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Wanaka Triathlon

The Challenge Wanaka triathlon races (full and half distances) are renowned for being the most scenic triathlons anywhere. How can this be disputed when you swim in the lake above and ride around such breath taking beauty (my wife Lis took that photo the morning of the race from a hill next to the course). I was really pleased to be participating not only because of the venue, but as this marked my first triathlon after being side lined with a running injury since October 2013. With Lis and I using it as an opportunity to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary it was extra special.

The 2015 Kiwi Brevet

With my itinerant lifestyle, I’ve done very few races in New Zealand my erstwhile home. In 2014 I had planned to ride the Kiwi Brevet, but Tropical Cyclone Ian flattened Ha’apai in Tonga and I had to participate in the rebuild. So I was very pleased when the stars aligned and I found myself able to ride the 1,149 km (with 17,372 m of climbing!) around the top half of the South Island. The 5 days, 10 hours and 35 minutes were slower then I had hoped—but they did require us to take 6 hours off every day.

The Psychology of Ultra Racing

This is a brilliant TED Talk which is a must watch for those of us who like ultra-racing, Ironman, etc. She is spot on with her analysis and assessment.

Her comments on pain I can particularly relate to.

Food for thought as I”m preparing for this year’s Transcontinental Race. Highly recommended.

The Perfect Way to Start 2015

Relaxing Afterwards!

Then picked fresh raspberries from our garden. Life is rough …

GPS Navigation for the Transcontinental Race

I had a number of problems with my navigation in 2014 which hopefully will not be repeated for 2015.  In the  hope that others will avoid those issues, here is what I’m planning on doing … subject to the next six months of testing!

Remote Route Planning

I’ve been working on my route for the 2015 Transcontinental Race and this has reminded me of some of the problems I had in 2014. Thought it would be good to put some thoughts down as a heads up to others who have to plan their rides remotely using RideWithGPS.com or others. These planning systems use Google Maps or similar as their base mapping.  These allow you to enter start and end points and then ‘drag’ your route so that you can customize it to avoid places such as heavy trafficked areas. When I was doing this around Turin I found a great route, but when I checked, it didn’t actually exist.  Let me explain …

Your Fitness Age

My friend Mary Pickering pointed out a fascinating web site: https://www.worldfitnesslevel.org which says that: Physical fitness is key to a long life and good health. Your body’s capacity to transport and use oxygen during exercise (VO2max) is the most precise measure of overall cardiovascular fitness. Based on the extensive research of The K. G. Jebsen Center of Exercise in Medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, you can easily estimate your fitness level by answering a few question. You answer a series of questions and they estimate your fitness for your age.  By carefully considering the questions you can identify areas where perhaps lifestyle or dietary changes may make a difference, e.g. taking fish oil and Omega 3 supplements. It’s worth taking the test. Especially if you want stoke the ego of a middle-aged man!  This also shows it’s time to take a VO2max test again. In 2005 I scored 70.6 mL/kg/min, compared to my currently predicted 56!