Lakers Racing

Congrats to all who raced Victor and 3 peaks on the weekend. It was great to see so many Lakers competing across all the races with plenty of great performances.

Good luck to everyone racing the final Gatti race of the series this Sunday.

Saturday Ride Guide

A Grade Ride

Group B

Group C

Group D

Thursday Morning Time Trial

Given recent events the Thursday morning TT has come to a close for the season.

A full review will occur over winter with a view to creating a few safety changes for next year.

This week I had a great time interviewing Mel Shortman to add to our growing list of amazing Ladies on our Lady Lakers Interview Page.

If you haven’t had a chance to visit our Interview page on the Lakers website, take a minute to visit and read up on some of the amazing women in our club.  Interviews to date with Rhiannon Hughes, Nancy Cullen, Mary Mitchell, Bernie Cummins, Bernie Schliebs, Mardy Hunt and now Melissa Shortman.

Dedicated to the Women of Triathlon

We are a diverse group of women united in a common goal: To encourage other females to embrace the sport of triathlon. We seek to empower women to dream big, audacious goals because of what triathlon adds to our lives versus the barriers or challenges it may present. As a trusted resource and support system for beginners, we work to erase the intimidation factor, because we know it can be overwhelming. Through meaningful interactions and friendships, we build community and invite women of all ages, sizes, experience levels, and backgrounds to re-imagine their potential. You’ll never have more fun getting seriously fit.

Don’t forget to send me your personal race recaps on activ8success@outlook.com.au, and if you don’t post on the Lakers Facebook page but happy to have a mention, if you can flick me an email so I don’t leave you out.  Thanks to everyone currently doing this J

5 Minutes with Melissa

Mel answers the phone with an immediate injection of infectious laughter!  Out goes the ‘formal’ questions and in comes a wonderfully relaxed story filled conversation.  I know you will all enjoy this J

Thank you Mel

We immediately start chatting about Victor Harbour and Mel’s philosophy on life and racing quicks in immediately.  She stops mid race because another competitor has a flat and is stressing out.  For those of us that know Mel, this is no surprise.

This was an easy lead in to;

SB: What are your personal strengths that you bring into this sport? MS: Stubbornness and determination, my perseverance – Tenacity! The confidence comes and goes, but I never take the ‘easy’ option I give everything a ‘red hot go’.  In life and in competition, the easy option turns out to be the tough one the day after.

SB: Do you feel you react to ‘the pack’? Or is this all about a time trial against yourself? MS: I stick to my plan no matter how big or small the race. I adapt to my body – I say I’m a completer not a ‘competitor’, don’t measure yourself against me, I am out there to do my best for me and my body.

SB: Is it a conscious decision for you to ‘win’ or ‘try your best’? MS:  I always try my best!  I celebrate finish lines not finish times.   I also say that there is no ‘just’, not ever.  It’s all relative to the person!

SB:  Best race ever? MS:  Port Macquarie my 1st one – It had some ups and downs, but I’m hooked and it’s my favourite.  I’m doing my 4th Port Mac this year.  I’ve completed 5 Ironman so far and competed in 6, I DNF’d in Busso last year and that should have been number 6.  My goal is to complete 10 all up.

SB: Worst race ever? MS:  That would have to be Busso last year.  I gave it my all but my body broke down.  No swim meant standing around in the heat with no fluids.  I felt good on the bike and kept to my race plan, but then ran out of water 15km out from the next aid station.  When we came around the bend to turn left we got cut off because of the bush fire and then when I got to the next aid station there was minimal water there.  Just in front of me a guy passed out – and I never again want to see a head bounce like that again – and then a girl in front did the same.  On the run I just got really thirsty and couldn’t quench it and I didn’t feel right.  I came up to the medics and had vitals taken etc. and passed out.  Got my 1st Ambulance ride!  Apparently all my vitals were fine, but my body temp just wouldn’t come down.  Funny I felt fine after I got the fluids in from the medics tent and I  asked them if they could drop me back to where they picked me up from…the guy just took my timing chip off me and said ‘No honey’.   I couldn’t let myself get too down though at that stage because I wanted to get back out there, I knew I had friends doing their first and already disappointed about not doing the swim, so I headed back out as a supporter.  In the car with dad at the end of the day, I ‘howled’ you know that full on one?  And got it all out.  I really wanted to do it for my good friend Bryan (who passed away just prior to Busso) and carry his number over the line for his family.  But I just couldn’t.

SB: What’s your most embarrassing moment during a race/training? MS:  Cobbler creek trail run for 4 hours with no toilets, I was busting to go and went in the bushes and then had a panic attack when a bike rider went passed…too late had to finish! So, after 1 hour of intensive recon…epic fail.

SB: What was your biggest ‘Rookie’ error? MS: Listening to Dawn, a Volunteer.   I used to go into the VIP area of the welcome dinner for the volunteers  because of Dad and Dawn was a volunteer telling a story about a mass start one year where a guy got out of the water with blood running down his face and was asked to go with a volunteer to have it cleaned up.   They found it was another person’s toenail stuck in his forehead… Still remember that story!  Don’t listen to the story’s told by the Volunteers!

SB: Do you carry a lucky charm/have a special mantra? MS:  I have a buzz word for each event.  My first was ‘believe’ which I now have on my wrist. My family gives me a buzz word for every race (mum, dad and brother). It was ‘Inspire’ for Busso just gone.  Fitter better stronger faster was another one.

We talked a little more about last year due to the amount of ‘incidents’ that happened at Port Mac and Mel talked about feeling like she was in the ‘Black Hole’.  Her bike arrived with extensive damage and unrideable.  After contacting Gavin Nugent, who was fortunately still back in Adelaide, he packed up her road bike up and send it across – it arrived late on Friday night.  Meanwhile for 2 days Mel and her parents had worked out the entire alphabet of plans to get her to the start line, which she did.   Even the Shimano guys pushed her to the front of the mechanic’s line to swap all the necessary gear over from one bike to the other to get her through.

Best piece of advice from Gavin to Mel “The race day is a Celebration, enjoy it.”

Text by Susanê Belkhiati | Image supplied by Melissa Shortman

Coaching 101

When things don't go to plan

While Victor was a great weekend of racing with many fantastic results, not everyone has things go their way on the day. For whatever reason the body just couldn’t perform as planned. Sometimes this is fitness other times as I have witnessed it just comes down to the day.

I have seen individual’s race only weeks apart where their first race was a real struggle and the second a blinder. Elite racers at Kona often complain “I have NO power” to quote Norman Stadler (2 time Kona winner) and others who fail to find the expected final few percent needed to separate them from the rest.

If this was you all you can do is take solace by the fact that you are not alone- it happens to lots of triathletes. Accepting that not everything goes your way is vital. Just because you have invested the time and effort doesn’t guarantee the outcome you desire, the triathlon gods don’t always reward effort, sometimes they want to test you in other ways.

The key is to learn from the situation. Post-race reviews are vital. The evaluation could be a quick review of how the race went or you could look at the bigger picture and review all aspects, such as:

• training prior
• taper
• life balance
• sleep
• recovery
• nutrition, weight
• pre-race logistics , planning
• effect of the weather
• mental aspect, anxiety pre-race
• race day tactics
• technical elements of your performance

Simply review what worked, what didn’t, ask what can I learn and how can I apply it to my future training/racing. If we do this after every race and we are able to demonstrate a learning from it, then the poor result wasn’t a failure it was just a valuable lesson learnt in your triathlon evolution.

It is those who wallow failing to learn or who don’t look at things in perspective and over-react in their response who end up perpetuating the poor results.

The key is to always view every training session or race as a chance to test and learn. Evaluation post session is what closes the gap between action and outcome, to make sure we grow as a triathlete.

The reinforcement comes in your next race when you have a blinder and are able to work your way through challenges that derailed you previously.

I had a very simple experience of this early in my triathlon career, when I had my goggles knocked off in the first 50m of a 1900m swim. With the sun and salt water making sighting extremely hard I battled through the swim slower than I would have liked. From that moment on I learnt to put my goggles under my swim cap and as it would happen at the very next race I did, I did get a kick to the face, my goggles came off but this time they stayed with me, held in place by my cap. Lesson learnt.

Personalised Coaching

If you are interested in taking your training to the next level then feel free to drop me a line at some stage to chat about how some purposeful coaching may help.

Regardless of whether you are a beginner or a high performance athlete I know I can help you make the most of your triathlon journey.

Lakers On The Road

If you would like to have your name included in the list of races in the Blue Train, please email bluetrain@lakers.com.au with your name and the race(s) you are competing in this year. If you have qualified and are heading to the World Championships this year, either South Africa 70.3 or Kona, let us know!

Challenge Melbourne

Ironman Lanzarote

Cairns Ironman

Ironman 70.3 Cairns

Challenge Roth

South Africa 70.3 Ironman

Ironman Hawaii World Championship

Busselton Ironman