Daniel Walley

Here we go again, an Olympic Tri in The Gong for CanToo......... and just to make it a challenge some more broken ribs as well !

Dear all,

I am fresh out of what has been my busiest weekend for quite a while. This included a trip down to Huskisson in Jervis Bay for the whole family to participate in some Husky triathloning, followed by supporting Benji Dickinson and others in the Husky Long Course, then a mad dash back to Sydney to have dinner on the Ferris Wheel at Luna Park, followed by seeing Prince play an acoustic set at 10pm on Sunday night!! I like to keep living life to the full but this was definitely burning the candle at both ends..........

The Husky sprint distance tri was an important test event for me, allowing me to assess my fitness in advance of the Wollongong olypmic tri in two weeks and to give my newly broken ribs a work-out. Yes, more broken ribs.............sounds like bad luck, but what I am discovering is that some of my prior radiation treatment has weakened parts of my ribcage and makes me susceptible to breaks, including when doing something innocuous like reaching into the passenger footwell of the car.

I managed to battle my way through The Gong tri last year with broken ribs on my back but this year's "annual break" is on the front and presents its own challenges. The main one that I have discovered is an inability to cough when you get a mouthfull of seawater on the swim leg, this is pretty gross and makes for a wholly unpleasant swim (which is the leg that I usually enjoy).

Anyway enough about my impediments (some may call them excuses) and onto the important business of raising money for those young cancer researchers out there who are being supported by CanToo. They are still working away to find a cure, you can check out some of their most recent achievements at www.cantoo.org.au/about

After last year's wholly unexpected avalanche of support I have a modest goal this year, which is to hit my $2,500 fundraising target. I am currently at $1,100, so a little way to go but not unachievable over the next couple of weeks.

Many thanks to the superstars that have already sponsored me and thanks in advance to those that are able to help out this time around.

Thanks again.

Daniel

Pain in the Gong - 2015 Edition

So after 14 weeks of getting up early and dragging myself around Sydney’s eastern suburbs under my own steam I finally arrived in Wollongong (or The Gong as it is known locally)

My preparation had gone really well, training was consistent, no major injuries (that I knew of at the time) and I was feeling pretty good at the beach start.

At 8am exactly the starter’s horn went off, I ran forward, dived into the water and started to swim into a good position towards the head of the pack.

300 metres later it was like someone had unplugged me from the grid, my body started to shut down and resist what I was putting it through. I knew at this time, about 5 minutes in, that this was going to be one hell of a slog………and it was!

So the triathlon wasn’t the pleasurable experience that I thought it was going to be, however the most annoying aspect of the whole thing is that when you have an ‘off-day’ in an endurance event like this, you go slower and the pain stretches out for even longer.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I did make it round in one piece. It took me about 20 minutes longer than my 3 hour target, which looking back is actually a pretty good outcome. Unfortunately, this experience means that I now have to do another one to prove that it shouldn’t hurt like it did.

In true accountant style, I thought that I would provide some stats on how much training was required over the last 14 weeks to get me round an Olympic triathlon:

Bike

Total km: 818km

Metres Climbed: 6001m

Time on bike: 37hr 8mins

Running

Total km: 135km

Metres Climbed: 800m

Time on feet: 14hr 25mins

Pool Swims

Total km: 28km

Open Water Swims

Total km: 23km

Weight

Training Day 1: 90kg

Gong Race Day: 78kg

I wouldn’t have been able to attempt this without a significant level of professional support, so huge thanks to:

CanToo Coaches: Gordo “Plus Performance” Campbell,

Jeff “STG” Sapier

CanToo Mentors: Bruce, Amelia and Nerissa

Personal Trainer: Steve Lewis at Goodlife, Martin Place

Nutritionist: Karl Hughan at Goodlife, Martin Place

Physio: Blake Van Koesveld at Bend+Mend

And lastly, but most importantly, my:

Personal Travelling Support Crew: Jo, Bella and Gracie

Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone that sponsored me. I have been overwhelmed by the level of generosity and support that I have received. The knowledge that everyone had committed their hard earned funds is what really dragged me round the course on Sunday when my mind and body were telling me to stop.

So what’s next? The plan is to try and continue the current regime for a while longer, taking me through the following events:

12 April: Australian Super Corporate Triathlon

23 May: Port Stephens Olympic Triathlon

1 November: Noosa Olympic Triathlon

If anyone has been inspired by my journey here, please feel free to get in touch and I can introduce you to the team that runs the CanToo program or just join me at one of the events listed above.

Thanks again

Daniel

PS – Turns out that I broke a rib at some point during the 14 weeks which probably explains the pain in my back during swimming!