Ironman Pro changes...the proposal

Below is a statement/email that's been sent to all IM Pro License holders concerning proposed changes that the WTC wish to implement to "improve" the sport. I'll post my response and thoughts, along with those of others tomorrow... but for those who haven't read any of this elsewhere on the internet here it is... This has HUGE potential to be VERY good... or VERY VERY BAD!!! (I'm afraid some of the formatting isn't great as it requires tables so I've put them in as a image file - click on this to see it in more detail)

PROFESSIONAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING,
PRIZE MONEY & POLICIES

Athlete Comment Distribution Draft

Ironman Professional Athletes

Introduction

WTC is circulating this document to all its pro members. The policies and rules changes stated in this document are not final.

Before announcing a final version of these rules and procedures, WTC will take into consideration all constructive comments from our pro members. Comments must be submitted to promember@ironman.com no later than July 2nd, Tampa USA dateto be considered. Please include your name and pro number on all comments.

WTC intends to publish the final version of these rules and policies on July 9th with the changes having an effective date of September 1st 2010.

These new rules and polices are the product of long-hours of debate and consideration by WTC's pro working committee. The committee concluded that the current pro incentive policies, which have been in place for over 25 years, are outdated and that the new rules and policies are best calculated to achieve these five primary goals:
Rewarding the sport's best athletes for their performances
Creating income opportunities for new and regional pros
Qualifying the most deserving athletes to the World Championships
Controlling the number of athletes qualifying for the World Championships to assure fair and exciting racing
Creating additional media interest in pro races through points standings and more frequent head-to-head racing


I. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING

Overview and Philosophy/Rationale

The objectives in creating a points based World Championship qualifying system for pros are to assure that the most deserving athletes qualify and to limit the number of athletes in order to assure fair and exciting racing.

Pro Qualifying Program - Kona World Championships

Definitions:

"Kona Qualifying" means qualification to the Ford Ironman World Championship held in Kona, Hawaii each year.
"Races" means Ironman branded full-distance and Ironman 70.3 events worldwide that are authorized by the World Triathlon Corporation.
"Qualifying Year" means the period between September 1st and August 31st.
"Kona Pro Rankings" (KPR) means the ranking system to determine pro athlete eligibility to race at Kona.
Effective Sept. 1, 2010, the single-performance slot based system will be discontinued.

Beginning with Races on Sept. 1, pro athletes will earn points for Kona Qualifying correlating to their finish position. The top 50 male and top 30 female pros* in the KPR at the end of each Qualifying Year will qualify to race in Kona.
(* The proportion of male to female pros may be adjusted in future years to reflect the then current percentage of registered male and female WTC pro members.)

KPR will be determined as follows:
Athletes will be ranked according to the number of points that he or she has accumulated during the Qualifying Year. See the Points Table below.
Each athlete's five highest scoring Races will count toward their KPR. All lower scoring Races will be "thrown out".
Athletes may accumulate points from any combination of Races PROVIDED that each athlete completes a minimum of one full-distance Ironman race during the Qualifying Year. A maximum of three Ironman 70.3 races are included in an athlete's score.
Athletes are not required to do more than one full-distance Ironman race in the Qualifying Year to be ranked. Athletes may score five full-distance Ironman races.
Athletes finishing the Ironman World Championship (Kona) race will be awarded points that are retained during the Qualifying Year.
Scoring points in Kona DOES NOT fulfill the requirement that each ranked athlete must score in a full-distance Ironman during the Qualifying Year.
No points carry forward from one Qualifying Year to the next.
The 5% rule is no longer applicable.

Automatic Qualifiers - Kona

Past Kona champions will receive an invitation/exemption to enter the pro division in Kona for a period of three years after his or her last championship. Past champions will not be required to qualify during this three-year period. Past champions entering as pros will be required to validate their entry by completing a full-distance Ironman race during the Qualifying Year.

In keeping with the tradition started by Valerie Silk, past champions will continue to have a lifetime invitation to race in their appropriate age group category. Past champions making this election will not be required to qualify or validate their entry. Past champions must abide by all WTC, national and international federations rules regarding professional and age group status and switching between these categories.

Automatic Qualifiers will be accepted into Kona in addition to the 80 available pro slots. If, for example, a returning champion is ranked in the top 30 women, the 31st ranked woman will qualify for Kona.

Entry & Roll-Down

The final KPR will be published as soon as possible after the last Race of the Qualifying Year (end of August) but not later than September 1st. Qualified athletes will have until September 3rd* to complete on-line registration for Kona. An on-line roll-down will be held for any unclaimed slots with entries rolling down to the next highest ranked athlete. Details of the roll-down procedure will be made available at a later date.
(* Tampa, Florida USA date)

Wild Card Entries

In 2011 and following transition years, WTC retains the right to award "Wild Card" pro entries into Kona. While Wild Card entries may be awarded at the sole discretion of WTC, these entries, if used, are intended to "fix" any holes in the new qualifying system. Wild Card entries are not intended to provide any athletes relief due to injury, illness or other external factor.

70.3 World Championship Qualifying

Pro qualifying for the 2011 Ironman 70.3 World Championship will be based on a similar format with the primary difference being that full-distance Ironman races will not count in the pro rankings for this Championship. Details will be announced as soon as the 2011 Ironman 70.3 World Championship race date is announced.

II. PRIZE MONEY POLICIES

All Ironman races will comply with these prize money standards (This does not include the two World Championship events which have separate prize standards)

Championship Events

Ironman $100,000+ (Paying through 10th Place)
70.3 $75,000+ (Paying through 10th Place)
Including Asia Pacific 70.3, U.S. 70.3, European 70.3 and regional Ironman championships to be announced

Ironman Series Events

Ironman Series events will offer total prize purses in one of two amounts:
$25,000 (Paying through 5th Place)
$75,000 (Paying through 8th Place)

70.3 Series Events

Ironman 70.3 Series events will offer total prize purses in one of two amounts:

$15,000 (Paying through 5th Place)
$50,000 (Paying through 8th Place)
Notes:

The total amount of 2011 prize money will exceed the total amount of prize money offered in 2010.
At minimum 2010 events will pay prize money as advertised.
The 8% Rule is no longer applicable.
The prize money break-down for each prize purse amount and the 2011 event listing will be provided at a later date.

III. ADDITIONAL POLICY CHANGES

A one-day Pro License will be offered to allow local and regional pros to compete at events in areas of the world where there is only one Ironman race such as 70.3 Philippines. A one-day license will be more affordable for these athletes to participate in one event. The suggested one-day fee is $250 USD for 70.3 races and $500 USD for full Ironman races. One-day licenses may be "upgraded" to an annual license with the one-day fee credited toward the annual $750 fee.
A Pro membership 'scholarship' program will be available to waive or reduce membership fees for athletes from developing countries who can't afford to pay the membership fee. Local Ironman race directors will recommend deserving athletes.

IRONMAN KONA QUALIFYING POINTS TABLE

IRONMAN RACES

70.3 RACES

The Hurt Locker

With “The Hurt Locker” doing so well at the Oscars recently I thought I’d write a little about the phrase used as the award winning films title, that is generally part of my day to day life. It has also been inspired somewhat by a recent photo my friend over in the states posted from his first race of the season.

Mikkel was doing an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5k/40k/10k), and finished the 10k final run without any noticeable pain in his foot… well not that wasn’t being over-come by the general pain you endure (by choice – we are a strange breed) during a triathlon and the adrenaline that accompanies it. It was only after finishing that someone pointed out to him that his shoe was literally saturated in blood! Upon taking his running shoe off, he discovered that somehow, the flesh between his little toe and the next one in, has completely split between the bones!!! As you can see from the “after” photo below… it was nasty!!!



I’m well known by my friends for having bad feet, but Mikkel, you’ve well and truly won that one mate. Rest up and recover quickly… and see you in a few days in L.A.

So how on earth can that kind of thing happen without even realising, let alone race 10k’s after riding 40 and swimming 1.5? Well that’s where the regular visits to “The Hurt Locker” come in. This sport is my job and so I have a number of different offices…. Below is one of them, which has been affectionately named “Hambro Institute of Sport” by Liz, my landlady.





It's the scene of many an hour spent riding my bike, doing my job of trying to grow stronger, faster, fitter…. Sadly in order to grow in these ways, the body responds best to being pushed beyond its current abilities and then adapts so that the next time, it can cope better. So my daily routine is to do just that, push beyond what I think I’m capable of and the recover so that I’m a little stronger. It's called “super-compensation”.

It's by choice then, that I climb onto my bike, or do up the laces on my Newton trainers, or don the speedo’s and dive into the pool knowing that part of the next few minutes or hours is going to hurt; sometimes REALLY HURT! There are of course sessions and days when this isn’t the case. Just like the film, you need down time to let your body and mind recover from the punishment it's just been dragged through. It's interesting in the film to see how the bomb disposal men let off some of this steam. I’m generally quite happy to watch a movie, or hang out with friends without it ending in a little free-for-all scrap like the movie. But there are also days when I take myself away from everything, switch off the phone, computer… and just go for a LONG walk in a local park, spend time with God praying… maybe have a whole day of complete mental and physical relaxation – my silence and solitude days. They are bliss and something that I realised with my over-training woes of last year, are just as important to my improving as an athlete (and indeed a person) as any training session is.

With this kind of recovery, I can mentally put myself back into the hurt locker again in the next hard session, run myself so hard that I throw up and almost faint (sorry to those people at Wimbledon Park track who had to witness this the other day – I was enjoying it, honest!). Almost every day there will be a time when I want to stop, get off the bike, take that extra 10seconds rest before pushing off the pool wall… but each time I manage to ignore that voice I know it helps make my ability to stay in “The Hurt Locker” that little bit easier, the size of the locker, that little bit bigger. Someone once said that “pain is just weakness leaving the body”. I’m not sure I think it's quite that simple, but when the stars are all I can see in the middle of a hard interval on the bike, it certainly gives a purpose to it that helps to endure it a bit longer.

Just like the main character in the film, who is addicted to being exposed to the pressure and stress of his job… it can become addictive to train hard. It's nice to do when you’re feeling strong and fit; you can feel your body working efficiently, as it's designed to do; you can feel the power you’re generating. When you’re unfit and out of shape, as I was back in November after my 10 weeks break, it's horrific and the suffering feels 10 times as bad. But the satisfaction of conquering it is always the same and always makes it worth while. Hopefully I’ll see some of the fruits of time spent in the locker at races in the near future… though of course I’ll spend a considerable amount of time IN the hurt locker during those races too…. There’s no escaping the “locker”.

Late addition: having just had a massage this evening after writing this earlier on… I can also add any time on my friend Wayne’s’ massage table to the list of “Hurt Locker” locations… it will feel great tomorrow I know but MAN it HURT tonight!!!

Back on form

Well, my goodness me, even by my standards it's been a long time since I’ve posted. For many of you who know me or follow triathlon in the UK, you’ll know the reason; but for those who don’t I had to take a LONG extended break from pretty much everything last autumn when it became clear I was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. I could barely get out of bed some days I was so exhausted. It was a real test of my faith and resolve for a long time… but so much was learnt through it too. I’ll post more on it all in the next few weeks, the when’s, how’s and why’s etc.

For now though a quick update on things currently.

Outside of triathlon much in my life has changed. Some good some bad, some easy some not so easy. But change opens as many doors as it closes so I’m excited about this next year. I’ve moved out into “Hombro Institute of Sport” as we affectionally call it. It's basically this great MASSIVE house in Putney, SW London that is something of a home from home for triathletes. Complete with turbo room in the basement next door to a cinema room and a sauna… NO joke! It's perfect for any lycra loving, gluten avoiding (Liz the owner of the house is also a Ceoliac) athlete. Currently myself, Chrissie and her boyfriend Tom wonder the huge halls and rooms, with a former swimmer (now coach) making up the house guest numbers. It's about ½ a mile from my gym and pool and has HUGE larders, fridges and freezers too… so pretty much everything I need in one place. It's been hard to move out of home after so long with my hugely supportive parents; without whose help in recent years I wouldn’t have been able to race full time at all. I really miss not being around them more, but I think the change will help me re-focus on my job and knuckle down to the serious training required to bounce back from last years problems and make this year a real success.

And so that’s basically what I’ve been doing for the last 5 weeks. Ticking off each session one by one, each day… then each week. It's proving to be working too as I’m hardly missing a single session now and feel in better shape than ever before for this time of year. Being in an environment (similar to Boulder I guess… only without the 90 year old naked men in the Jacuzzi at the pool) where it's so keyed into and easy to focus on training and rest is really helping.
When I first returned to training back in November after my 10 weeks of complete rest I was not in good shape. I could honestly barely manage 200m in the pool without stopping and I think my first session back totalled 1600m… and I was SHATTERED! But one of the lessons I’ve learned from last year is the need to be patient and so this is what I’ve been trying to do. Building slowly and accepting I can’t run as fast as I want to just yet. Letting the strength and speed actually come before I do the intervals I want to do. It's been tough at times and I’ve been forced to eat large slices of humble pie on regular intervals… knowing you’re not able to push a gear 3 levels easier than you used to, doesn’t do the ego much good… but that’s not a bad thing of course 
So I’ve found myself here in the middle of February feeling really good physically. I’ve got to try and do everything I can to not ruin all the hard work though, remaining patient and continue to let the fitness come instead of forcing it. I’ve also accepted that rest is KEY. Not just from the physical exertion of the exercise, but from other external things too. Some personal issues that have been on-going for some time now have meant that there have been days (including today) where I’ve just accepted that my body and mind are telling me to give them a break. Though it breaks with the program I now know I need to listen to them. It will mean that Friday and Saturdays training will be far more positive and beneficial than if I try to force myself through it.
The first target for the year is California 70.3 at the end of March which I’m really looking forward to. It will be the first 70.3 race I’ll go into confident with my swimming and genuinely optimistic that I won’t spend the entire bike trying to catch the front people. We’ll see, but with 6 weeks to go the anticipation is already building… New exciting sponsorship opportunities are on the horizon too; many things are looking really good right now. Despite so many things in recent months not being… God has been faithful and good throughout and I truly believe this year will see some real fruit coming 

Vitruvian Race report - from the other side!

Vitruvian Race report

This is probably the strangest “race report” I’ve ever written... seeing as I didn’t actually race!!! But I have to say its one of the best days I’ve ever had since getting involved in Triathlon many moons ago!

Having sadly withdrawn from competing a few weeks ago after being diagnosed with stress related chronic fatigue and adrenal fatigue, I had decided that as the Vitruvian (and the peeps from PaceSetter Events) had been so good to me over the years, I still wanted to be there for the race and give a little back by helping out.

So on Saturday morning, instead of racking my bike, I was directing competitors to their racks and helping check bikes for numbers and working brakes. There were a surprising number of shall we say… sub-optimal brake set-ups going on. Peoples were oddly surprise at being asked to go and adjust the brakes so that they actually STOPPED the wheels. As was the number of people who turned up to the transition area with less than 5 minutes before it closed… or the few that rocked up AFTER it was “shut” and the race briefing had begun. It seamed odd to me that people who I can only assume had committed weeks and months of time, energy and sacrifice to this day, would jeopardise the whole thing with poor preparation at the last minute.

By 6:20 I was on the jetty by the lake, eagerly anticipating the mass swim start… in the dry for a change. I got a great view of what would have been my wave set off in the mass chaos and washing machine flurry of arms and legs. It was odd to see how slow it looks from the side though… when in the middle it feels like such an intense, flurried and fast first few minutes. Needless to say, two swimmers very quickly pulled away from the pack and began to build a sizeable lead. As the sun rose on a gorgeous day over the dam, it made for a really spectacular sight to see. One of the many reasons this is one of the very best races to do in the UK.

I made my way around to the bike mount/dismount point by transition exit. Standing by a pedestrian crossing point right next the mount line, it was again interesting to see how many people had made the mistake of not leaving their bikes in a low gear. (Maybe some of the “late” comers to transition before the race?) Some struggled so much to get the pedals turning in the 53/12 gear they fell off. But in the truest spirit of the sport, it was all treated well and soon hundreds of cyclist were heading out onto the course. Thereafter I made my way to my first main point of assistance for the day as a marshal at the bike feed station.

This proved to be a great place to be with loads of other volunteers already filling hundreds of High5 water bottles with High5 energy drink and plain water. The crowds were now making their way round to this point at the end of the first lap for the cyclist, in anticipation of their friends and families coming through. Loads of Tri-talk’ers and Pirates were either helping out or cheering each athlete as the came by, making for a really great atmosphere. On a personal level, I was really enjoying the whole event – much to my surprise as I thought I’d find being there and not racing a pretty hard thing to do. But I loved cheering on each athlete as the rode past and attempted to grab a water bottle from my hand. It was a couple of hours that for me, epitomises this race and why its so good. Everywhere there were great volunteers in cheerful abundance and equally cheerful supporters lined the sides of the barriers at the side of the road. I cheered on a couple of athletes as the went through and took splits to try and help the leaders know where they all were to each other… something I know I’m always grateful for.

As the leaders began to return I took splits and in particular, a big cheer of encouragement to my mate (and my pre-race favourite), Joel Jameson who was about 2 minutes down coming back into transition.

I stayed on the bike feed station with the banter between us all continuing and making the time fly by far quicker than expected. The sun was shinning and every athlete that past us seamed to be having a great time. I have to say though that some of the bike handling as they took on and threw away drinks bottles was a sight to behold; but the near misses with dropped banana’s and “in the zone” competitors seamed to keep everyone amused.

As the leaders turned to start the 2nd lap of the 21km run, Joel was now in a commanding lead. I had been asked by race director Ian Hamilton, to head to the finish line and hand out the finisher medals and so made my way over. Its easy to find at The Vitruvian, you simply follow the tremendous music and commentary coming from Sib’s on the PA as she cheers each and every competitor from 6:20am all the way through to the last finisher at nearly 3 in the afternoon; Another thing that makes the atmosphere at the race so fantastic.

Right on queue at a little over 3 hours and 55 minutes, Joel came back to the finish to take his first Vitruvian title in. It was great result for him and a very good time on a day that though warm and sunny, was very windy.

This initiated for me, what was probably the most enjoyable experience of the whole race. I spent the next 4 hours putting “winners” (they’re all winners in my opinion) medals around the necks of everyone who crossed the line. It slowly began to sink in to me what finishing this race meant to each and every one of them. And had the awesome privilege of seeing the look on their face as they went from intense pain, right up to the finish… to complete joy as they received their medals and it sunk in that they’d done it!!! This moment of agony to ecstasy was seen over and over again. It really was an honour to get to see this. To see people over-come with emotion and burst into tears, was for me quite emotional too.

As the hours passed my hands became more and more sticky with the sweat, snot, sugar and who knows what, on the hands I shook before giving them their medals. I simply laughed when anyone of them apologetically wiped their hand before shaking mine; they weren’t the first and wouldn’t be the last to leave me with a wet hand! I stayed for as long as possible doing this, until the presentations began and I got the further honour of along side Triethlon legend, Thomas Hellriegal, being able to present the awards to all the 2nd place finishers in each age group.

Though I came up to help with the intention of simply helping Ian, Mark and their team, in return for the times I’ve enjoyed racing here so much in the past. As it turns out, I got FAR more back than I could have given. I got to see what “this” all means to so many people. To see the enjoyment and love for the sport etched on the faces, re-ignited a little flame in me again… something that has slowly gone out in recent months as the fatigue and everything has taken over. I left Rutland water for another year, shattered… but though not with a winners medal to my name, I think it was almost more satisfying and certainly more empowering.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words of encouragement too. I was blown away by how many of you took the time to chat to me. I can’t wait to see you all again next year… and hopefully share and equally damp congratulatory handshake again!

Meeting Budding Triathlete Jenni Ohren



Presenting awards with the "Legend" himself!!!

Banking it

I guess it would be amiss for me to write something at the moment without mentioning Wimbledon. It struck me at the start of last week that it is exactly high my lifetime ago (15 years) when I was first a ball boy at the Al England Club. They were great times that I remember fondly, but its incredible to think just how long ago it was!

Murray mainier has of course hit once again, and rightly so I think. He’s number 3 in the world after all and so has a genuine chance this year. His game the other night finishing at near 11pm (I was long tucked up in bed) was an epic match by all accounts and shows a real maturity in Murray over the last 2 years; both physically and mentally. The funny thing is though, that listening to a phone in on the radio the following morning on “if Murray could win Wimbledon” I had to switch off with frustration at the “British” mentality to knock and undermine our successful sports people. Caller after caller, focussing on the negatives, saying how he’s not “like the top players”… err… excuse me, but isn’t he NUMBER 3 IN THE WORLD, I’m pretty sure that MAKES him one of the “top players”. It never ceases to amaze me the speed with which people in this country are prepared to put forward their “expert” opinion and how more often than not, it’s NOT a positive one in support of our sports stars. Somehow I doubt the same would happen in Australia or the US.

Anyway….

Last week I spent some time visiting some sick relatives up in the north of England. I took the turbo and trainers so I could still train of course. However a small gluten issue (not sure from what, but possibly some fruit squash) meant that from Wednesday through to Sunday I probably averaged about an hour a day of training and about 5 extra hours a day of sleep. It really does have this much of a dramatic effect on me. However, at least I was able to train even if just a little, most days. With my first Iron Man less than 2 weeks away this is less than optimal preparation though. I was really looking to have my last really solid weeks training and clock up close to 4hours a day instead of a measly 1. Then on Monday, I woke up feeling terrible. A head ache, joints aching and elevated temperature meant that I had to take the whole day completely off too. More frustration…..

Talking about all of this with Chrissie though it was good to be reminded that some times you just have to take what you can get and “bank it”. It is what it is and nothing you do can change it, so just get what you can out of the training and accept it. Last week this meant as little as 45mintues on the turbo before I had to get off with exhaustion; but that’s 45minutes more than nothing. A good saying I once heard says “some days are pebble days and some are star days. One is very plain and feels like not very much and the other is amazing and makes you feel awesome – however both are made from the same thing (rock) and can have the same effect of your fitness and ultimate performance”.

Thankfully yesterday saw a really good solid days training, including 2hours on the turbo with some hard efforts in there… oh and it was 38ºC in the sun lounge whilst doing this session and I felt fine – that’s a good sign. The run off the bike in this session was at my goal IM effort and though a little slower than I’ve done in recent weeks, again I’ll take it and “bank it”.

With IM Switzerland now only 12 days away that’s all I can do. Nothing I do now will improve my fitness before the race, but I can certainly jeopardise my race day fitness by doing too much or the wrong thing. Hopefully I’ll get the balance right, it’s a heck of a long way and I don’t want to leave my best performance in the training log rather than on the roads of Zurich.