DAY 1

5:20am Out of bed

5:45am Run 65mins

7:00am Swim 4km including 2km Timed

10:00am Bike 160km (broken as 98km then lunch then another 62km)

This is my first Epic Camp and I have just one goal, to log the mileage. A few of the other guys are getting pretty excited about the points competition but come the second week I think many of us will be on survival mode.

Last night we went to the Casino for the triathletes heaven "the buffet dinner". I am a sucker for deep fried food and I took this rare opportunity with open arms - I was pretty sure this was going to be my only fat feast of the camp knowing Gordo’s influence on the camp menu. The deep fried calamari was a particular favourite along with the chocolate eclairs and ice cream to finish. As always Gordo frowned on my eating habits but I had a pretty good feeling that I would burn it off the next day.

On the way back to the hotel Clas and I were talking with Scott about the morning run trying to decide if we wanted to go with the group or run after the bike. Scott said it was going to be an easy 60mins - we probed a bit further as to the speed and he replied that we would be going 5min/km pace. I have a real aversion to running this slow, Clas obviously was thinking the same and came out with one of his classic quotes "are you planning on walking" he said with a smile to Scott. In the end we went with the consensus and come the second week I think I will be happy if I can make 60mins and will take any speed I can muster.

The swim was pretty uneventful and then came 10am and it was time for the first of the rides. I came to the conclusion some time ago that being a kiwi from Christchurch we are very privileged to have some of the best riding anywhere in the world. For the first few hours out of Sydney today I was longing for my home roads. We traversed the city through countless sets of lights then hit the motorways where the noise from the trucks was deafening and the smiles were few and far between. As we approached Penrith we got off the main roads and we all began to relax and enjoy the scenery. No attacks today although Gordo decided to crank it up a little on stage 2 just as I punctured, I still rolled out my 160km with a group behind.

So that was day one. I feel surprisingly fresh given today’s volume. I did start suffering a bit in the last hour as the temperature was over 30c. Let’s hope every day runs as smoothly as today.

DAY 2

5:20am Out of bed

6:00am Swim 4km

9:00am Bike 225km (strong rolling terrain)

6:00pm Run 13km

It’s not called Epic Camp for nothing and today was the biggest training day of my life and most of the other guys were in the same boat.

Today felt very comfortable for the majority of the day and apart from 3 punctures I would have been over the moon. My strategy for all the swims is to just do 4km steady swimming every day. Scott, Bjorn & co were smacking out some fly this morning but I resisted the temptation. We then went back to the hotel for a monster buffet breakfast and onto the bikes. We had been forewarned that today was going to be tough. It was hot, the terrain was rolling all day and the pace was not going to be as easy as yesterday. Gordo hit the front early but for those of us behind it was being like in a wind tunnel and the physical exertion was not too great, but mentally I was finding it tough riding in a big group. I didn’t know the roads, I didn’t know and the guys I’m riding with and there was a bit of traffic. We hit the first decent climb at about 20km and as we approached the summit I just about came a cropper when I jumped out of my saddle only to find my front tyre flat as a pancake. I was pretty pissed as I was looking forward to mixing it with the guys today. I’m going to put the blame for my bad luck today squarely on Peter O’Brien the head of support team. We were one route map short this morning and I was the one who missed out as he said "you’ll be with the bunch all day so you should be fine". In hindsight it was a blessing in disguise as I cruised through to lunch with Spencer who had decided to set his own pace from the outset. He has learnt plenty about pacing from his time in Christchurch and I think he’ll come through the second week well. He commented that while we were taking the scenic route which seemed to be taking us over every climb in sight "I bet those other f…..ers are on the flat highway - and they were". Hence our lunch stop was brief so we could head off for stage two with the pack (after I’d changed my slow leaking flat of course). The rolling terrain was relentless but the end was in sight when I saw a sign with 55km to Goldburn which was close tot he end of the day. To say I was a little bamboozled an hour later when we had 61km to go would be an understatement. It was during this detour that I got briefly out of my comfort zone for the first time on the camp. I was quietly minding my own business at the back of the pack and half way up a climb I noticed Clas & Gordo has ridden about 75m off the front of the pack. Nobody looked like they were up for closing the gap and whilst I was considering what to do Bjorn came past like I wasn’t moving. I gave it another 10 seconds then decided to chase them down. I got within 50m then Bjorn hit the front and I thought it was curtains. I persisted and luckily the pace slowed slightly and I got on and then it was plain sailing.

For the next hour we were in search of the support crew for drinks with no success. We knew that when we got back to the Highway we shouldn’t be to far away from a services – we were right. When we pulled into the BP our prayers were answered and the angels were on hand. Get this, waiting with smiles on their faces was the red bull team with more free Red Bull than we could handle. We rolled out fuelled up in the home straight. All that was between me and the end of the day was another puncture and about 50km. Off the bike and into the 12km run to get my bonus points for the day. As I said in yesterdays report I’m not a fan of running more than 5min/km pace and so I set off with Bjorn at what I was sure was well under 5min pace. Gordo tried to tell me otherwise but the Swedes were backing me up.

Tonight we’re shacked up in the outback in a sheep station in the shearers quarters. No air con and three to a room – this adds significantly more pressure on out nasal systems if you know what I mean.

So that was day 2 – the biggest training day of my life

DAY 3

Swim 4km

Run: 12km

Bike 90km

Today we stayed at the sheep station and it was another hot one. It was a semi recovery day and fairly uneventful other than another 30km of climbing in 40c heat.

DAY 4

Bike 217km (including 7500 feet of climbing)

Run 12km

I decided to give swimming a miss this morning as my shoulder was pretty sore and I wanted some bonus sleep. We rolled out of the sheep station at about 9am and I was with 6 others. For a change we had a gentle downhill for the start and a tail wind. We took advantage of this and were humming along at a great speed. When we were about 20km from our first drink stop Mr Molina made his way to the front of the pack and put in a bit of a surge. I took this as a sign that it was time to play some games. After letting him set the pace for a few km’s I rolled over the top and upped the pace a bit. I was anticipating someone would come over the top again but I ended up staying on the front all the way through to drinks. The cursing that occurred at the break was something to behold but I was quick to point out the Scott started the action and I just kept the momentum going. It was all good fun and we had a good laugh

From lunch we started to hit some tough rolling climbs and they just kept hitting us for 150km all the way to the end of the day. God it was relentless.

Another tough day and quads and calves are starting to get a bit sore.

DAY 5

Bike 180km (including 8500 feet of climbing!!!)

Today was total carnage. I recommended to Clive & Fritz (my room mates last night) to flag swimming today and get an extra 1.5hrs of sleep as we were going to need it. I think they were pretty grateful.

The Epic moto is "there is no easy way" and today there was no easy way from Noroma to Cooma. 180km does not tell the story but I can sum it up in a few words; hard, hilly and hot as hell.

I decided to set off with Scott again today and we were joined by Peter H. I like riding with Scott as I know he sets an even pace and his always provides us with some light entertainment. This can get a little uncomfortable if he cracks a joke at the summit of a climb when you are heaving for breath.

Out of the motel and it was straight into 70km of hard rolling hills to aid station one. The scenery was spectacular but Peter (the downhill daredevil) rightly pointed out that he has never been depressed going downhill till today as he knew any elevation we lost we would have to get back later. I was having a few metal issues early on. I seemed to be convincing myself that I was tired and consequently felt like crap. As soon as my mind started wandering and I thought of other things I freshened up. After I finally worked out what was going on I chippered up and got into a grove.

The thermometer was climbing quickly and Scott wasn’t happy with my lack of sweating as the torrents of moisture came down his body. It’s still a miracle to many how he won Hawaii with his incredible perspiration rate and today he was taking every opportunity to keep hydrated. We finally made it to lunch and knew we were close to the foot of a 14km climb over Mt Brown and into the heart of the snowy mountains.

We had started behind the majority of the guys this morning and they were just setting off as we pulled in for a bite. I was wondering how many of them I would see before the end of the day. When we left lunch the temperature was climbing further and Peter was giving us regular updates, he had a reading of 44c at the foot of the climb (I was later told it hit 48 on the climb). This was serious heat; I’ve raced in a lot of hot places like India, Malaysia, Hong Kong etc but this was something else and we were staring down the barrel of a 14km climb, like lambs to the slaughter I thought. Scott was sitting on my wheel but I sensed that when he grabbed his I-pod at lunch he was planning on some private time during this ride and about halfway up he took some time out and I was on my own for the rest of the day. The further up the climb I got I started reeling in some of the front group. It wasn’t pretty and some of the fellas were not looking in good shape at all. Funny how 700km in the 4 pervious days can make you a little tired. After struggling on the early part of the climb I started to get up some steam later but my god it was just so incredibly hot. Lot’s of the guys were complaining that they couldn’t take a drink on the climb as they were so worried if they took there hands of their bars they would come off; thankfully I wasn’t quite that bad. As I approached the summit I was steaming up on Vernon and as he made the peak he hit the air and gave a yelp, that was great to see – little did he (and I) know that we had a few kms of false flat to follow.

Just when I thought we had endured everything Australia could throw at us then came the winds. From nowhere we started getting buffered by howling winds from all directions. What else day did this day have installed for us? It was survival from here on in with still about 55km to go.

As I crossed the plateaux a big green Oz Experience bus came bellowing past. Oz experience is a franchise of Kiwi Experience - a tour for young pumped up backpackers looking to drink every pub they enter dry and shag anything in sight. I had a chuckle to myself that I could give them a real Oz experience; try climbing Mt Brown in 45c heat and see how you find that!! I had to do something to start amusing myself, I was getting a little tired.

The rest of the ride just kept going and going but we all made it. Needless to say the accommodation for tonight was at the top of another hill just to finish us off. The support van was still on the road helping the tail enders so no run off the bike today.

I’m still surprised that I am not completely shattered and am still looking forward to the hard work to come next week. That said, my legs are rather sore but tomorrow is a mini recovery day.

I think today was what Epic Camp is all about. Pushing your body and mind to the limit so when race day comes around it all feels like a walk in the park. Let’s hope it works out that way.

DAY 6

Swim 4km

Bike 95km

Run 12km

The original schedule today was to ride to the highest town in Australia which would have been a round trip of 220km with a huge amount of climbing. When Gordo asked who was doing the ride not a hand was raised, everyone was starting at the ground, we were all smoked from our long day in the sun. I later found out some stories from day 5. Bjorn had to lie under a tree for quite a while with heat stroke symptoms, Clas stopped for 5 mins to re-hydrate and cool down, Scott had a number of stops to cool down and jump in a mountain stream and KP refused to get in the van when he shredded his tire 10km from the end of the day. We all had our own stories on what had been a very tough day. Great character building stuff.

So today was another mini recovery day. I volunteered to set the route for a group ride leaving at 9am. Seven of us set off not knowing what terrain we were in for today. In hindsight I came up with the best possible loop we could have hoped for. 30km with a tail wind and mostly downhill, 30km of fairly hard climbing and 30km of long descents and tail winds to finish. The last 30km was true bliss hitting speeds of 80km/hr and finishing the ride not drilled to pieces was nice for a change.

I am starting to think I know what it feels like to be a tour de France rider. We are just going from town to town eating, training (racing for them) and then trying to recuperate for the next day. I guess some of their "magic" remedies must work pretty well because my legs are starting to get sorer by the day and we’ve only been going 6 days. My energy levels are good so hopefully the throbbing will go away with some stretching and relaxing.

DAY 7

Swim: 4km

Bike: 200km (around 10,000 feet of climbing!!!!!!!!!)

Run 12km

Last night Gordo said everyone was holding up well and part of the reason for that was we were having good hot weather. Take a guess what the weather was doing the morning. Yip, it was raining and cool. No one was complaining after the incredible heat of the past few days. Finally we would have some respite from the bloody flies as well. Some of the time we have been riding so slow that the flies can keep up; man that was depressing and bloody annoying.

Today was another big day in the saddle. Most of the guys were doing their own thing with quite a few doing secret training for the points competition. I wasn’t quite sure how far I was going to go today but I was pretty keen to check out the course for Epic triathlon on Tuesday. Stage one from Cooma to Jindabyne was 106km and we had some fantastic quiet country roads and it was pleasant riding in the rain.

After a break for lunch it was time to head to Charlotte Pass - a dead end road. Any place name with Pass in it usually implies that there is going to be a bit of climbing and there was. At lunch we already had about 1300m of climbing from the morning ride, we had no idea what was installed for our afternoon. Spencer decided to be my wingman for the afternoon jaunt and it was nice to have some company. We entered the national park and the signs told us we still had 35km to the pass, this looked ominous.

One of the things that we have all learned to dread on our relentless climbs is that when you see a "passing zone ahead" sign there was still plenty of climbing to go. Today we were seeing a lot of signs and the climb just kept going and going, I think it ended up being about 15-20kms for the initial climb. From the top were kept rolling to the pass at 1850m. This route took us 2 ¼ hrs and the return journey took a little over an hr. It was great on the way down with long straights and gentle corners.

Tonight I am bloody tired. I am far from cracking and a good night sleep should help.

WEEKLY TOTALS

SWIM – 20km

BIKE – 1175km (with about a million metres of climbing)

RUN – 74km

DAY 8

Swim 4km

Bike – 90km

Recovery day. Got left behind at the internet café so decided that was a sign to give the run a miss.

DAY 9

RACE DAY

SWIM 4km

BIKE 90km

RUN 21km

Race

Swim 1500m

Bike 38km (with about 1500m of elevation gain) to Charlotte Pass

Run 9km to the top of Mt Kosiouscos (Australia’s highest mountain)

I had been looking forward to today’s race for a few days. I’ve been in retirement since mid 2001 and only got back into training on October so I was unsure of my top end form.

Gordo was doing his usual sandbagging which I am well used to after knowing him for quite a few years. He thought I was the dark horse for the win but I was pretty sure that the Swede’s would take it out. Having said that I did want to keep a clean sheet against Gordo at least for the next 6 weeks.

We rolled out to the race at 7am and waited down by the lake. Half of us were there but for some reason the other half just didn’t turn up. We waited and waited then finally Clas came down to give us the news that Fritz and crashed coming down the steep hill when his wetsuit jammed into his front wheel. It was apparently a bad crash and Fritz landed face first. It gave us all a bit of a reality check and it was a bit of effort to get motivated for the start. We took off none the less with a gentle start. I hate leading swims (I need glasses) so I let Scott roll over the top and lead out the 2 lap swim. Bjorn was going non-wetsuit and tucked in behind me. The pace was comfortable but I think Scott should also invest in a pair of specs as he was taking us on a wild goose chase. One minute I would be on his feet, the next he would be off to the right and then to the left. He got us around the course though and I was thankful for the tow. We all had pedestrian transitions putting on dry tops and grabbing jackets. It was amazing that in the 15mins we were in the water the day had gone from being overcast to not a cloud in the sky, dam it I knew I should have put some sun screen on this morning. Bjorn got the jump on us while we removed our wetsuits like a couple of old men then we were off. It’s debatable whether it was a good move to ride the course two days ago or not but I knew what was in front of us: about 3-4kms of rollers, then a 15-20km climb followed by 15km of rollers, it was going to be a tough bike. Once we hit the hill I was all alone with Bjorn out of sight and no sign of Scott behind. I settled into a rhythm and just kept tapping on the pedals occasionally getting out of my seat to give my back and behind some reprieve. I guess after about 20-30mins I had a look back to see if anyone was coming and I saw the pack reeling me in; Scott, Clas and Gordo were slowing catching me. I was riding comfortably (given that we were on a long climb) and knew it was only a matter of time before the junction was made. I wasn’t that surprised to see Gordo & Clas but I didn’t expect Scott – he can still turn it on when he wants to. I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen when they caught me but I sure as hell wasn’t going to roll over and die. As it turned out the catch was quite gentle and the action only started to hot up near the tops of each climb. We actually dropped Gordo at one stage but he clawed his way back on. He came straight up to my wheel and Clas asked him if the rules had changed and drafting was allowed. Clas was then subject to a torrent of screaming abuse by Gordo claiming "you f…..ers got into a pace line up that last climb…..", poor old Clas just about fell off his bike laughing (we weren’t drafting by the way). Clas, Scott and myself have all known Gordo long enough to know what winds him up and it’s fun to see him loose it every noun and then. There were a few more attacks towards the finish and Clas and I hit transition with a small gap to Gordo and Scott.

The rules for the run were that you had to carry a jacket, food and 1L of fluid. I was without a fuel belt, camelback or anything to carry bottles and I foolishly thought they would be OK in my bike jersey pockets. That lasted all of 20 metres and I was forced to carry a full bottle in each hand. This just about did my head in plus my forearms were getting very tired fast. Clas caught me at about 1km but I just couldn’t run properly with these dam bottles. He opened up a gap and finally at about the 3km mark I ditched one bottle and shoved the other one down my pants, finally I could run properly again. Clas had about 30sec on me now and this stayed the same all the way to the top. I contemplated putting in a effort to bridge the gap but I thought this was a sure fire way to self destruction and it wasn’t worth the pain for one point on the classification. Clas later told me he was scared that I was going to come back at him at the halfway mark - maybe I should have but hindsight is a great thing. Either way, that’s a nice complement from the IMNZ run record holder and makes me feel like I’m on track for Taupo.

So Bjorn held on for the win after having a 5min gap at T2, Clas 2nd, me 3rd, Gordo 4th, Scott 5th and Spencer 6th (with the fastest run split of the day)

From the top of the mountain the views were spectacular and we were all in agreement that this was a great event - an informal "old school" triathlon.

DAY 10

SWIM – 4km

BIKE – 91km

RUN – 12km

Cracks are appearing in some of the Epic crew today, myself included. I did 4km DPS in the pool which was a battle and a sorry sight indeed. Then off for a bike with Scott, Clas, Peter & Clive. The pace seemed solid from the outset so I was sitting on the back. The others stopped for coffee around half way and I set off to do an extra 6km to take the loop up to 90km and get my valued 1 point. As I saw the others coming back my way I turned around and waited. Just to wind me up Scott attacked as they caught me and the paced remained solid (I was wondering what the hell they had got in their coffee). When things like that happen I usually make a mental note and save it for later. About 5kms later we came to a long climb and Molina was staying on the front. I decided to roll up, have a brief chat and up the pace a little just to see how everyone’s legs were today. Scott & I kept lapping it out all the way home and we were both surprised how well we could ride given how bloody hard yesterday was.

So now I’ve still got my run to do. Mentally it’s going to be tough to get out there again but I’m hopeful. In some ways I’m happy that I am starting to get pretty tired. It’s funny how a little high intensity can work you over big time. I think I could have kept doing the long mileage for a while or until I mentally cracked.

Tomorrow is a 7 event competition in the morning including things like 400 IM, a mini duathlon etc. More on that tomorrow.

DAY 11

Last night I hit new levels of tiredness. I was completely shelled and hit the sack at 8:30. Thankfully I woke up feeling a little better but not much.

Day 11 - Sports Day

Push Ups to Max

Free Throws – 20 attempts

1500m run

Duathlon 3km – 15km – 3km

50m Free

200 Kick

400IM

"The curse of the free throws"

Today dawned cloudy with lightning & thunder all around us. We were supposed to start out with the Duathlon but some folk were a little worried with the lightning. So bring on the press ups. I decided to play a tactical card and dropped out at 37 which would place me about 2/3 down, I think I could have pulled out another 5-7 but wanted to save something for the swim. Clas killed everybody with about 90!!!

I came dead last in the free throws, enough said (1/20). It was an American clean sweep with the Schilt brothers taking the quenella Jeff 15/20 and John 14/20.

The 1500m was going to be interesting with some ex-track runners thinking that could take down the Clas. No chance, again the Barron killed everyone by taking it out hard and holding on. Spencer 2nd, Bjorn 3rd, Gordo 4th and me 5th

The rain, thunder and lighting subsided for the Duathlon. The first run finished with the same order as the 1500m. I drilled it up to Gordo and tried to keep it going. It’s funny how he was doing the screaming at us for drafting the other day in the Tri (hopefully I will have a photo attached to this report – that’s me in front and someone else sucking on my wheel. It looks remarkably like Gordo).

I absolutely drilled myself in the second half as I knew I wanted a healthy lead on Spencer (he ran 3:48 for a 1500m when he was at College!!!). I told Gordo I would not put up a fight for the run, neither of us wanted a civilian in front of us at the end. It’s a matter of pride.

Again the Barron 1st, Bjorn 2nd, Gordo 3rd, me 4th, Spencer 5th

Off to the pool. I was hoping for a consistent set of 3rds across the three events. I knew Bjorn would win all three and I didn’t fancy my chances against Scott.

First up was the 50m free. I took it out hard trying to take as few breathes as possible but my arms were feeling like crap and my speed felt pretty poor. In came in 29.7 not fast but given how buggered we all are it was OK. Scott & Bjorn both pulled out 28’s but I got my 3rd.

Event two was the 200m kick. There were some strict rules in place with absolutely no arm strokes and everyone had a kick board. We set of in groups of 6; Clive took it out hard in my group but I knew the back half was going to hurt a lot given the shape we were in. With 25 to go I hit the front and held on to come in with 3.37. Bjorn kicked faster than many of the guys can swim finishing in 2:59. Scott blew to pieces and I managed 2nd.

The final event was "the Dolan", the 400IM. The slowest guys went first and without trying to be too mean on them we were all on the side of the pool in stitches laughing. After the first 50 fly the poor guys arms were hardly coming out of the water. But everyone made it and hats off to them. Most of them had never done a 400IM and given this was the end of the biggest 11 days of theirs lives so it was pretty impressive.

Bjorn and I were the second to last heat, Bjorn went 5:22 and I did 5:47. I was satisfied with this but in hindsight it was a tactical error to go before Scott as he upped his game and went 5:40 to take 2nd. Gordo dug deep and went 5:59 for a new PB.

Given how completely buggered we were these events really really hurt a lot. Having said that we all found the morning fun and we are just relaxing for the afternoon.

Tomorrow is the final day with a 180km ride to Canberra.

DAY 12

Bike 195km Jindabyne to Canberra

We had strict time limits today as we had to be in Canberra by 2pm so the vans could drive on to Sydney and we were flying a bit later. If you got behind today you were in the van and nobody has been in the van yet. Vernon had the worst possible start to the day with bike problems, unfortunately for him we couldn’t wait. He called up support and got himself going again and valiantly rode solo for 195km just so he wasn’t in the van. As for the rest of us we were rolling along in a bunch to the first stop at about 100km. This was the first time we were in a bunch of 20 since leaving Sydney and it reminded me how much I dislike riding in large packs. I find it drains your energy concentrating on staying safe but you are working at a very low HR because of the draft. I stuck with it but wasn’t a particularly happy camper.

So after lunch I decided I didn’t want to sit in the pack anymore and I wanted to see what was left in the legs. I was one of the last to leave lunch and started picking guys up one by one as we went through yet more rolling climbs. I just got in a zone and started pushing the pace up. I wasn’t hammering and was still under IM pace. On the climbs I eased off a bit so as not to drop the slower guys then cranked it up again on the flats. I sat there for about 30km with the train behind and I didn’t hear too much chatter from behind. When I finally rolled off I saw a few relieved faces as I took a short break. The pace then slowed again so I had to get back up there for the final pull to Canberra. All in all it was a good steady ride but I did experience my first bonk on the camp as my eating today had not been great.

On arrival in Canberra we went the Australian Institute of Sport for a well deserved shower, spa and plunge pool then flew out for a celebration dinner in Sydney.

So that’s a wrap for Epic Camp Auz 2005. I am delighted with how I got through the camp and was very surprised at how well I coped with the huge mileage. I don’t think any of us (Scott & Gordo included) had anticipated the massive amount of climbing we did in the last two weeks on the bike but it was great.

I was one of the most experienced athletes on the camp having raced pro over short course tri’s in the late 90’s but this was new territory for me and I think I have benefited hugely from the experience both mentally and physically. I’ve seen a few comments on various sites saying this sort of Epic training is counter productive, you get over trained and injured……. I now think that’s all a load of rubbish and if you want to take you performance to the next level I would strongly recommend this camp to top end age-groupers and elites. I don’t think anyone picked up injuries on the camp despite the big mileage and of course we were all buggered at the end but with a sensible week recovery we will all be on track for our upcoming races. The support crew look after everything and all you need to focus on is training and making it to the hotel each day. Looking at past camps I think the race results do all the talking anyway. I’ll be there again next year for Epic NZ so till then happy training.