Racing the clock

As I get older, I learn more and more about myself everyday. Over the past 6 months I have learned that I need goals in my life. I need things to strive for or I struggle for motivation. The City 2 Surf was the last of my running goals I set when I gave up smoking. It's always been one of my favourite races and is one I really wanted to do well in. Unfortunately I didn't get under my goal time of 50mins, I could only manage a 51. Seems I have a problem where I come up 1 short :) Remember the Gold Coast Marathon? Want sub 3 went 3:01. WTF? I'm not disappointed and am not making any excuses. I gave it my best and that's all I could have given. On the other hand I have learnt a few valuable training lessons and plan on never making particular mistakes again.

Happy with a PB but really wanna go under 50mins one day.

Good gang that ran for the WSPA raising money for the animals.

Yes I did lose a bet with Hoppo and will be wearing this while
 rollerblading the promenade at Bondi at some point this summer. OH DEAR !!

1 out of 3 isn't bad... so close on the others :(

I'll never be a podium athlete and it's something I'm totally cool with. I just really enjoy always trying to better myself. There are people on this planet that have to work really hard do well at their sport of choice and then there are people with natural ability. Unfortunately I am not the latter. Don't get me wrong, people with natural ability still have to work hard to achieve their goals but things like running and swimming, to name a couple,  just seem to come easier to some than others. Take my good buddy Whippet for example. I've been working with Whippet on the beach now for about 10 years. Whippet is a natural athlete, full stop. He excels and slots into the "above average" bracket at anything he has a go at. Kerr Box is another one, must be something in the water at Bronte where they both grew up. I'll never forget one year, many moons ago, it was time for us to do our annual Lifeguard test and many of us, Whippet and myself included, had only just returned from Indonesia after filming the Bondi Rescue Bali spin off show. Now I'm not going to lie,  we had more than just good time over there and training was replaced by way to many nights drinking bintangs and jungle juices in many of the island paradise's beautiful plunge pool bars. This act of treating our bodies like rental cars led us being "VERY" out of shape and nervous about the 800m pool swim we had to do in under 13mins. Oh and the M-Shape (run, swim & board course) we had to do down at the beach right after. That year, thanks to some ridiculous cram training I just scraped in swimming a 12:59 in the pool and I'm pretty sure I came last in the M-Shape with 3 seconds to spare before I would have failed and had to re do my tests a month later. Whippet on the other hand, jumped in the pool with, I think 1 light training session up his sleeve and swam a 9:55, then on his way to the beach for the M-Shape, wobbles through McDonalds drive through and orders a breakfast that even Fat Albert would've been sweating over. He then proceeds to beach and comes 1st in the Ironman course. Now I don't care what anyone says, without natural ability, you just can't do that...

I have set myself some new goals and am taking on a whole new sport... Look out Triathlon world, myself and some of the lifeguard boys are coming to get our asses kicked by you. This all came about when some of us went to IM Melbourne and raced in a team, we got a little taste of how amazing the sport of Ironman triathalon really is and we want more. There is 5 of us lifeguards that are signed up for Port Mac 70.3. It's only a half Ironman, but I have no doubt its going to put me right in my place at the bottom of the Ironman food chain. On the other hand, I'm really looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead. For most of us the bike leg will be very testing. I personally know I have a lot of work to do on the bike and in the swim but hopefully, thanks to the help of an Australian champion triathlete, Spot Anderson, I can improve on my weaknesses and improve. Spot owns Bondi Fit where he helps people from all walks of life achieve their lifelong swimming, biking and running goals.

New set of goals:

Port Mac 70.3 (half ironman) Oct - Lose my virginity to IM triathlon !
Noosa Tri (olympic distance) Nov - Enjoy the festival and have a crack at Olympic distance !
Perth IM (full ironman) Dec - Just hope to finish my first & get the Monkey off my back !
Melbourne IM (full ironman) Mar 2013 - Have a real good crack at it & try to go under 11hrs !

Riding with Whip and Bacon... We are such lycra rookies...

Rookie mistakes: Bike riding in fingerless gloves in winter is one I will never make again.

My beautiful Giant bike is my new girlfriend... She sleeps in my bed and we never fight... ever.

In other news, we just had our annual lifeguard physical tests and this year was an extra special one for me. Today was the first lifeguard pool swim and M-Shape surf ironman test I have done as a non-smoker and boy did it feel good. First up we had the pool swim and I was hoping to go under 11mins. It was a big ask but I thought I may just get there with all the extra swimming training I had been doing. After giving it to myself I came in 11:13. Still happy but much more work to do. Next we went down to the beach for our IM and I came out of the water after the first swim mid field. The one thing I really did notice being a non-smoker was while in the transition from the swim to the board where I would normally be gasping for breath, I found myself feeling good and having a laugh. After another swim, 2 boards and 2 runs I finished up 3rd behind Whippet and Azza. I've never finished 3rd at anything In my life so I knew something must have happened and I found out later Hoppo and Maxi got held up for some reason and I had to give myself the 5th. I'm still happy with the 5th and am looking forward to my next showdown with Chappo in the lifeguard challenge in Feb. Hopefully it's a little closer than today and I don't beat him by a good 3 minutes again :)

Also, a little while back I was out playing around shooting some underwater photos of Whippet and Corey as the water was so clear and a pod of Dolphins decided to swim straight into the bay at Bondi. Check it out here: 

I will do my best to keep this blog updated more often but since taking up this crazy sport of Triathlon and and my many jobs I very rarely get any free time. Im thinking about switching to a Vlog and just post pictures with captions on here also. What do you all think?

Thanks for stopping in :)

Reidy