Before I joined I was in 9hr IM shape, and had never

• Run on a track (well maybe twice when I was 13 and 14 for the yearly school athletics meet)
• Used my paddles for more than 1k in a session
• Split my sessions in two
• Raced overseas
• Trained at altitude

And I am leaving having ticked the boxes above, with probably the highlight being going 8hr12min at Challenge Copenhagen with some Dramas thrown at me in the race to keep me honest.

Some of highlights with the team for me where

• Watching Bella turn up and win something like 4 or 5 Ironmans in a row, each time coming back to training quietly contented, but wanting to and giving it to herself in training again and again
• Watching the Filipino boys do some 400′s on the track, coach asks for 70sec laps, first one is a 58, next one a 68, then a 90sec!……. bad pacing = angry coach
• Getting called Sheep F#$%&r until I had a decent race by coach, thankfully it didnt take to long
• 4hr run day in the Phillipines with the Zach attack
• Meeting some really nice team mates/people along the way

Now, for the coach review, and I am not “trying to piss in his pocket” as we sometimes say in New Zealand
but I am really pleased I got not only the chance to be coached by Brett but be able to watch him motivate and train the others in the team. I am not sure how he did it with the Dogs and Horses as I don’t think his talks (some people call them “rants”) would work as well on them Also a big thanks to all the sponsors who helped out over the last two years

So next year, training wise, I just need to keep on doing what I have been doing, increasing my speeds and trying to hit some better numbers in training. I am getting a little tired of 2nds, 3rds and 4ths so hopefully 2011 I will change the numbers!

You can keep up with my progress at my new blog here, check it out

First time in the Phillipines for a training camp

Learning the Richard Hadlee

This was my last race for TeamTBB,
I have a new blog at http://keeganwilliams.blogspot.com/where you can continue to follow my progress

I will write a blog shortly to explain what I am up to next year…. keep tuned in

Also, a big thanks to Darryl Carey for the photo below

Me on the Run

Tracy and I got hitched on Ohope Beach near Whakatane, now there has been very little rainfall in New Zealand in the last 6 weeks, only 40% of the average but on the friday night before our big day the heavens opened and it started hosing down. Saturday morning and it was still raining and some heavy fog was rolling in. Lucky for us though the rain eased off for the afternoon and we had our beach wedding but in the fog! we really enjoyed it though, as it was quite different to the norm.

Onto our honeymoon and we got to spend 5nights in Rarotonga then back to NZ for another friends wedding, I have also got another one this weekend, so busy times.
Rarotonga was very warm, and it brought back memories of the phillipines, 20min run and I was drenched. The food was great, alot of fresh seafood and tropical fruits, unfortunately they didnt have any of my faviourite mango’s as all the trees got damaged in a storm they had earlier this year.

I dont have any photos from wedding yet as photographer got them still…. but have got a couple from Rarotonga

Me, feeling the heat, with Coach Tracy following on bike

Tracy on her bike

Saturday I am getting hitched to Tracy. I dont feel that nervous at the moment but Tracy seems to be getting a little nervous. Its kind of like before a race for her at the moment, not sleeping that well at night, worrying about the weather, worrying about what she is eating and drinking, orgainising all the last minute details…..

Lucky for me she is super orgainsed.

I had my stag party the other weekend. For those readers who dont know what a stag party is, it is basically when your friends dress you up in some outrageous outfit, make you drink alot and do stupid stuff. I had a combined party with a friend Justin who is also getting married, one challenge we did was a around the local velodrome with a beer consumed at each quarter, the guys in the team who know me will be the first to say I am not blessed with short course speed so i didnt have many advantages there. It was a close fought race and Justin just got me on the line, but I think he did exhale more beer than myself

Just because I have already had my stag I will post this picture of good mate Brodie below in his stag costume as there cant be any payback now from a few weeks ago. He had to try and sell the bag of fish he caught down the main street of Auckland….

Brodie and his bag of fish

Well, i just wanted to share a little quote from our Mens Pair Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan who won gold, they have been struggling all year with form. Something to think about if you are struggling with training and worrying about numbers

“In the last 16 weeks we went back and just rowed our own boat. We threw away all our data, all our numbers and just started focusing on what we had to do and getting our boat going.

You can read the rest of the article here at stuff.co.nz

NZ Pair winning Gold

This is from “Running with Lydiard”
“Don’t run on your toes… by which I mean, dont land on the forepart of the feet. When you are running aerobically or low anaerobic speeds, the centre of gravity is slow getting over the leading foot, so, if you land on the forepart of the feet, you are getting two much traction on landing and actually developing a stopping motion. This can be the cause of blistered feet and shin splints.
Front of the foot running………………………………..”

Avia Bolts - Fast running shoes

Well, I went down for a session today, and it was hot, after a 300m warmup I was roasting, kind of like a chicken in a oven. After about 1k of the main set I exploded, overheated……. and cooked completely.

I knew it must of been around 30 degrees, so when I jumped out I asked the lifeguard what the temperature was, and I was close, 33 degrees! No wonder I cooked

Hopefully they leave the covers off for a few days, otherwise I will be back to Hamilton or TeAwamutu…

He told a good story and I picked up some good tips. I will let you in on two of them this week.

The 3 Secrets of success
Training
Training
Training

The 3 Secrets of Racing
Control
Control
Control

New Zealand Men, Snell, Halberg, Magee, McNight

The one above is the sand track, from another Aussie coach from the 50′s and 60′s Percy Cerutty . Not quite the sandhills of Portsea but about as close as you get around Cambridge.

Above is my home grass track, I try not to run on it to much and go to Hamilton to the Tartan track as “Grass is for cows” But the triple gold medalist from Czech Emil Zatopek did alot of laps around his track and so do I some weeks.

This one above is probably my favourite circuit, my version of Arthur Lydiards famous Waitaks circuit

This is the Horse track circuit from Ron Hill, Aussie runner to go under 2hr10min for the marathon. Round and round, faster and faster

And finally the Brett Sutton Leysin Hill circuit but in Cambridge, New Zealand. About 5min around with a nice little climb

Another day we went to the ESPN sports zone, everything is bigger and better in this place. We had a few beers in front of some massive tvs while watching some NFL. There was also auditions for the program Wipeout going on in the same venue, there must of been about 200-300 people at least waiting in a massive queue, just trying to get their chance at 5mins of fame.

And lastly the sheep, even they where bigger in the USA, while at Disney Land we visited a little farm. They had goats and sheep, and the sheep was definetly a supersized version, I am not sure what they had been feeding it. Check out the photos below to see what I mean.

Mickey Mouse

Big Roller Coaster

Big Big Sheep

Big Big TV Screen

Lots and Lots of TVs

Disney Parade