spattering of pleasing race results.

 

The season kicked off with the Noosa festival which I had perhaps my best result to date chasing down a strong lead swim/bike pack to post the fastest age group run of the day and snag a spot on the podium in the open men’s division.  The next few months were focussed on local races.  I recorded my first state series title at the Bunberri Classic, and missed out on an open state title by the smallest of margins to triathlon stalwart Sean O’Neill at the Rockingham state sprint champs.

 

Once I’d received confirmation of my pro license, I began planning a semi-permanent move to the eastern states to be closer to the action.  My coach at this time (Paul “What a Guy” Mackay) had done the same thing as a young triathlete and strongly encouraged me to not hesitate in the move.  Warwick Dalziel, coach at the Carina Leagues Triathlon Club in suburbs of Brisbane, had been very helpful to me in the past when I needed a place to train in lead up to races of the east coast, so I decided to move to Brisbane to train under his guidance.  After one last swing (and miss) at an open state title at the end of January, I flew to Brisbane where I had my first 3 elite races lined up (National sprint champs in Geelong, Oceania champs in Wellington, and Oceania Cup in Mooloolaba).

 

Geelong taught me a few great lessons about racing against the elites, and sent me walking away with my tail between my legs.  Wellington looked a bit better on paper, but still wasn’t a great race.  Mooloolaba was the best of the 3, but my run split still let me down and I could only manage 27^th place, a whole 4 minutes behind the winner.  As disappointing as these results may have been, I needed to take a step back and remember that I had taken a massive step in the last 12months from struggling age grouper, to struggling elite!  Lance Armstrong was lapped out of his first elite race, so I couldn’t let these results get to me.

 

Another transition that I made this year was from a part time athlete/full time student, to full time athlete/graduate (BSc).  When I was given the opportunity to race for a Division 2 German club over the winter months, I jumped at the chance…not having to worry about study.  I would spend May, June, and July training in a small town in southern Germany, Crailsheim, with a few very established long course athletes, and racing for ‘Magic Sport-food Team TSV Crailsheim’. 

 

My next race was an Asian cup race in Subic Bay, Philippines on May 1.  I saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of a relatively small starting list and score my first ITU points by making placing top 20.  I pumped out some impressive running k’s in the 3 weeks leading up to the race, but a minor flu in the last week left my confidence a bit shot.  By the time the race came around the start list was of a much better calibre.  After a good first 750m in the swim, I really struggled over the second half and lost contact of the front group.  With very few strong cyclists around me into the first half of the 40km bike I wasn’t able to bridge the gap back to the front group, and lost a lot of time, eventually being caught by a pack with 5km to go.  As I jumped off the bike, I had a quick count of the number of runners in the front pack…21.  This meant that unless I was able to make up 4 minutes to the slower runners, AND stay within 5 minutes of the winner (which would require a 32min 10km split) then I wasn’t going to score any points.  I made the decision to pull the pin early and save my legs for what is going to be a very long and intense European season.

 

So now, my Aussie season is over, and in two weeks my European season kicks off. Can’t wait!

 

Cheers,

 

James

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DOB:  29/06/2011

Nickname: Berky

Career highlight to date:1^st place Ironman Western Australia 2008 & 1^st place Challenge Copenhagen.

Favourite race: The half iron man & Ironman race in Port Macquarie

Best leg: Right leg

Sponsors:  Scody, Daikin, Cannondale, Newton, Oakley, Shimano ,Science in sport, Compress sport, Blue seventy & Gordon st cycles.

Favourite TV show: Entourage

TT: Tim, thanks for your time. Let’s start with your 2011 schedule, do you know it yet? 

TB:  I have a big year planned with my 1^st race kicking off in Abu Dhabi in March, I’m also in for Challenge Copenhagen & Challenge Cairns & a few 70.3 in Australia & the US

TT: Let’s get straight to the training talk. During a typical week when you are in hard training how many k’s do you get up to for each of the three disciplines?

TB: This week I will be doing 20 k’s of swimming, 650k’s on the bike & 80k’s of running.

TT: Do you do any of your main sessions with elites from that particular sport? For example, Do you do any running sessions with top distance runners in order to test yourself that little bit more?

TB: I train with Clayton Fettell who was a national open water swimmer & one of the best swimmers in the triathlon world.  I do a bit of riding with my mate Lachlan Morton who rides for Garmin

TT: Do you have some bread and butter sessions that you do on a regular basis?

TB: I do a 90 minute build run each week where I build it up to my goal iron man pace

TT: What is the hardest session you have ever done?

TB: Motor pacing always kills me, I had a really bad session once where when I got home I sent my coach an email saying - you, my old man & the motorbike can all go where the sun don’t shine.Ha ha ha

TT: Do you have a set diet before sessions?

TB: No

TT: And during workouts?

TB: I live on SiS

TT: What do you eat and drink straight after hard sessions for recovery?

TB: My mum’s special protein drink when I am at home & SIS - good stuff I can’t get enough of it

TT: How much do you drop your mileage in training during the week leading up to a major race?

TB: At least half with a rest day & a travel day

TT: What about the week straight after a major race. How much recovery do you allow yourself before intense training starts again?

TB: For a half iron man 5 to 7 days & for an Ironman 2 to 3 weeks depending on how deep I go

TT: Favourite place for a training camp?

TB: Boulder, Colorado USA & at Lennox head with my coach Grant Giles

TT: Favourite training partner?

TB: All the boys in Lennox head & especially Clayton Fettell & Mitchy Robbins those boys always make me work hard but we always have a lot of fun

TT: All the best for 2011.

TB: Thankyou very much guys

So needless to say it’s been a while since I’ve sat down in front of the computer and got some words on the screen.  In my defence I have had a fairly busy last couple of months including my first few races of the season, my final block of exams of my university degree, and 5 weeks worth of full-time work.  But now that the hectic weeks are over, I have plenty of stuff to write about. 

So the good news is I have now finished uni with a Bachelor of Science.  The last exam had me a bit worried that I might have had to go back and slug out one more semester, but luckily those last few minutes of cramming pulled me through (as they always do).  So I am now living the life of a full time triathlete! Coach Mackay assured me that post-exam celebrations is the quickest way to send my fitness backwards, so now is the best time to hit the track and find some good form.

As I mentioned, I just had my first race of the Aussie season at the Noosa Triathlon Festival.  In the past my first race from the off season, has always been one of my best, so I prayed this would be much the same.  I raced in the open field against quite a strong field of swim/bikers, so I knew my work was cut out for me in the canals.  My training in the lead up to the race had been quite focus on the cycle and run legs, and unfortunately the swimming slipped a bit.  Anyway after a shaky start where I lost a big chunk of time to the leaders, I managed to swim with the second bunch and get out 90seconds down on a group of 9.  We worked nicely (legally) on the bike to reel in 4 guys, and then we had to chase down the last few in the run.  Everything came together quite nicely on the run and I managed to catch 5^th, and 4^th, and with 1km to go I passed 3^rd, and the out-kicked another challenger for the final spot on the podium (which I never got to stand on because I missed the presentations!). 

I took a lot of confidence heading back to WA, where I planned to do a few of the local tri series races (and hopefully pocket a bit of cash).  My first local race for the season was the Olympic distance race in Bunbury (a not-so-local 2hour drive from Perth, but a lovely place nonetheless).  It was a wetsuit swim which suited me nicely and I was able to get out of the water with a 20 second gap on a bunch, which included two very strong ironmen who were using this race as a hit-out two weeks out from IM WA.  The first chaser caught me halfway through the 1^st of 6 laps on the bike, and spared no expense to show me just how strong 600km per week of cycling makes you.  He blew me off straight away.  Another bunch came through, and I was able to work with them for the rest of the ride.  I came into transition with Scottish Ironman Scott Neyedli and a local triathlete Ben Lyons, with Guy Crawford only 1 minute up the road.  Things turned very interesting when Scott stayed on his bike and flew straight past transition to head out for a seventh lap.  So this left me and Ben to fight it out as 2^nd and 3^rd onto the run course.   

Ben set a cracking pace out of the racks, and a prayed that if a stuck with him he would settle down.  Luckily for me, he did.  All that mattered now was running down the Kiwi, who I was told could run about 35mins off the bike if on form.  After about 3km I had him in my sights, but he looked very strong, so I knew it was going to be a mental game.  I pulled up along side him and we ran together for the rest of the first of two 5km laps.  I struck up a conversation and tried to suss out how he was feeling by listening to his breathing.  As we went passed transition to head out on the second lap, the local support lifted me and we both picked up the pace.  I managed to ever so slowly open up a gap on him, which continued to grow until the finish line.  My first open state series win! I have to admit I was over the moon!   Not only did I beat two very respectable ironmen (who admittedly had ridden 180km from Perth the previous day), but I had also finally taken the scalp of one of WA’s most successful short course athletes, Sean O’Neill.  Sean had returned from a round the world trip only 2months earlier and was still training into form, but I claimed bragging rights!

The next big hit-out on the horizon is State sprint distance championships in Rockingham, where I am hoping to win my first open state title, which would cap off an amazing start to the season! 

Until next time 

James

It’s been a few weeks since I competed in the State 10km Road running championships held up in Joondalup.  Let me set the scene…

It has been a while since my last 10km running race and I knew I was well overdue for a PB (seeing as though the fastest time I had recorded previously was run off the bike).  My training leading up to the race had been, well, slow.  A few months ago, coach Macka decided to put a strict limit on the amount of quality run training I could do during the off season due to my pre disposition to attract every imaginable injury.  So far the plan has worked very well.  But it left me doubting myself a little bit for a flat out 10km race.  There were very few hills to speak of on the course, which made for a fast time but put me at a bit of a disadvantage to all the track-adapted runners out there, because I think I have a bit of leg strength on them which would work nicely on a hilly course. 

 

The field was looking exceptionally strong with Italian stallion Roberto Busi, and national junior x-country champion Ethan Heywood heading up the field.  Not to mention coach Mackay and duathlete Raf Baugh having their own little battle for bragging rights.

 

Macka told me he thought I was in shape to race a low 34, which I initially scoffed at.  Come race day I threw on the race shoes, and was feeling pretty fresh (considering the hole I was in only a few days earlier).  I knew that I would be a silly thing to go out hard and hang on as long as I could, because with minimal interval training I would find myself deep in the red zone pretty fast.  So I went out at what I thought was 35minute 10km pace, and tried to pick it up slowly.

 
This tactic seemed to pay off nicely as I found myself passing people the entire time.  I went through 5km in just a tick over 17 minutes and feeling comfortable.  I continued to reel in runners and my solid aerobic base began to finally pay off.  My second 5km was only 10 seconds slower than my first, and I finished in a respectable 12^th place in 34:15.  ‘Told ya so’ was Macka’s first remark, who, might I add came in 4^th in a lazy 31:40…pretty good for a coach!

 

That afternoon however, my calves were crying for help.  This was to be expected with my lack of quality running leading up to the race, so I had pre-scheduled and ice bath, a massage, and a nice recovery swim set.  None of these however could fix the state of my legs, which had me hobbling for the next 3 days and which a few weeks later are still whinging whenever I try to pick up the pace!

 

The Perth City to Surf is only just round the corner now, and I have set myself a personal goal of running sub 41 minutes of a very hilly 12km course.  Calves permitting, I think I could give it a really good crack.

 

So watch this space…

 

James

Last weekend I had my induction into A-Grade bike racing in Western Australia.  My coach told me it was time to stop messing around and go out there and race with the big guns, so I threw myself into deep water and entered the State 100km road race as part of the Cyclemania Team.  So on Sunday morning I made the trip down to Wandi with, needless to say, a few butterflies in the stomach.  I was told that the course was flat, and the race was going to be fast.  These two things don’t suit me at all, which is exactly why I chose this race.

 

I knew my only chance was get into a breakaway with some strong riders and hopefully the fact that they wouldn’t know who I was would play into my hands.  It turns out that getting into a break was a lot harder than I thought.  In fact just maintaining a spot towards the front of the peloton was hard enough.  One second I would be sitting comfortably 6 wheels down, and not having to face any wind, and the next thing I would turn around to see the rear vehicle right behind me…these guys were aggressive!  I tried on several occasions to slip off the front with a few other boys, but within minutes we would be reeled back in by some strong teams in the bunch.

 

Fortunately, a break finally did happen, but unfortunately I wasn’t in it.  Most of the big teams had someone in the break, so they all sat up and the pace slowed right down.  Once the gap had formed I knew there was very little hope of me seeing those guys again.  In the last few laps I just cut my losses and went to the front of the peloton, to smash it out as hard as I could, for as long as I could, even though it wasn’t going to get me anywhere, just to get a good bit of ‘Jens Voigt-esque’ training out of it.

 

Here is a picture of me dragging the bunch through for the bell lap

 

With a few km’s to go, my work was done.  I suspect I don’t possess a single fast twitch fibre in my legs so when the pace picked up for the sprinters I just sat up and let them do their thing.  As disappointing as it may have been to slip back in the last few 100 metres I was lucky enough to get an amazing view of the most spectacular crash of the day.  Right in front of me a bloke did a few front flips after touching wheels with someone else, taking down another rider, and it all happened right in front of me!  I managed to avoid it, and yes, those involved are now fine.

 

Me analysing the race data on my awesome new power-meter.  41km/h average!

 

James Lewin

Blog Title: The Off Season – Beating the chill

Maintaining a strong training program through the winter has been the Achilles heel of many a West Australian triathlete.  With few races to look forward to, a pesky 10 hours of sunlight, and a very warm blanket, getting out of bed in the mornings can sometimes be a big ask, especially when you know you have 4 hours of riding in the rain ahead of you.  And just like every other year I tell myself that I will be more disciplined than last season, and I will get all my sessions done; but no matter how motivated you are, it is still a struggle.

 

This season I have found that the best way to ensure I get up for every session is to train with the right people.  If you can find a bunch of people who are more motivated than you, who will get up to train day in, day out; rain, hail, or -0.6 degrees then it makes everything a bit easier.  It also helps to have the coaches words resonating in your head when you first wake up: “Every time you feel like pressing the snooze button, just think that somewhere there are hard bastards getting up, and doing the hard work” – may not be word for word.

 

Currently I am swimming with a big squad of clubbies on week mornings under veteran head coach Rick Turner, who has formerly coached Australian Junior Champions Liz Blatchford and Ciaran O’Kane, and Olympic Gold Medallist Todd Pearson.  Training with a big strong squad like this really keeps me honest, as there is always a set of feet to chase.  Although we have been moved to the outdoor pool this winter, there is still no better feeling than a hot brekkie after a big set, with special mentions to running buddy/self-proclaimed Masterchef Dave Bryant, who makes a killer batch of pancakes on Wednesdays.  The weekday arvo’s are made up of rides and runs, none of which are more exciting than the progressive tempo run around Kings Park on a Wednesday night.  Here I am joined by some of Perth’s most established distance runners who seem to think that tempo means ‘run the legs off the poor triathlete’.  I just hang on as long as I can.

 

Saturday morning, and it’s time for the long ride.  In recent weeks I have been riding with a very keen group who ride as though they don’t have a long run to do the next morning.  We head up towards the hills or ‘Perth Alps’ which are not quite like the real thing, but still throw down some challenging climbs.  Last week somebody read of their Polar that is was -1.7degrees as we were dipping down into a 3km descent.  Needless to say, it took a few coffees before we could feel our faces again.  This session has, on several occasions, had me hurting pretty badly, but I assure myself that it will pay off.  Evan Esar, the 20^th Century American Comedian can attest to this with his inspiring quote: “Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration and inspiration.”  However painful it may be, there is always the Welshpool Road descent to look forward to at the end of the ride, where an epic battle of ‘who can go the fastest’ occurs.  This always gets the blood pumping.

 

In the past few weeks, I have been heading out to Helena Valley, the ‘Mecca’ of West Australian distance running for the Sunday morning long run.  We tackle a challenging 24km loop along  a trail, which can often be quite scenic, but at other times is a bit treacherous.  This is always a very enjoyable session.  There is often a lot of bantering and a big ego battle between Perth’s big guns.

Aside from these key weekly sessions that keep the winter program fun, I find it best to pick out a few races, at least one a month to keep the adrenaline flowing (if the Welshpool road descent doesn’t do it for you!)

 

Hope you enjoyed the read; keep following as next time a talk about one of the biggest decisions I’ve ever had to make as an athlete.

 

Cheers,

 

James

On the front foot, never looking back

So a quick introduction as many of you may not know me, my name is James Lewin, I’m a 19 year old student/triathlete based in Perth, studying a Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia.  I have been involved in triathlon for about 5 years now, racing competitively for about 3 of those.  Over the past couple of years I have had some respectable results in age group races, including a 2^nd at the Olympic Distance World Champs on the Gold Coast last year; however I haven’t yet had a real breakthrough result in elite, draft legal races.  I am currently training under the superior guidance of arguably WA’s most successful short course male triathlete, Paul Mackay, who has taken myself and pocket rocket Kenji Nener under his wing, and managed to fit in coaching us around his full time work.

I finished ‘09/10 with a fairly strong race at Mooloolaba, but a niggling problem with the Achilles left me with some questions about how much better I could do.  So I sat down with the coach to assess the season gone, and set some goals in stone for the season to come. We agreed that it would be best for me to take 4 weeks off after Mooloolaba rather than seeing out the rest of the local Perth season, to ensure I get rid on my Achilles injury.  During the time off I tried to maintain some sort of activity – so I dusted off the footy (AFL) and headed down to the park with Paul and Kenji for a run around.  This was followed by a very interesting and different ‘personal training’ session which involved boxing and made great use of a kid’s playground.  I couldn’t help but sing ‘Eye of the Tiger’ in my head as I threw a solid left hook into Macka’s glove.  This little bit of exercise during my rest weeks helped keep my legs from going into hibernation mode.  The rest of the time I spent doing things that can’t really be done when you have to wake up at 5am every morning – I’ll let you figure this out.

So after a very restful and eventful four weeks (with a few extra kg’s on my belly) I started afresh with a long slow build up to next summer, where I hope to get a bit more experience in the draft legal format. I chose Noosa to be my first big race for next season, hopefully with a start in the elite field.  With a fairly solid winter program set up (I am already seeing some PB’s), I am hoping to be fitter than ever.  I have never raced at the iconic event before but from what I hear there are some challenging climbs on the bike, and one hell of an after party.

This season I have been lucky enough to get my first sponsor as an athlete.  Wayne Evans and the team at Cyclemania have been a fantastic help in decking me out, and even getting me a brand new ride, which I am in the process of building up right now!  As I’ve mentioned I’m studying a Bachelor of Science at UWA, currently in my 3^rd and final year of study, and at the moment I am trying to make through the last of my 1^st semester exams with a somewhat respectable outcome.

Keep an eye out for me on the Triathlete Tribe, as shortly I will be taking you through the highs and lows of training in the Perth winter.

 

Until next time

 

James