15.07.08
Posted in Triathlon, Sport at 7:55 am by AB
I went out for out Tuesday 12 k run this morning with Danielle. Craig was over the other side of the country for some ‘business’ in Perth. It hurt like hell this morning. I feel like Danielle ripped my legs off and then put them back on with some really bad suturing. Personally, I’m blaming Ben Gathercole and his first indoor trainer session of the season that we had to endure last night. My legs were super sore after that… and on the grand scheme of things it really wasn’t that bad.
It can only get easier right??
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14.07.08
Posted in Triathlon at 7:05 am by AB
I must admit that I can be a little bit precious when it comes to keeping my bikes clean. However, a clean bike equals a well functioning bike and I am no where near as anal as some people i know when it comes to bikes and cleanliness. Shelley had been having trouble with the Left shifter on her bike and on Friday night Hilton was attempting to put a replacement on there to tie her over for a bit until Shelley can order a new one.
Shelley’s bike, however was so dirty we were unable to rethread the cable though the hole in the frame it was meant to pass through. It later (Saturday) took the bike shop 40 minutes just to get all the crap out of this tiny hole so they could pass the cable through. With this in mind I told Shelley she needed to clean her bike. Which she must have interpreted as me saying, “I’d love to clean your bike for you.”
I think Shelley was actually shocked that the components on her bike were actually silver and were not black. Luckily for Shelley’s bike the black came off, unluckily for my hands all the colour transferred onto them. Not even Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid with it’s “Tough on grease, soft on hands” claims can get the black off my hands.
After the three hours it took me to get it looking semi-respectable she still didn’t even cook dinner for me!
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13.07.08
Posted in Triathlon at 10:05 am by AB
Readers might remember Team Danni 226 Bike Mechanic was also a handy triathlete. Aaron Farlow was in Athlone, Ireland this week for an ITU Continental Cup Race. Aaron was out sprinted in the final dice for positions as Aaron and two others filled the podium finishing within four seconds of each other. It’s good to see Aaron showing some form while racing overseas.
From the ITU Website:
The men’s elite race was won by the junior world and European champion Luis from France, in a time of 1:48:49. Luis snatched victory in a thrilling sprint finish. The Frenchman was in the lead group from the start but the field opened out following the bike segment.
Luis broke clear with fellow countryman Aurelien Raphael and Australian Aaron Farlow. On the final lap Farlow and Luis broke clear but Raphael hit back on the final straight to finish second in a time of 1:48:52, while Farlow took third in 1:48:53.
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11.07.08
Posted in Triathlon at 11:30 am by AB
Although not directly related to Busselton, there will be the odd posting on here about things unrelated to Ironman.
I have been lucky enough to be selected as one of the two ACT Umpires who will travel to the Australian Country Football Championships in Shepparton at the end of the month. Shaun Haidon and myself have been selected and will officiate at the Carnival.
The carnival is from 24-27 July.
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Posted in Triathlon at 11:23 am by AB
It’s time to begin the road to Busselton.
Ironman Western Australia is just under 5 months away and if I want to stand a chance of taking down the Broughton family record I better get the ball rolling. Club Training has resumed once again after a 5-6 week hiatus so the road has well and truly begun. I have managed to get about 30k (give or take) of running in over the last few over the last 5-6 weeks and i feel it’s made a difference to my running just being more consistent..I feel that is coming along nicely. The bike miles will have to be increased but I should be in a position to get 3 decent sessions in per week and add a few more when i can. I haven’t done a lot of bike work lately, but I am confident of getting the bike legs to return reasonably quickly.
The website will now move to following the trip towards the finish line in Busselton on 7 December 2008. So stay tuned for all the boring details along the way. Hopefully with some photos, stories from racing and training and what ever else comes up along the way. Till next time.
AB…
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29.01.08
Posted in Triathlon at 10:40 am by AB
It’s become a bit of a Broughton family tradition to go down to Bright for the long weekend with my Dad and Danielle hitting it up in years gone by; so this year i headed down too.
The 200k ride heads out from Bright over Towonga Gap to Mt Beauty. After Mt Beauty you immediately start the 30k climb to Falls Creek and from there head back to Bright again over Towonga Gap. Upon arrival back in Bright you have 130k of the ride covered. You then have to do the 70k return leg to Mt Buffalo Chalet (a 25k climb).
I started at 6:40 the second start time for the 200k ride with about 400 other cyclists. The first 10k was really sedate as the peleton rolled out towards Towonga Gap. Apart from two cyclists touching wheels and going down mid pack the start was pretty calm. Things changed however when the the haul up Towonga Gap started and the group exploded into a million pieces. It’s a 550m climb in about 12k. Over the top you race down to Mt Beauty. The climb up Falls Creek seemed to take ages. I hooked up with a group of young guys who were setting a good pace and were very entertaining. They seemed surprised that i was able to ride with them despite not being a member of the Canberra Cycling Club. Not long after we caught and passed Danielle (who started her 130k ride at 6:20) one of the boys needed to pee and slowed down so i left them to it assuming I’d see them again later. Riding off on my own i continued to climb. I seemed to be picking up a lot of people despite only riding at about 15kph. I got a second wind upon seeing the sign that said 10ks to the top, although after that every kilometer seemed to pass by slower and slower. Finally i passed the park entrance gates and rode the final few k’s into Falls Creek.
The one good thing about this ride is that if you’re not climbing you are pretty much going down hill. There was little in the way of long sections of flat riding, so for the next 30k (minus a kilometer or two of nasty rolling part) it was down hill to Mt Beauty.
Coming around a corner to see an Ambulance attending to a cyclist was a good reminder that this wasn’t a race and there was very few decent excuses for not getting to the bottom safely. Roger later told me he saw 3 ambulances as he descended falls creek after me.
It was then over Towonga Gap again (this time climbing the steep side - the same 550m but in only 8k). By this time it was starting to heat up and the sweat was really starting to turn itself on. Luckily from the top of Towonga it’s downhill and flat to Bright. About 10k from Bright i picked up a group and let myself get towed into Bright. Half of the riders in the group headed for the finish of the 130 the others including myself headed to the Bright rest stop for food and water, and Mum waiting with an Icy Cold Coke, which in the 34-35 degree heat was well received.
Deciding there was no time like the present I rolled out from Bright at the same as a few others, hoping to form a group for the 12ks of flat before the climb up Mt Buffalo. It wasn’t to be as when i went to have a turn the others seemed to drop off the pace. After 12k I reached the gates to the National Park and the climb began. I was starting to feel a bit sore and obviously as the hill went on and on the mental side of the game came into it. I started to play little games with myself, using the altimeter on my polar HRM I allowed myself to stand up out of the saddle for some respite every time I climbed gained another 50m of vertical. About half way up the climb i approached the water stop. Running my sums i decided I had enough fluid and decided against stopping to stay in the zone. Apart from the occasional twinges in the legs my body was holding together. However the sweat was flowing and my water disappearing. For a minute I was beginning to doubt my calculations.
Finally after a few last switchbacks I reached the top of the climb with just enough water to spare. I rolled the final 2k to the Mt Buffalo Chalet Checkpoint, filled my drink bottles and began to bomb it back down into Bright. About two thirds of the way down i went past my mates from Echuca who had stopped on the way up to stretch and were looking ordinary. They seemed shocked to see me, which made me laugh. Upon reaching the Park Gates I thought i might have a chance to go under 8h30 for the day. With a tail wind behind me I decided to push hard back into Bright, including dumping the extra 1.5kilos i was carrying in fluid out of my drink bottles. I managed to use the tail wind to average about 35k for the final 8 flat ks into Bright. In the end I was off by 10 minutes (but i also hadn’t looked at my watch since I left Bright). I ended up being out for 8h40 with an actual riding time of 8h10 for the 200ks (just under 25kph). Which I was really happy about, given i have only been back on the bike since about November.
I was grateful for the 500k in 5, especially the mountain days as i think that really played a huge part in my successful day out. I rounded out the day sitting in the icy cold waters of the Ovens River relaxing the legs. It’s a great event and an awesome part of Australia do to some riding. Maybe even better than Jindabyne! It’s a shame that the Australia Day long weekend has so much going on, because it’s an event well worth doing.
I think it’s finally time to make a return to triathlon now!
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22.01.08
Posted in Triathlon, Sport at 10:59 am by AB
The Audax Alpine Classic is this weekend. My family has headed down to Bright in Victoria quite a few times for this event. Usually I stay around in Canberra and take part in the Canberra Capital Triathlon Festival and I always wonder why as some of my worst races have been in Canberra.
So this year I am heading down to Bright to take part in the Alpine Classic. There are a number of ride options, but I have decided I might as well jump in at the top and take on the 200km option. The ride takes on Falls Creek and Mt Buffalo as part of the fun. It will be interesting to see how it stacks up compared to RAMROD, which was 250km and had 3000m of vertical. At least this time I won’t be doing the whole ride on my Time Trial Bike.
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09.01.08
Posted in Triathlon at 8:44 am by AB
Well I decided to pony up and finally enter a race. I’ve taken it back to my beginnings and what has been to date the scene of some of my best performances. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I’m going back back to XTERRA. It was October 2004 the last time I entered an XTERRA race and at the time I said I’d never go back, after the disasters of the race in Maui. However I guess I have some unfinished business to get through a race in one piece. And the reason i bought that MTB back in 2004 was to get a good race in. So XTERRA Australia it is, April 2008 in Daylesford, Victoria. Another step in the right direction…
The aftermath of the last XTERRA Race I entered…
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07.01.08
Posted in Triathlon, Sport at 1:12 pm by AB
Crazy! A whole 7 days have already disappeared from 2008 (I’ll have to start my Christmas shopping soon) and now that the irregular nature of the Christmas/New Years period is over and routine begins again, it’s time for me to build some consistency into my training and use the next few months to return my fitness base to levels it’s been previously over the next few months.
It was a big week between Christmas and New Years as I tried to get an early jump by doing 500km over 5 days. The riding took in some big climbs too, as we threw in Honeysuckle, Fitz’s and Orroral Valley on day 3 and Corin Dam on day 4. Needless to say with not a huge base to work on it hurt like hell and left me quite tired and lacking for energy over the last week.
Saturday I did a Cotter/Uriarra loop and beside a slight sting in the legs on some of the climbs I began to feel good and even though it was only an 80k ride, I felt pretty good, and not like the previous week where past 60k I was hurting. On the Australia Day long weekend, I’ll be heading down to Bright in Victoria for the 200km Alpine Classic and i was thinking I should have waited till next year, but now I’m feeling a lot more positive about it.
Being a Monday it’s time for the weekly summer club TT session. For the first time this season I have bought out the weapon. Victoria and I will be seeing how she goes in her first tilt after a lengthy spell in the paddock. It was helping Danielle train for Ironman the last time she was out for a gallop.
So that’s the goal for January, consistency…
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01.01.08
Posted in Triathlon, Sport at 12:01 am by AB
Welcome to 2008 and welcome to a year in the life of a want-to-be Ironman. This year broughton.id.au will be primarily devoted my goal of breaking the Broughton Family Ironman record.
The Ironman is a 3.8k swim, 180k bike and a 42.2k run. My sister Danielle has completed one, and I have decided that she has had her moment in the sun, and with her self imposed semi-retirement has held the family record for long enough.
So in December at Busselton, Western Australia I will set out to break the 13:50 she set as the Broughton family record in 2007 at Port Macquarie.
I am coming of a year interrupted by injury and illness. My fitness base is lacking following the struggle I had with exercise induced asthma in 2007, but I seem to have some more control over that and looking to build a solid platform over the next few months.
I have just completed a 500k block on the bike between the 27th and yesterday as a kick-start to the year. And with that momentum behind me the plan is to have a consistent couple of months through to April to rebuild my fitness base, and from there begin the more targeted training towards Ironman.
So keep coming back as I continue the march into December 2008 and see what the year throws at me not only in training but work and everything else that goes on during the year.
Happy new year everyone…
Aaron Broughton
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