Run squad provides a fantastic opportunity for kids of all ages and abilities looking to improve run technique, become stronger runners and enhance fitness in a fun group environment.

The sessions are coached by Mel Witchard (exercise scientist, physiotherapist & national level runner) who has 10+ years of experience competing across varied distances and also of coaching and working with kids. Mel has an amazing combination of experience – both personal and coaching, knowledge & education that is invaluable to anyone, especially with the development of juniors!

WHEN: Sunday 3pm & Monday 4pm

COST: $10 per child.

These sessions are for junior athletes of ALL sports looking to improve their running or how they move.

To register interest or for more information contact alex@ap10.com.au, melindawitchard@gmail.com or 0427 828 666

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly” – JFK

The short version:

“I wound up, swung as hard as I could, connected but got caught in the outer field…!”

The longer version:

It is always tough to write race reports, especially when the race had so much riding on it for me personally and didn’t go to plan. It takes a few weeks or longer usually for things to ‘wash over’ and most importantly of all to learn from, which is one reason why this has taken a little bit to put pen to paper!

A bit over seven years ago, after my brother passed away I decided I needed to get back into triathlon after a few years off in order to steer myself in the right direction and so I decided to enter Ironman Australia and thought I would just do ‘one more’ and just do it for fun and not care about time. At the presentation after the race I saw one of the leaders who I knew that went under 9 hours on the tough course and at the time thought to myself

‘ I wonder what is MY limit’ or ‘What I could achieve if I put my head down for a few years’… And ‘ Do you think you could ever get close to 9 hours?’ – which my immediate answer was NO WAY…

At this time my whole mind changed about it being my last Ironman, not worrying about time to me starting to dream and think about progression and where I thought I might be able to get to – which is obviously an arbitrary or moving target based on many factors.

Since then I have just been in love with the sport and the day to day lifestyle it has offered me. In saying that, there has barely been a day go past when I haven’t thought of the ‘dream’ that has slowly progressed into a goal, which has been to break the 9 hour ‘barrier’. For me this has always been the only real goal of mine, with Kona and podiums etc just being stepping stones towards this mark. Most people don’t ‘get it’ when I tell them how important it is, but I guess that’s the beauty of having something YOU strive for, it only has to be important to you….

So with my shot at it at Melbourne Ironman off the radar after it being cancelled, I thought my next feasible option that worked well (or so I thought) with work and family being Barcelona Ironman, being potentially a fast course if the conditions were right.

However, what I didn’t account for was how big my year of travel, work, family change (new bub on the way in a few weeks..) and other commitments were going to be.

In the lead up to Port Macquarie Ironman this year, where I went 9:09 and won my AG, I was able to have a steady and consistent 3 months of training leading in and even though I was still quite busy I was able to achieve some great consistency – which I believe to be perhaps the number one factor in terms of a really great performance.

My three months didn’t go quite to plan for me in the lead up to Barcelona, with this being a part of the picture;

• Calf tear 12 weeks out which kept me off bike/run for 3+ weeks,
• Travel back from Spain where I was working with the team,
• In the 2 ½ weeks in between this trip and that to the Olympics I had a chest and sinus infection and could barely train
• Rio for 2 ½ weeks (which was some of the greatest memories I have) where I didn’t have a bike
• Then on returning from Rio I had 2 ½ weeks until I left for the race to try to ‘get fit’…..

So, after the first big session back where I thought I’d test things out and see where I was at, I came home with my tail firmly between my legs and given I knew where I was at before Port in terms of power/pace/HR etc and how far off I was in this session I was very close to deciding that I wasn’t going to travel to Barcelona because I was almost certain I wasn’t going to able to achieve the only goal of going all the way over to the other side of the world = to break 9 hours. But, after thinking about it, I was certain. And I thought to myself then, “if you don’t go and ‘give up’ you will then always be asking yourself “what if”…. And so after thinking about it for a long time, I knew it’d be far worse asking myself “what if you did have a go, could you have done it” than going over there and falling short of the goal.

So then I decide the only option was to have a huge 3 weeks of training, which was unconventional but I worked out it was the only way I stood a chance. I got through what I had set for myself and to be honest was surprised with how my body responded and in the end travelled with some confidence and also with a heap of desire to get the job done.

I was lucky enough to have my dad come over with me, which was awesome as my folks still live in country South Oz where I grew up and we don’t get to spend a heap of time together these days, so it was a great opportunity!

Where the race is situated is about 50km north of Barcelona, in a small town called Calella, a gorgeous spot directly on the Mediterranean! We had a perfect little apartment overlooking the water as well! We travelled over a week in advance and had a nice week, which all went pretty smooth. I had good mate Luke Jefferey there to support as well, who was fresh off his cracking race at the Mallorca Ironman the week before.

I was feeling pretty good come race day and ready to have a good hit. I felt like I had my best swim I have had despite a relatively slow time of 53min, with only a couple of AG’ers coming in before me (and fastest pro of the day going 49min) and headed out on the bike for the 45km out and back two lap course. Everything was very focused on time, so I had my dad and Luke yell out exact times out of T1 – “ALEX – 55 MINUTES” the old man was screaming! Followed by something that isn’t for this blog!

The first lap I was feeling pretty good and relaxed and moved up through some of the pro’s and then into into the first AG positon. While this didn’t really bother me and I was only focused on time, I must admit I do love being towards the front of the race…

I decided to be a little conservative and hold about, 255 watts, which was about 5+ less on average than I did at Port Mac to account for what I thought was a ‘bit’ less fitness… After the 90km mark, where Luke and my old man again almost blew some gaskets with their supporting, I started to feel a little flat as the temperature began to ride a bit. At this point I decided to ease right back for the second lap in order with the plan to be able to run as well as I could.. However, I was hoping I would ‘come good’ at some stage, but unfortunately I didn’t. The nutrition wasn’t going down as it usually does and the watts were not coming easily at all. And while I tried not to think of it, at Port Mac I felt like I just got stronger and stronger as the ride went on….

As I came into transition I was feeling very average, but as I am always a huge believer of, it is essential to continue positive thoughts and affirmation especially when it is not coming easily.. So starting the run I had almost 3hrs and 30min to achieve the goal – which would normally be quite routine. So, I started by running just under the pace I needed to hold, as I knew this was all that would do. I had no concern for anything else in or to do with the race at this point.

In this race they don’t have any special needs areas, but instead a friend can hand you things at aid stations, so given that the water they had on course was actually HOT – yep, they were keeping pallets of water bottles on the hot pavement, without any cooling and there was no ice (each of which obviously wouldn’t have changed my race, but along with having 3000 athletes on the course = horrendous packs/drafting in much of the field) was pretty disappointing… Thus, it was It was about at the 10km mark when I knew I was in real trouble – I had asked Luke to get me some cold water from a shop and he was waiting at an aid station, which was the point I pulled up and vomited everything I had tried to get down for the first part of the race. Sorry Luke… But lucky I had some water to wash the mouth out I guess! Hmmm….

From then on, things went sharply down hill. I wasn’t keeping anything down, still trying to run at the pace required while trying to stay positive and convince myself of the obviously very unlikely scenario that any minute I’d come good. I took a few patches where I stopped to try to cool down and recoup, but to no avail. And just like that at about 18km I literally hit the deck at an aid station taking some skin off and alarming some poor volunteers who tried to catch me. And while I kinda knew it before I fell over, that was the point everything closed in a bit and I realised I was not going reach my goal of sub 9 hours. Hundreds and hundreds of hours in the prep, so much toil and sacrifice, a lot of money to get across the world and perhaps most ‘costly’ for me is the investment that my family makes into me achieving my goals and I came up short. It is obviously a very tough pill to swallow and a tough outcome to accept, but that is the sport. Nothing is assured and especially in Ironman, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done before all that matters is that one day and you only have one shot at it!!!

I couldn’t chase these goals without the amazing and selfless support of my wife Megan, who I owe a LOT to. A huge thank you to my Dad for traveling all the way to support me and although I didn’t reach the goal spending a week with him prior to the race for the first time almost ever was very special and something I’ll always remember! Also to Luke for the awesome support on the day and helping to drown the sorrows after the race! I am also very fortunate to have a great team of companies who support me, which make a huge difference and are all gold standard in their fields;

• Torq Nutrition Australia
• Titan Performance Group
• Hoka One One Australia
• X-Terra Wetsuits, Premax
• Caden Carbon Wheels
• Nimble Wear
• Simple Cycles!

For now I am enjoying some down time, while still keeping fit. I am excited to put some more time into my family and also into all things coaching/AP10 and physio. The sub 9 goal continues to burn bright, but will have to wait for a for now while we have our second child any day now!!!

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly” – JFK

In order to achieve the goals I had, both in terms of performance and also being injury free, I knew I needed to make change in all aspects in order to improve. I also knew I needed to be very well structured and organised, as January through to May is the busiest time of the year in terms of work – coaching and the running of AP10, and physio both at the practice and also with the Wollongong Wizards which is night and weekend work and also making sure family life didn’t suffer!

In December I put a bit of a plan together, which focused on the small key changes I knew I needed to change and improve across the board; training and timing, training improvements, weekly balance of work & rest (I averaged about 60 – 65hrs p/wk of work during the prep), nutrition, strength and conditioning, footwear, technique etc etc! I also only decided to race once during the prep, which was at Husky and race it really tired after a large block of work and a big session the day prior to mimic Ironman. I think this analysis of all areas and subsequent planning is a huge reason the race was a good one in the end!

I arrived in Port with the family, healthy, injury free and with a great prep under my belt. I felt very fortunate for this and jumping out of my skin with excitement to be able to race. I will also say that I am extremely fortunate to be surrounded with such awesome people as are in AP10. I am definitely biased, but I can say unreservedly that they are a fantastic bunch of humans, who not only motivate me but each other to be better, to work very hard and have plenty of fun while we’re doing it and I wouldn’t have been in in the shape I was for the race if it wasn’t for the group and the environment that they create.

When race day came around I was confident and excited! I started near the front of the waves of swimmers and after the gun went the usual pre-ironman nerves subsided and it was down to business. Everything was quite smooth until about half way when the swimmers feet I was on started to drop off the back of the bunch. Just after this happened it was time to climb out of the water onto the steps and up on the weir. I decided that I needed to run around this fella to try to catch back up to the bunch, but in doing so my left foot slipped out from under me and as it did my right foot went in between two bits of metal (that weren’t covered by the carpet…..) and all my weight went through the foot that was stuck between the metal. I hit the deck really hard, hitting the rails with my shoulder and knee onto the metal, but my only thought was my foot which I was certain I had broken in half given how painful it was. Weirdly my first thought was “I wonder if there is a good foot surgeon in Port Macquarie?” So with a mild amount of surrounding panic, the volunteers were helping me get my foot out that was between the bits of metal by pulling the rails apart. As they did and stood me up I looked down at my foot, which there was plenty of blood but otherwise looked intact. I gingerly put it down and realised that I could bare weight, so perhaps the day wasn’t done yet! As I registered that the day may not be over yet, I looked up to see the group I was with about 50m away, great decision-making AP!!!!

The rest of the swim was pretty much solo and I was really worried about my foot as it and my shoulder and knee were really sore swimming. After I was out the water it was all sore, but I could run through transition ‘ok’ which reassure me a little.

I saw the AP10 crew just out of transition, megaphones in hand who had said I swam 52min, which I was pretty happy with considering. I also heard them call Josh Henry, the fish from Nowra that I coach as leading his (and my AG) out the water in 50min, which was awesome to hear. Despite having a couple of people around for the first 10km, the first hour was pretty uneventful. I passed Josh at about 30km, who was riding really well! At the turnaround the lead AG’er was 2min in front of me, who looked like he was working pretty hard and I was second on the road. Pretty exciting!!! It is something I have visualised all last year was coming back into town half way through the bike, so when I did and saw all my family and AP10 team and got a few shout outs over the mic, I almost got a little emotional, as I just LOVE racing and was so excited to be out there and having the sleeves rolled up

At this point the lead AG’er was now only 1min in front and I ended up passing him just after we headed out of town. It was just about then that the rain went from a drizzle to a full blown down pour, which kept up then for most of the day! Having trained for many hours in these conditions and on terrain that is harder than that at Port (one of the ‘keys’ to successful racing in my book), I welcomed the rain as it made it a bit interesting. I was however  thinking about Megan and her looking after Ava in the wet, but which gave me more motivation to make sure I nailed the day with them standing out in the rain!

One of my goals was to slightly increase my power in the second half of the bike, obviously something which I had trained and I managed to do, going 255watts in the first and 258 in the second. I finished the ride 4:52, which was the fastest AG split of the day, not that this really matters too much as it’s all about race start to race finish!  I felt fantastic throughout the ride and never had a flat spot at all and I attribute the strong ride to plenty of strength work on the bike and in the gym and also some key changes to the specifics of the bike sessions, which will form part of my and other AP10’ers programs moving forward!

Coming out of T2 I saw Meg’s and Ava and was feeling great, but knew I needed to ‘settle in’ as soon as I could. I stopped and gave them a little hug and Meg’s gave me the timely advice of ‘BE PATIENT!”

My foot was pretty sore, but ‘ok’ and despite having to loosen my shoe off more and more as the run went on, I am pretty lucky that it wasn’t slowing me down!

I use heart rate a lot to measure output on the run and pay very close attention to cadence and pace as well, so when my new Garmin decided at 2km into the run just to switch off, despite being fully charged it was a bit of a shock. But as I always tell all our athletes, it was a matter of dealing with it quickly, without creating anxiety and also finding a way to still ‘get it done’.

At this stage I was told I had a 6min lead on the next AG’er, which was great but something I tried not to think about, instead focusing totally on myself and what I needed to do during every single moment. Plenty of people after the race had said how they tried to chat to me or if I remembered certain things, but I had very little memory of much else that was going on other than the constant self check that I go through of things like; nutrition, form, cadence – on repeat, with a few cuss words to myself occasionally!

Meanwhile it was pouring with rain…..

I saw my parents, who had spread out on course and Megan chasing Ava through the puddles and it was at this stage I thought – “get this job done” and also “perhaps Ironman isn’t the hardest thing I could be doing today!”. Megan later told me jokingly that at this stage she thought, “he better bloody win!” – I still wonder if it was a joke though…

In training I had only run to 25km in my long run, as I didn’t want to risk reoccurrence of my foot injury, so I knew that after 25km things were very much an unknown and I knew it was going to get tough, which I was prepared for! At about 28km my hammy’s started to cramp on an increasingly often basis! I also knew that the second Ag’er was catching me and looking good at this stage, but to be honest, the gauge was on red and pretty much on max, so I didn’t have much more to give! I was passed by Jordy Wright, an awesome triathlete from Melbourne at the 37km mark, looking a million bucks at the same time I was doubled over with the old cramps again – which I would of loved to try to respond, but there was no chance!!!

The last 5km were a blur of emotions, as they always are in an Ironman. A fine balance between trying to survive and also fighting back the feeling like you are going to start crying with joy and relief at any step! I will never forget this finish – perhaps one of, if not my favourite moments in sport when I stopped in the finish chute to give Megan, Ava and my parents a hug, followed by a lot of fist pumping and screaming! I had done it and achieved what I had dreamed and planned for over the last couple of years!

I had won my Age Group – 35-39, was second AG’er and 11^th athlete overall. I was over the moon and also extremely relieved!

I am even happier with the result as I didn’t sacrifice my family or work lives – as they are always first to me. Also to start of triathlon as a 40min for 1500m swimmer… and develop over many years it has taught me a lot, specifically I think helps greatly with my coaching, as I totally understand how it is not to be any where near the front!

It is moments like this that make all of the hard work, sacrifices early mornings and nights worth each and every second.

The feeling of elation is vital to continue to believe in through the tough times – which it is when it is the most difficult to believe you will be there again. It is these times that make the passion so real, so heart felt and so memorable. And I also think that by overcoming difficult times, you learn a lot about yourself as a person. It reveals how important not only eventual success is to you but also how important the lesson of not succeeding and then fighting for it is. When you don’t fold in and take a step back, but instead go back with more desire and resolve and eventually succeed, it is a great learning experience.

At the roll down ceremony for Kona, Meg’s was happy to go again and my dad was all in, but I felt I was 50/50 whether I was going to take my spot…. When I arrived Josh Henry (who had come 6th in our AG) told me there were 5 spots. For me this was my decision made, as Josh and his family were desperate to go to Kona and it was the goal he had when he came to me to be coached last year. So I decided to roll my spot down to Josh, which was made even sweeter when his twin sister Sophie also qualified! To see how happy he was with his ticket to the big island was pretty special!

A huge thank you to my wife, Megan who is an amazing support for me and for our daughter Ava. Also my parents who are at each and every big race I do which means a lot to me! All the AP10 team as I mentioned are an awesome bunch that I love spending so much time with and motivate me and each other to be better! Also a huge thank you to my sponsors & supporters; TORQ Nutrition, Xterra Wetsuits, Titan Performance Group, Caden wheels, Skin Strong Australia, Simple Cycles & Cobb Saddles for all they do for me!

I am now back into training properly and have never been more excited about the process of daily training, as I have identified some key areas where I can improve and get quicker. The next race for me is the Vitoria Half Ironman in July while I am in Spain working and then the quest continues to post a sub 9hour time for an Ironman hopefully later this year!

2015 saw me train for two Ironman’s – Melbourne and Kona and on both occasions I got an injury inside the last month, meaning I couldn’t race! Which was certainly very tricky to deal with!

As I always encourage my athletes to do, I used these periods as reflection and to learn about what I need to improve, change and focused on what I could do – swim, bike and strength and conditioning work and plenty of all three!

I have been very gradually easing back into running now for 4 weeks, albeit quite lightly! Given I felt it was safe to do without risk of reinjury, I decided to head down to Callala – (with 20+ of the AP10 team!) to have a little hit out and test the swim and bike fitness at least!

I love the Elite Energy Callala race, the beach swim, honest bike course and location make it an awesome spot to race!

The swim was quite straight forward and I came out in the lead group of four. I decided to ride quite strong and felt quite good on the bike, finishing with a 300watt average, which was nice to see at this time of the season. The course is one the undulates constantly, so the work we have been doing as a team with hill rep’s and time trial’ing off them was perfect for this sort of course.

I knew I had a bit of a lead heading out onto the run and my plan was always to ease back in the run in order to make sure my past foot injury didn’t stir up at all!

In the end I was pleased to take the overall win, but far more pleased with how I felt during and after the race! This has got me very excited to ‘roll the sleeves up’ and get into the prep for Husky LC, Wollongong OD then Ironman Australia, which I am super excited to race again! I will also head over to do the Barcelona Ironman later in the year.

It was a fantastic weekend for the whole AP10 team, with 20+ of the team racing and some great results including;

3 overall race winners, a 2nd place overall and 13 podiums! The whole team has been working very consistently and it certainly showed on the weekend!!

A huge thanks to my wife Megan, who is always an amazing support especially when things don’t go to plan! Also very privileged to have the ongoing support of Torq Australia, Champion System, Aqua Shop + Blue Seventy, Skin Strong, Titan Performance Group and Caden Wheels – amazing companies, products and people!

This is usually quite difficult to answer in quickly in passing, so I thought I’d write a little bit about it!

AP are my initials and they are also my fathers and grandfathers, two men that I respect enormously. I grew up on a farm in country South Australia, which is mainly a grain farm, with some sheep and cattle. It is a tough way to make a living these days, but was a whole lot tougher back in the early days when my grandfather was on the property, when absolutely everything was manual! Farming is unrelenting, roll the sleeves up type of hard work. Day in, day out. And in the S.A. summer, it gets even harder! Farmers go about their work typically without much fuss and have a ‘just get the job done’ attitude. I love that. The pic above is of grandfather in the 1940′s working the farm in a hot SA summer – some pretty raw hard work….

These are values that I totally respect both my grand father and mother and father for having and nurturing in me as I was growing up. I had a farmer for a dad and a nurse for a mum… There wasn’t a great deal of sympathy, but plenty of love! However, occasionally I felt it was a bit of ‘tough love’, I now look back with great fondness how I was brought up on a farm, with parents like I have. I believe it instilled values and character traits in me that I hold close and that I now do my best to instil in others in AP10.

As it worked out that now we have a fourth generation ‘AP’, with my daughter Ava being born last October!

The number ten also has great significance for me. When I was growing up, I was obsessed with playing Aussie Rules football and all I wanted to do when I grew up was make the AFL. At the time I had an attitude that I while I may not have been the most talented, I would get there by ‘outworking’ everyone else and every single night I kicked the ball around the paddocks of the farm for hours until it got dark and ran up and down the dirt roads to make sure I would also be fittest on the field. Unfortunately I didn’t make the ‘grade’, but it was not through a lack of effort, knowing I gave it absolutely everything I had, and some! I believe this time also instilled a work ethic in me that has carried on into my adult years.

One of my idols when I was growing up was a fellow named Barrie Robran. He was a player who grew up not too far from our farm, in a country area and played in Adelaide. And – he wore the number 10! Which when I first started playing was the reason I also insisted on wearing the number 10 in every team I played. He was an amazing player, many believe the best to ever play and won numerous individual awards. He also turned down far larger salaries to play in the then VFL (now AFL), as he was loyal and passionate to his club North Adelaide and his teammates. He was a hugely respected off the field, being very much a gentleman with great integrity and humility. But when on the field both in games and on the practice paddock he was fierce, relentless and a tireless worker.

All qualities that I respect fully both off the field and when it comes time to ‘play’!

So these are the real reasons behind the name AP10. For me it stands for;

-       Integrity

-       Respect

-       Loyalty

-       Relentless consistency

-       Good old fashioned bloody hard work

All values are dear to me as an individual, values I appreciate in others and values I am passionate about being the cornerstone of the AP10 environment!

What an AMAZING story today from the Melbourne Cup today, with so many lessons!

Michelle Payne:

- One of 10 kids, who lost her mum when she was young and they were all raised by her dad who instilled a “very good work ethic and a can do attitude” in them all. She mostly grew up with her brother Stevie, who has Down Syndrome and is now the strapper of the winning horse Prince of Penzance!

- When she was 11 years old she had a dream that one day she would win the Melbourne Cup and told all her friends – who always gave her a ‘bit of grief’

- She has had many falls including having two falls recently fracturing 9 vertebra and was very close retied, but her dad convinced her not to

- Has has always battled being a female jockey in what she said is a very “chauvinistic sport”

- A year ago had a holiday and after she got back no one would give her a ride on their horses at races, trials or even at training… But she kept showing up, day after day, week after week and “pestering” the trainers to let her ride. And finally they let her have a race with Prince of Penzance and never looked back..

- She saw something in the horse and told many people the horse could win the Melbourne Cup, which a lot of people laughed at.

- Fought bloody hard to get the horse just INTO the race and then when the Prince got a start, Michelle told plenty of people they’d win – at the odds of 100-1 and again got laughed at.

- She was only the forth female jockey to ride in the cup. IN 155 YEARS!!! And said that a lot of the other owners wanted her “kicked off”, but her owners stuck by her through it all

- And today – SHE WON! – the first female ever…. In 155 years.

Watching her celebrate with her brother Stevie after the race (even though I am far from a horse racing follower) was an amazing sight – not just for racing or sport, but knowing the full story, for life. Her quote soon after winning, which she said in a calm and succinct way -

“For those who say women aren’t strong enough – get stuffed!” - priceless and impeccable timing.

- There were so many obstacles standing in Michelle Payne’s way – family, crashes, professional, her gender and an ‘active’ lack of support – but she kept showing up, kept being the squeaky door and kept believing despite so much opposition.

- And then she won!

“Get in and get your hands dirty”

To me there isn’t any other way to live and I really don’t think there is any other way to get the most out of yourself and really find out what you are capable of. It is very easy to hold a little bit back because if you fully commit yourself to something, especially if it is something that is hard to achieve, then you are risking a lot without any assurance of a reward. This means that you are not FULLY investing, FULLY committing and not putting your neck on the chopping block so to speak. But in doing this, you are definitely not going to get the most out of yourself. I think typically this is because people can be scared of a feeling of failure if they an ‘all in’ attitude. As if they don’t succeed it can really hurt and comes with a lot of disappointment if things don’t go to plan!

The feeling of not wanting to ‘falling short’ is obviously totally normal and something that everyone has. But the key thing about this is not to yield to it and be prepared to really put it all out there, even if there is no assurance of success. It is also vital to continue to front up time and time again without success and without being deterred in any way. To be 110% totally committed to achieve what you want, despite past ‘failings’ is a skill that champions in their fields have refined and rehearsed over and over.

To be able to see this in a different light than just straight failure is also a difficult thing to do at the time, but vital to future success. By not succeeding the first time (or second or fifth times) you commit can be a hugely valuable learning tool. By having a meticulous and honest assessment of why you weren’t successful, what needs to be changed or adapted and the and to improve on it next time puts you much closer to success next time you try. It can also be a hugely motivating tool to not succeed if approached in the right way. It can add a LOT of fuel to the fire to drive you harder and further for the next time you attempt it.

On a personal note, I missed Melbourne Ironman this year, when in the last few weeks before the race a recurrent foot problem I have, reared its head. I fully committed to my goal there of going sub 9 hours there – averaging 25+ hours per week of training for about 4-5 months, while juggling a new young family and two businesses. But when it reoccured in month before, I knew I had Kona in October and I would have jeopardised my foot being so bad that there was a good chance I wouldn’t be able to race on the Big Island, so I made the tough but correct decision to sit on the side lines!

After it had settled I started another tough prep to Kona and two weeks ago was again far and away the fittest I had been across all three disciplines. Then lo and behold, without any warning, my foot fractured in the Sunshine Coast 70.3 despite me running easy to save the body for training. So, there we are. Another solid swing and a miss! Prior to leaving I had seen a specialist and he says I am extremely unlucky and hadn’t seen this happen in the 20 years he had worked! Great!!!!

Then to add salt to the wounds, yesterday I kicked the corner of the couch here in Kona very hard with my good foot and have broken my 4th toe on my previously ‘good’ left foot, making getting around in a boot very difficult!

When it doesn’t rain it pours!

So unfortunately I won’t be able to run here in Kona and perhaps not bike either the way my feet are feeling. Which is hugely disappointing for it to happen especially after Melbourne earlier in the year!

I am obviously putting most energy now into helping our boys who are racing – Alex Thorpe, Adam Becker and Andrew Carracher, who are all ready to roll!

I am also using the trip to learn as much as I can about the course, what it takes to qualify and to meet plenty of people hear different ideas! On top of this, the focus is also to have a great holiday with friends and family who have travelled all the way over to Kona!!! I cannot thank them enough for their support during an otherwise tricky time.

I would also like to say a huge thank you to my awesome personal sponsors; TORQ Nutrition, Champion System Australia, Blue Seventy and Skin Strong for their ongoing support.

I am going to use this as a learning tool to help me to improve myself for the next time and also it isn’t hard to find the motivation from both incidents for the next big race! So next time the prep or a race gets hard, it will never be as hard as the disappointment of this situation. And secondly and EXTREMELY importantly – when it does come off, when I achieve the goal, I know the sense of satisfaction after enduring some tough times will be worth every second!

Dare to bite off more than you can chew, remember that set backs are normal and don’t let them discourage you and above all – be PASSIONATE about what you do! It is the only way!!!

AP

The preparation for Port Macquarie was something that taught me a lot about myself and how far I was able to push myself. Meg’s and Alex had everything planned out not just for the 4 months leading in, but for the year prior, so while it was darn hard work, it went very smoothly! We had LOADS of fun as a team – the AP10 group are awesome fun to be around and when I travelled to the race I knew I had never worked so hard for anything and couldn’t have felt better prepared!!!

I was standing at the start line of my first ever Ironman at Port Macquarie. Although I was nervous I had decided to make it my mission to embrace my first IM experience and spend the whole day racing with passion and excitement. I was towards the back of Zone 1 for the rolling start and entered the freezing Hastings River which had a distinct brown tinge to it after all the rain. Visibility was pretty much non-existent and I spent the first 1-2kms of the swim zig-zagging around people. By the time I got onto the weir I finally found a bit of clear water and some decent feet to swim on. The return leg of the swim was fast yet controlled, and my main focus was staying in touch with the group I was swimming at the back of. Other notable highlights from the swim leg worth mentioning include: numerous large logs hitting me, forgetting to turn my watch on (this is standard race day behaviour for me), and watching a dude in front of me have a massive stack on the weir. All in all, I was really happy with how I executed the swim leg and exited the water in 57 minutes – added bonus!

By the time I jumped on the bike I was so excited to get out there and see what I could do. I’d had an absolute shocker of a bike leg at the Port Half Ironman in October and was really keen to make amends. I held myself back on the hills heading out of town as people flew past me, as I was confident that I’d claw them back later in the day. The first lap of the bike was fantastic, and I didn’t even mind the bumpy roads, or going up Matthew Flinders Drive. However, shortly after this point was the first moment that I was aware of suffering some fatigue and that the day had really started to warm up. The combination of these two factors led to some poor gearing choices and my chain coming off. I jumped off and got my chain back on reasonably quickly (by my standards).  Rather than dwelling on this, it turned out to be a confidence builder, as I realised that even when things weren’t going to plan I was dealing with them well.

Soon after I was heading back into Port and I could hear a group of people having a REALLY great time…and upon turning the corner those people turned out to be my people! Who knew that a cow, some very un-holy looking Nun’s, Popeye, AP dressed as a woman and small version of Margaret Thatcher could make SO much noise! I pretty much felt like I could go 10 rounds with Mike Tyson after this. To add to my upbeat attitude, not too far down the road were my family & close friends. I was so happy to see them that I nearly cracked both cheekbones from all the smiling and laughing.

By the time I got out onto the second lap the wind had picked up but I was fine until about the 150km mark (this can be mostly attributed to the sheer joy from grabbing my bottle of coke from my special needs bag at the 95km mark), but it was from here that things started to get a little tougher. I was getting really sore (trust me you don’t need details!), the back sections of the course were feeling much bumpier than in lap 1 and it was quite lonely out there with hardly any spectators around. That last hour on the bike required a lot of “being comfortable with being uncomfortable” and after 6 hours and 20 minutes on the bike I’ve never been so happy to see T2 and change out of my bike shoes into my running gear.

The 42.2km marathon was a 4 lap course that took you through the town of Port Macquarie and then out to the suburb of Settlement Point. I figured out really quickly that the happier I was on this run the more support I’d get from the crowd. Their energy was 100 fold what I could produce at that point so I was taking as much as I could from them. I’d made the decision prior to the race that I would run comfortably for the first three laps and see what I had left with 10kms to go. The first 10km went really quickly, and before I knew it I had my first lap band on my wrist. On the second lap the highlights were Banger on the megaphone telling me that my calves looked amazing and Nicki Nugara running beside me and pepping me up, before getting in trouble for this from another competitor. I then met up with Rob Benge on his trusty bike out at Settlement Point and we had a great chat for a good few kilometers. This section of the course was a bit thin on spectators, so having Rob out there made those kilometers so much easier. Although tired, I could still process that all the messages I was getting from the crowd were identical; that I looked great and that I was executing an awesome race. This only helped to grow my confidence as I entered the back end of the marathon.

The third lap was where I thought I would struggle the most, but I actually found this lap the most enjoyable. I was comfortable, in a great rhythm, and there were no nutritional upsets to speak of. Night was starting to fall, and it had started to rain slightly just as I was beginning my final lap. All was going swimmingly until about 8km to go – when I had a blister pop underneath the ball of my foot that made the last section of the marathon pretty uncomfortable. However, I knew in the scheme of things that this was minor and I only need to push on for another 40 minutes or so. Although those last 8km were tough, before I knew it I was grabbing my last lap band and heading towards the end of the race. Just before the finish line, I was able to give multiple group hugs to different groups of family and friends. This truly was the best part of the whole day and I will never ever forget those moments. You guys mean everything to me!  I was so pumped cross the finish line after having the best day of my life and seeing a finish time of 11 hours 46 minutes. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined a sub-12 hour finish in my first Ironman on a tough course!

For the vast majority of people my Ironman experience is summed up by the wonderful photos that I’ve been tagged in on Facebook & the parts of the day that I’ve recounted in this report. Whilst there’s no denying that it was undoubtedly the most amazing day of my life, there is only one reason for this – that I was meticulous in my preparation & I had the most phenomenal team of people around me.

For well over 12 months I made a commitment to myself & hoped that by wholeheartedly embracing the training that it would pay off. The thing about Ironman is that the actual day is a tiny fraction of the buildup that goes into the race. The bulk of the journey happens in the training, and the thing about the training is that it’s dirty, it’s hard, it’s often lonely & it pushes your body to places that you didn’t even know existed. At the time I didn’t realise it, but I now know that it was these tough training days that made the race the perfect day that it was. I’d done all the hard work and mental “hardening up” in training. I’d made the nutritional mistakes, confronted & dealt with the self-doubt, and made the wrong clothing choices (boy have I got some chafing stories). These days were sure as hell hard, but were they worthwhile? You bloody betcha they were! They allowed me to enjoy every minute of my first Ironman surrounded by my family & friends. I wouldn’t change one day of my preparation for all the money in the world.

A massive thank you has to go to Megan & Alex, and to the most amazing group of training buddies anyone could ever ask for. Debbie, Juannie & Sticks – I still maintain that I could NEVER have done it without you guys!

Trent followed us around for a day, while I reviewed and updated their Strength and Conditioning programs. This review and progression is done several times a year to ensure all athletes are working on EXACTLY what they need to be at that specific time of the year and also that their programs are progressive and challenging.

Trent spent most time with me and therefore the article is focused around the following athletes;

• Aaron Royle - Under 23 world Champion and now future Rio Olympian,
• Gwen Jorgensen – World Champion and soon to be dual Olympian,
• Ryan Bailie - Currently ranked 6th in the world!

I have a great space set up for Triathlon Specific gym work out the back of our house here in Wollongong, which is used most days by various athletes, including these guys. Ava, our 10 month old daughter is growing up getting to know a lot of different people and often ‘helps’ with the work!

The article is set up by reviewing the importance of strength and stability for the triathlete, of ALL levels, how to ideally incorporate a routine into a training weekly program and how to make your routine SPECIFIC to triathlon – which is probably the number one mistake I see athletes making, thus wasting their time and energy!

It then goes into WHAT each of the three above athletes focus on in their routines and WHY. The article also outlines three key exercises each athlete includes in their routine!

Check it out and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

alex@ap10.com.au

or 0422 365 375

Quotes from the athletes in the articles;

“Alex has introduced and developed a comprehensive strength and conditioning program specifically for me, which is built around key areas associated with movement patterns in triathlon. I’ve been pretty fortunate with injuries over the years; I haven’t had anything that has kept me out for an extended period of time. I think this is because Alex’s planning and programs are proactive rather than reactive – identifying weaknesses before they become problems, and they help to improve my performance at the same time” – Aaron Royle

“I have found that specific strengthening work is very important to injury prevention and performance. The work I have done with Alex over the years has enabled me to gain strength and work on flaws to become a stronger athlete and hold that ‘perfect form’ under fatigue. I have worked with him since moving to Wollongong (in 2009) and he has kept me on the training and race track consistently, and helped me progress in becoming a stronger, more rounded athlete.” – Ryan Bailie

“I view strength and conditioning as medicine. I need to take my medicine daily to be strong and healthy and performing at my best!” - Gwen Jorgensen

It is never too early to start learning how to run well! In fact there are numerous benefits from teaching kids to run with good technique and instilling good habits from an early age. These benefits include improving run efficiency, injury prevention and increasing the likelihood of success and longevity in the sport.

A key component of being a good runner lies in being an efficient runner; that is reducing energy wasted on superfluous movement thereby reducing the amount of energy that it takes to travel a set distance.  Improving run technique is key to becoming a more efficient runner for example correcting arm position can aid in eliminating wasted energy from excessive rotation. Learning the correct technique is not a challenging feat however it does requires lots of practice – focusing on key concepts such as cadence, body position and time spent in contact with the ground. The earlier these concepts are introduced to kids the better as it allows more time to practice, increases body awareness and provides them with an opportunity to achieve considerable improvements in performance.

Improving technique also plays a major role in the prevention of injury. Many common injuries experienced by runners arise as a consequence of poor biomechanics and overuse which result in uneven force distribution causing overload and irritation to structures. This can lead to injuries such as tendinopathies, stress reactions/fractures or muscle tears. Improving run technique (and biomechanics) ensures that joints and muscles are being used in positions that are the most favourable to absorb, disperse and produce force minimising overload and thus the likelihood of injury.

Not only is it worthwhile improving run technique as a child but there is a fantastic opportunity to teach and instil good training habits that will aid in minimising injury and promoting longevity in the sport. For example educating and demonstrating what constitutes a warm up and cool down are very simple concepts yet pay off considerably if they become habitual prior to training sessions and races. It has been shown time and time again that performing good warm up not only prepares our body for work and maximises the benefits gained from a session but also contributes to injury prevention.

Most of all however, by providing kids with the necessary tools for success, enjoyment and injury prevention they are more likely to develop an early love for exercise and see it become a lifelong habit which has invaluable benefits!!!

Mel Witchard

Mel is a qualified Physiotherapist, a qualified Exercise Physiologist and national level elite runner. Mel is also a qualified AP10 Coach, who coaches athletes of all levels including coaching several kids run groups every week in Wollongong. To find out more about this, please email: alex@ap10.com.au