Australia Day Aquathlon

Versatile: the ability to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities.

One of the things I am striving towards as a triathlete is the ability to be more versatile and this is perhaps why I feel so compelled to challenge myself to compete in my first Ironman 70.3 event later this season.  Not only do I feel this distance gives me a great opportunity to work my strengths but the challenge of racing over all distances from supersprint right up to Ironman 70.3 and having big expectations of myself in all of them in the one season is something I cannot wait to tackle head-on.

The first challenge along the line is fast approaching with the Geelong ITU Sprint Triathlon Premium Oceania Cup doubling as the Australian Elite Sprint Distance Championships being held in 2 weeks time.  While training has been going along in great fashion since returning from our DAT training camp early in the new year, the plan had always been to spice things up and get the body firing for the big race with a hit out on Australia Day.  The event of choice had been the Burleigh Swim Run which was made up of slightly unconventional distances of a 400m surf swim followed by a 3.84km run.  Needless to say this event attracts several big name surf swimmers who try to out-fox the triathletes in challenging surf conditions but with the likes of Brad Kahlefeldt and Emma Moffatt on the 2012 start list this would always be a tough task. 

Unfortunately this event was not to be in 2012 and with what can only be described as torrential rainfall for the majority of the week all over Queensland the event organisers were forced to cancel the day prior.  While this was far abnormal with several Australia Day events also being cancelled due to the wet weather, at DAT we tend to do things a little bit differently and with the cancellation of that race we decided to put on our own that would be sure to test our versatility!

And so I present to you...the DAT Australia Day Aquathlon:

Come Australia Day morning the stage was set at the well known DAT training headquarters of the Stafford State School Pool and while the 20+ athletes commenced their warm-up and the 10+ junior stars of the future showed off their bomb diving skills, coach/race director/technical official Dan Atkins set about organising what was bound to be a testing event.  Forget the standard aquathlon formula of a run/swim/run, this enduro style format would comprise a 300m swim, 2km run, 300m swim, 1km run, 300m swim and a final 2km run to make sure the legs and arms were well and truly hurting by the end.  With our 25m facility becoming somewhat crowded during a regular swim session the decision was made to start the race in waves and with age-group superstars Dave Kelly, Dave Sangster, Dave Macdonald, Simon Leeper, Craig Madders and Robbie Mullins making up one heat the racing was going to be fast!  With each wave going off the competitiveness increased and with no real idea of who was where in terms of positioning it was all about pushing yourself to your limits except for the cheeky tactics of timing your re-entry to the water so you could get a nice bit of draft off whoever was already ahead of you. 

I could claim there was no single winner on the day but that is just a dead giveaway that I wasn't the first one to cross the line and as I came to the finish there looked to be far too many who by the looks of things had had enough time to compose themselves and look like they were ready to go again.  So, sticking to my original story; everyone walked away a winner from the inaugural DAT Australia Day Aquathlon having pushed themselves to the limit and more importantly had a crack at some short and fast racing in preparation of the more important races coming up very shortly.

But wait, there's more...while the junior stars of the future may have been spectating throughout the main race the stage was set for them to strut their stuff over the modified but still challenging distances of a 150m swim, 800m run, 100m swim and a final 800m run.  Each and every one of these kids performed outstandingly and are without doubt stars of the future and by the looks of how much fun they were having will be back for more in no time!

And finally, while the majority of us were challenging ourselves and each other in the aquathlon there was a small contingent of DAT athletes not present.  As I write this blog I am somewhat torn between coming up with an entertaining story while keeping one eye firmly glued to the twitter updates of @DATRacing (thanks Craig, you continue to do an amazing job and I almost feel like I'm there!) as Emily, Holly and Bonnie take on the best of the best in the ITU Junior race in Canberra and with Tom, Luke, Angus and Corey set to tackle the guys race shortly I won't be moving from my post any time soon.

http://www.danatkinstraining.com.au/canberra2012.html

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DAT Training Camp

While the festive season is usually a time when people sit back, relax and enjoy all there is to offer, for the high performance athletes of DAT Racing there was little time to indulge as we were smack bang in the middle of what is commonly referred to as hell week.  To the average person hell week would carry on for a period of 7 days but as years have gone by the 7 day theory has been thrown out the window, instead replaced with an ever growing period of time with no specific end point in sight.  This year’s edition culminated in a week long training camp in the delightful setting of the Sunshine Coast of Brisbane.  All of this couldn’t have been possible without the hospitality of Mick, Patti, Luke, Sean, Jack and of course everyone’s favourite new training partner, Wallaby for opening up their house.  And while many of the nations top sporting institutes are currently in or have just come off their own training camps at much more well known facilities around the country, I doubt any of them were treated to the experience we were all fortunate to be a part of.

Wallaby keeping an eye on the training

Friday 6^th of January marked day one of the camp but not before our regular Friday morning sessions in Brisbane before car pooling arrangements ferried us all to what we have referred to as the “Farrell Ranch” or for those twitter folk out there, the #FR.  And for all those twitter and facebook folk out there, there was little activity on the social networking forums throughout the week as we all decided to stick with our catchy trend of #whathappensatDATstaysatDAT and instead let our race results speak for themselves in due time.  

With upwards of 15 athletes congregating at the “Farrell Ranch,” Mick and Patti might have been questioning what they had gotten themselves into for the next 7 days but with the men quickly setting up camp in the garage which was quickly renamed the “DAT Dungeon” and the girls taking over the front living room as their sleeping quarters, we were all assembled and ready for session one.  And with our familiarization session involving a run along the waterfront and finishing up with a stroll out the back gate right onto the beach for a swim, what more could one ask for with these facilities literally right at your doorstep?

The DAT Dungeon

Keeping with the trend of #whathappensatDATstaysatDAT I won’t go into detail of each and every session but this post would be somewhat boring if nothing was shared so instead I have taken some of my favourite moments from the week to share and give everyone an idea of what we did get up to:

My mother often swears I go close to eating her out of house and home on a weekly basis and she would have definitely had a heart attack if this number of hungry athletes had invaded her kitchen for one meal, let alone an entire weeks worth of eating.  In contrast, Mick and Patti remained cool, calm and collected throughout and put together an impressive collection of athlete worthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners, as well as several cakes, muffins, lollies and treats that were demolished so quickly that if you weren’t quick would be gone before they’d even had a chance to cool down. 

I can’t let this post go by without mentioning Nutrend Supplements and the fantastic support they provide me and I must have been quite the sight entering the kitchen each morning armed with my daily supplements and training food ready to go.  I may have even progressed myself as a salesperson by convincing a few of the guys to give the Carnitin Liquid a try.  But perhaps more impressive than the supplements were the care packages provided to Jake by his lovely mother Mandy and unfortunately for him this secret lolly and coke stash was discovered early in the week and quickly became communal.  While Jake might not have been too happy to share this stash, something he was more than happy to share were his leg splints.  He claims these things do wonders for your calves by providing an endless stretch when you sleep in them.  Now if Jake isn’t on commission with whatever these contraptions claim to achieve he should be because by the end of the week almost everyone had given them a go and had to sit through his rant about how good they are but if we look at the facts, there was only one of us that had to visit a physio throughout the whole week and I’ll leave it up to you to work out who that was…

While the training was long and arduous, we still found the time to enjoy ourselves and each others company throughout the week.  With the beach in such close proximity to the finish of all of our sessions the best recovery often involved a frolic in the ocean and a bit of body surfing to finish off each day.  There was even time for an evening meal out at the local Kawana Surf Club where not only were good times had by all, there was even time to share a few beverages but as the saying goes; “one’s recovery, two’s a party,” we were still home and in bed early enough to do it all again the next morning.

And last but not least, the training. 

• Of the 168 hours we spent at the Farrell Ranch approximately 35 of those were spent training
• We got through upwards of 25km in the water and being a 25m pool that equates to 1000 laps, with the last session also involving an unprescribed 200m, 100m and 50m dived effort at our own discression just to add to the competitiveness
• There was over 500km logged with my Bryton Rider 50T providing some valuable data on the bike with the Malvern Star Oppy C7 Team handling it excellently (and on a side note the 2012 version of this bike looks amazing and should be in my possession very shortly so keep a look out for that!)
• And to top it all off we got close to 100km on the run, so much so that the Nike Vomeros were well and truly worn thin by the end of the week but a massive thanks must go to Chris from Nike Australia with a new pair coming very shortly.  I haven’t trained in anything but the Nike Vomeros for 3 years now since Scott at Allsports Podiatry put me on to them and there is no chance of me straying any time soon! 

• With the rules being set at a minimum of 5 spare tubes per person, at one point we counted 63 tubes in the Farrell Ranch with Tom using a bit of creativity by claiming to have 4 tubes (two on his wheels and two spares) but only two punctures were recorded throughout the whole week, both going to Dan! 
• There was also a total of seven times we had to continue past our finishing destination all in the quest to clock up that final minute or km in what we like to refer to as number crunching. 
• And finally, another common phrase from the week was, “who won the workout?” and while it wouldn’t be wrong to say that at one point during the week everyone went above and beyond their expectations to win the workout in my opinion the winner of the workout for the week would have to go to the one and only Dan Atkins.  Following an incredibly strenuous 120km on the bike on one morning where several tempers flared and the once sizable pack had significantly diminished with those left behind forced to find their own way home it’s fair to say motivation wasn’t overly high for the midday swim session.  Cue one very impressive coaching performance who through his pooldeck motivation lifted every single person to produce collectively the session of the week.

Now back in Brisbane and straight back into it with no less than a glance back, instead fixated on the 2012 race season less than a stones throw away.  With some athletes attending the National Talent Identification time-trials this coming weekend, the junior elite contingent jet-setting off to Canberra the following weekend for their national series race and the Elite National Sprint Championships in Geelong shortly after, there is plenty to look forward.  And after a week of such solid training with every athlete stepping up to new levels in their training each and every one of these races provides the opportunity to shine.

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