One Race To Many

Another season is in the books which always provokes the desire for some reflection. On one hand, I've been able to individually produce my best ever swim, bike, & run performances. On the other hand however, I've not been able to do it all in the same race which is a basic requirement in my line of work! There's no doubt that my inability to manage my time properly inhibited my ability to get to my absolute peak, i most certainly spread myself a little to thin at times throughout the year. Being able to perform at a world class level, a level that I work day in & day out to achieve, requires a solid plan, & diligent execution. You can work as hard as you like, if you get the small details wrong they've got the potential to derail everything. Having said that, nothing ventured nothing gained, as long as i learn from these mistakes i can take the positives of 2023, & be optimistic of a much more structured & consistent 2024. 

Following the disappointment of the Ironman World Championships in Nice, i was determined to achieve something out of the year to set the foundation for next season. I decided to focus on consolidating the running work I'd done over the summer & ensure i got that back on track. I'd not run well in an Ironman in over 2 years & it'd been 4 years since i set my Marathon PB of 2:46. Realising the urgency to break this cycle, & to give myself any chance of keeping pace with the front end of the sport, a single minded approach was necessary. I ran at a much higher intensity than ever before which is my preferred way of training, be exceptionally tired all the time. I perhaps pushed this to another level as on race morning the fatigue of not only the concentrated running block, but also the season as a whole, had certainly sunk in. I honestly contemplated staying in bed & faking a cold! I was just exhausted. Not surprisingly, in the race things didn't start out overly well. When I tired i swim terribly, completely lose my technique & just flap around like a fish out of water. In the swim I almost turned & swam straight back to the hotel, i really didn't want to be there. On the flip side i'd come to Florida to test my run & simply reasoned with myself nothing else matters except how well you run. Small steps if you like, pardon the pun! The annoying thing was i had to swim 3.8km & ride 180km just to get to the run!! Keeping myself in the game was definitely the biggest challenge that day. 

Being someone who's had experience leading more races than I've been behind in, I feel i can comment on this with some credibility. Basically when you're behind by a number of minutes, you have to get to the front asap. At some point if you don't get to the front the race simply rolls away from you. The momentum at the front of the race in the final 100km is just different. You don't pedal any harder & you simply just roll away. I've experienced it all over the world. It's obviously awesome when you're up front! Unfortunately it's also rather demoralising when you're behind, you get this sinking feeling. You can still be pushing hard but you simply keep losing ground, It's how it should be. In this sport you shouldn't be able to be terrible at a discipline & expect to be the best. You need to be good at everything & ideally exceptional at atleast one of the disciplines. So having said that, the reason i was excited about my run in Florida, despite getting left behind on the bike, I still averaged my usual 300ish watts. Basically that's my power +-20 watts depending on the course & my condition at the time. So i did execute the marathon with a usual amount of fatigue in my legs, that's what made me happy with the run & a new marathon PB of 2:44. I accomplished my goal of breaking the cycle of bad runs!!

As far as lining up at Ironman Cozumel goes, that was simply one race too many. It's certainly not the first time I've lines up at the end of the season when I should've been recuperating from an already exhausting season. In 2017 i lined up in Busselton IM, all enthusiast mentally after the breakout season I'd had overseas that year. I wanted to show off infront of my home crowd. Similar to cozumel this year, the swim was canceled that day. Initially I thought that was a positive however ultimately it didn't work out for. I started full gas that day & after on 60km i simply couldn't hold my stomach & had to pull over on the side of the road to be violently ill. I was completely empty & couldn't finish the bike leg, DNF. A year later I'd returned to Busselton for redemption which i got with a close 2nd place following a great battle with Terenzo Bozzone. The week later i decided it was a great idea to fly to Daytona Florida, Florida definitely hasn't been good for me in triathlons over the years haha, & race challenge Daytona. Although only a half distance, i was absolutely legless very early in the bike leg. I did finish that day but it took me a very long time to do so haha. 2019, after a great Ironman season i decided id attempt my first & only ITU race. I just remember once the adrenaline of kona had worn off & I had to start training again it was a terrible idea. I used to convince myself 1km swims were ok as ITU racing is much shorter haha. Sure enough i turned up firstly lacking the talent to compete with the speeders but most significantly any fitness, a body full of fatigue, & i got absolutely pulverised. 

In 2021 Ironman Florida was the one race too many. I'd raced a lot that year & kona being cancelled had certainly left mine feeling a little flat. Searching for that high end to the year i stupidly decided to go & race against Lionel & Gustav. After a decent swim i got on the bike with the guys & instantly knew something was up. I was light headed, felt very weak, was kicking myself for even lining up. I wanted to stop but my mind wouldn't let me, besides, i was leading the race. Then my body took over again like it had in Busselton all those years earlier & I abruptly stopped on the side of the road & was violently ill. Once again I'd totally emptied the tank that year & my body & mind said enough was enough, I couldn't even finish the ride. 

So that brings us to Cozumel in 2023. Like Busselton the swim was canceled. This really annoyed me as after Florida 2 weeks earlier, I'd gone back to LA & worked hard to get my summer swimming arms back & was feeling great in the water. I believed i had a good swim in my, knew with a good swim I'd ride well, & now with my running legs back was confident i could close it out. Not to be. They canceled the swim so that already had me questioning whether i even start, really crushed my morale. I obviously manned up & decided I'd failed in Busselton all those years earlier with a bike run IM, time for redemption. I started great & quickly shut down the 2minute advantage to Leon Chavelier & Sebi Kienle following the staggered time trial style start. Just as i got to them & was finally all motivated again with the day going so perfectly, i was the virtual leader, felt great, bang! Not a tire but my seat post slammed down. I'd arrived late to Cozumel the evening before as I'd attended a charity event in Miami the day before. In my rush to put the bike together to get to transition I'd obviously failed to tighten the seat clamp properly. Anyways, I had to stop, dig out an Allen key, and raise it back up. In hindsight is I should've just tried to ride on it & hoped my body adapted. Obviously once i stopped & fiddled around fixing it, Sebi & Leon disappeared & i was faced with a similar furious chase id just put myself through to get to them in the first place. 

Once i got going again I certainly tried to chase but all the adrenaline was completely gone & the fatigue of the long season & late arrival to the race hit me like a freight train. I had one bullet for that day obviously in me & I'd used it, i was cooked. I managed to finish the bike leg & hoped for a remarkable recovery with my new found run legs. It was to be, i tried in vein to jog but just got slower & slower until i was walking within the first km. I barely made it to aid station number 1 & hoped a coke might give me a morale boost. It didn't. Instead as i stopped to drink i could barely get moving again, i was once again completely out of gas & short of hoping i could walk the marathon wasn't in any state to be racing so unfortunately DNF'd for the 3rd time in my career. Was just one race too many. On this occasion it wasn't all bad, Mexico is pretty nice spot to end your season & i very quickly transitioned into off season mode. Pretty confident now I've learnt my lesson when it's one race too many! I just absolutely love competing & if I'm able to be on a start line, I'm not good at not starting the race even when i know it's probably not a good idea!

At the end of the day I'm still relatively new to the sport of Triathlon. Even Sam Laidlow who became the youngest ever Ironman World Champion this year at 24, has been doing the sport much longer than me. Why do i point this out. Well, the longer you do something the greater chance there is you'll have a not so good season, or even a couple of not so good seasons. Look at Jan Frodeno for example, in 2017 he struggled in kona, in 2018 he was injured & wasn't able to even take the start line. These things happen. Gustav Iden is another fine example. In 2022 he couldn't lose a race, in 2023 he's struggled to even finish a race, let alone get near the top step of the podium. Obviously the best guys have more exceptional years than other athletes, however, in a sport that has so many elements involved it's almost impossible for things to not go wrong at some point. Most important is to assess the short comings, right your wrongs, & move forward.

It's fair to say my first 4 years in the sport, 2017-2021 (2020 I didn't race a triathlon) showed a nice perfect trajectory towards the highest level of the sport. In Kona alone, 17th, to 9th, to 5th, then in 2021 I'd won Ironman Copenhagen during the summer, seemed nicely on track for Kona, then it was again cancelled due to Covid. As ill fate would have it, last year I was hit with Covid & un beknowns competed with it in Kona. I found it very challenging to perform at a high level that day. This year at the Ironman Worlds, despite crashing on the bike, i was still in the mix for a top 5 when i started the run. You can't hide in a Marathon during an Ironman & the effects of the crash seemingly ruined my chances of running the way I believe I'd prepared for. So yes, as disappointing as it's been at the world championships the past 2 years, it's hardly unusual. I've never been a dominating all conquering sportsman in the past, I'm obviously more vulnerable than the likes of Jan or Gustav to have disappointing seasons. There's no doubt that being older when i started Ironman racing limits the years I've got to execute the dream season. Personally, i see this as a positive. Ive always been good at getting things done when i have to get them done, its now or never for me should i want to reach my goals in kona. This definitely has me more focused than ever. As i said in my opening paragraph, there were glimpses during the year that indicated my best years could still very well be ahead of me.

One of the things I've most certainly improved this season was my swimming. I took the decision to go back to basics & really focus on feel from the water. I probably swam half the volume usually would in a year as i was apprehensive to get tired in the pool & lose my feel & go back to bad habits. I'd  obviously planned to increase this volume at some point but this year with my schedule I just never seemed to get the consistent block of weeks together to make this next jump. One week for swimming in June definitely stood out as a massive highlight for me in 2023. Ironman Austria, & 7 days later, Ironman NIce. Austria was a fresh water lake swim & while it was a wetsuit swim there's not the same buoyancy as in the ocean. Nice was non wetsuit & the first time I ever made the front pack in a non wetsuit swim.  This swim particularly gave me huge confidence ahead of the world championships. 

This confidence probably made me a little complacent. I switched my priorities to focusing on regaining my running form & inadvertently took my foot of the gas on my swimming progression as a result. This really came back to bite me on the bum at the world championships in Nice in September, literally. While my training remained consistent though out the summer & i definitely believed at worst I was as good as I was back in June. I didn't have the foundation to handle any unexpected curve balls. 3 weeks out from the world championships the team required me to do a one week stage race in Belgium. This was certainly a perfect opportunity to hone my cycling form ahead of the world championships with 7 days of World Tour bike racing. Unfortunately however, i wasn't overly organised with hunting down pools. I totally underestimated how quickly I lost the feel for the water & also the conditioning of my swimming muscles. When I returned to the pool the following week I felt like I was starting the pre season all over again. While I should've been disciplined & just been patient to allow myself to swim properly & get the feel back, I did the opposite & panic trained to snap my swimming back into shape. As you can imagine this didn't work out so well. I basically just made vulnerable swimming muscles even tireder in the week leading up to the biggest race of the year. I Absolutely made the wrong choice with this approach.

Sure enough on race day things didn't go well. I never lack confidence & mentally believed I could make the main swim pack, the pack I knew i needed to be in to have any chance of fighting for the podium. I hung onto the pack for longer than I ever have at the world championships & for 40 minutes believed it was going to be the dream day! Then with 1km left to swim I began to flounder as the fatigue of swimming way above my capabilities in the first 3km hit me like a freight train & I was unceremoniously detached from this dream group in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. That last 10 minutes swimming alone felt like an eternity & gave me plenty of time to comprehend how stupid I'd been in my preparation. Once on the bike I was simply of the back foot all day. Sam Laidlow once again rode off into the sunset & i chipped away the gab to Magnus ditlev im 2nd. It dropped all day 1:30, to 1miute, then finally to 45 seconds at the start of the big decent. To took some risks to jump across the gap & ultimately took one to many. I completely misjudged a corner & went hurtling into a dirt back at 50+ kmph, landing smack bang on my lower back & Butt! 

Fortunately nothing was broken on me or the bike aside from my pride & I was able to remount quickly. I arrived in T2 still 90 seconds back on Magnus Ditlev, so basically as I'd started the ride, not so bad considering. It wasn't long onto the run however that the adrenaline wore off & the back pain became rather excruciatingly. Coupled with that my bowls reacted as well in a way that every runner fears & I couldn't avoid a few stops to the Porta Potty. A very crappy ending to the day. None of this is bad luck but simply poor preparation. Had I have managed my swimming build up properly & been safely in the main pack, I'd have never been on the back foot, & never had to extend myself or take the risks I did on the bike. Ultimately this poor time management, as i also eluded to earlier, cost me the opportunity of having my best possible day at the world championships. 

Looking ahead to 2024, I'm excited to capitalise on the disappointments & lessons learned over the past two seasons. I tried to do things a certain way & honestly believed at the time that was the correct way. There's nothing wrong with getting things wrong so long as you take ownership of the mistakes & don't make the same mistakes going forward. Physically there's a few key areas i'm no longer able to neglect. Strength & Conditioning is certainly a significant one, I've hung my hat on the foundation in developed in the gym during my rowing days. 17 years later, its most definitely time to re visit that in a very structured way! I've got a gym at my house & during my travels around the world there's always a gym close by, zero excuses there. Mobility & Yoga is another area i need to pay attention to. I've still never been injured from wear & tear, I've broken some bones in falls or impact related incidents. Fortunately never have i missed training from a nagging injury. Still, with realistically a few years left at this level of competition I don't want to miss a single day. Looking after myself better than ever will be crucially important going forward. 

From a performance standpoint the swimming stands out as my primary objective in 2024. Having seen how quickly i can turn the running around in the past month, I'm even more determined to no apply that single minded focus to swimming. I certainly made a huge step in the right direction this year with technique & efficiency. I now need to add the strength & endurance element into my swim training while maintaining form, to make the significant jump I'm very confident in can make. One thing in life I've always been good at is learning skills I'm determined to learn. Just sometimes takes me a while to get to that point where i say right, now i absolutely have to do this!

So bring on 2024. I've got another week here in California getting back I into the swing of things with Geraint Thomas & Froomey. From there I'll head to Mallorca for the team camp. It's an important 2 weeks as it's the only time of the season everyone from team is together, staff & riders. I've certainly also noticed over the past 5 years of attending the camp that everyone arrives fitter & fitter every year haha. There's been quite a few of the guys contacting me over the off season regarding running ideas to build there fitness & avoidance injuries in the process. Also running is a good way to keep moving while travelling around & keep the excess pounds off when the diet is set assist for a few weeks. 

Personally i love going to the team camp. I've grown up in sport very institutionalised & respond well in these environments. My day always begins before the sun comes up with Gym work or a light jog. Then it's 4-6hours on the bike with the guys. Quickly grab my swim bag & head to the pool for a recovery swim before dinner. Repeat for 2 weeks. No matter how unfit i arrive at the camp I always leave feeling very fit! Cycling is certainly my priority during this period, I'm a member of a cycling with the best riders in the world. I obviously want to give the absolute best of myself on the bike during the training sessions which also allows me to maximise the conditioning by being pushed by the guys. 

One key session we did last year was the TTT training. At that stage i wasn't planning to be involved in any TTT's during the season. Nonetheless, I really had a great day that day, learnt a huge amount about the discipline, & most importantly how to utilise the power you have in the best possible way for the team. When i was a last minute call up for the UAE tour, it paid huge dividends having had this training session in the legs. Not only for me but also all the guys there in UAE. That TTT was a huge performance by our team, losing to a star studded quickstep by only 1 second. Our leader Luke Plapp went into the leaders jersey of the race that day & ultimately held on for 2nd overall behind Remco. Im certain without this seemingly inconsequential TTT training for many at the camp the previous December, we wouldn't have executed such a performance in UAE. Every days training is an unknown opportunity to benefit from during the season. In my case it's especially paramount as i could get thrown into any type of race on any type of terrain. For example the year before we did echelon training. I'd have never envisioned how crucial that would be in Paris Roubaix that season allowing us to dominate the race from start to finish. It's obviously super important to make the most of every single ride we do during or time in Mallorca. As a result of this focus my swimming & running merely serves as a compliment to activate in the mornings or recover in the afternoons. 

So that 2023 basically done, certainly no more competitions to focus on anyways. I've realised the importance of writing this blog is really for myself. When i write things down like this, make them public, it makes me accountable, i feel like I really own my words. If I don't follow through with my words i deserve to look foolish. It's definitely something that's makes me feel vulnerable & uncomfortable. Feeling both uncomfortable & vulnerable i feel are what makes me the best version of myself. So in reality, i don't really care who reads this, about my spelling & grammar mistakes, this isn't meant to be a newspaper article. I know that those that matter to me will atleast skim read through it & hold me accountable to my words, that's all that matters to me. 

If you did manage to read all of this i greatly appreciate you & apologise for taking up so much of your day hahahaha!

Have a great day

CJW

Sent from my iPad