Her Coach Training Camp - Port Macquarie

Triathlon - 25% physical, 75% mental

Last weekend, I drove up to Port Macquarie for a 3 day triathlon training camp with my coach, Melinda Cockshutt, the inspiring woman behind Her Coach – a Facebook group that provides a forum for people to ask questions about training, racing and a means of support for one another to achieve goals.

As most of you know, I met Mel at a TriNSW Camp a few years ago and I was instantly drawn to her genuine enthusiasm for the sport and complete humbleness in her achievements. She, along with Energylink Coach Christina Thomas were instrumental in improving my running technique.

Mel started participating in triathlons in her late 20s (after the birth of her first son) as a way to 'lose weight post baby'. She has three children now and has participated in six Ironman triathlons (including 2 Hawaii World Championships). She recently won her Age Group at the World Championships in Auckland in both the Olympic Distance Triathlon (1.5km Swim, 40km cycle and 10km run) and Aquathlon (Swim/Run).To add further insult, she also competes in Surf Ironman races like the Coolongatta Gold. Yep, she is a machine and spending time with her always reminds me why I love this sport so much.

Coach Mel on her way to winning her Age Group at the World Championships in Auckland, NZ

I managed to convince 5 of my friends to come to the camp with me for 3 days of swimming, biking and running. Each session involved invaluable technique drills. We also had nutrition talks and at every training session, Mel was there to provide feedback to us individually, including video footage. This was a great chance for each of us to have a look at where we could improve in each leg.

Part of the reason for attending this camp was to help give me some motivation and a bit of confidence for the race I had signed up for; Husky Long Course. This iconic festival is always a great weekend. I've done the sprint race two years in a row and it was time to step up. A lot of my friends from BTC had entered so I thought it would be a great opportunity to have people to train with. It had been on my bucket list for a while and I felt ready to tackle the 2km swim, 83km ride and a 20km run when I initially signed up.

But the last few weeks, I felt grossly underprepared for a number of reasons; niggles that I was conscious of not making worse and generally feeling like I hadn't done enough training. A few weeks leading into the camp, I started having doubts about my ability to complete the race as best as I could. The weird thing was that I didn't have a time goal in mind, or a goal of where I wanted to finish in my age group. I just wanted to do it well and push my body as far I could. But for some reason, this cloud of doubt appeared above my head and I couldn't seem to get rid of it. I knew deep down it was probably all in my head but I needed something to help snap me out of it. Having not had a great race in Nowra a few weeks before, then making the podium for the first time at the BTC race, I went into the weekend with mixed emotions, but an open mind, ready to be inspired and learn as much as I could.

My first ever BTC podium finish (3rd place female)

As most of you were aware, we had horrendous weather conditions over Australia Day weekend; gale forced winds, torrential rain, sideways rain and generally the kind of weather that most people wouldn't dare to go outside in. People driving past us in cars looked at us like we were mental. But we still trained through it and if it wasn't for the camp, I probably would have wussed out and stayed in bed all weekend. It was very character building and I must say, I felt so hardcore for toughing it out.

Flynn's Beach - before and after!

On Saturday we did an 88km ride in what felt like spring, summer, autumn and winter all rolled into one. This included riding up Matthew Flinders Drive (which I voluntarily did twice – never thought I would do that again after Ironman). We did a short run off the bike which was ended quickly by the first downpour of rain and went inside to dry off before the next session; a nutrition talk followed by an open water swim in the Hastings River. Sunday consisted of a morning tempo run, a pool session with technique and drills in the outdoor pool and a brick session on the wind trainer (practicing fast transitions). The day ended with a great stretch at Her Coach HQ (aka Mel's house) to a Yoga for Triathletes DVD.

L to R - Amy, Me, Penny, Mel L, Mia, Libby Julie (back row); 

Chris, Coach Mel and Katrinka (front row)

On Monday, we all had to do a long run. It was so wet that all kids had their boogie boards out and were sliding down the grass hills through the water and mud! I was told to do a 1.5 hour run at 5 min k's, aerobic pace (for the non-runners, that's 50 mins for a 10km or 1h40m for a 20km). I've never been great at pacing; I always go out too fast and end up dying in the ass. One of the girls on the camp, Mia who qualified for Hawaii in her first Ironman was to be my pace runner. I was shitting myself. This woman is the epitomy of machine. Aside from Mel, she is probably the most mentally strong age group athlete I know (the other day, she had to do 14 x 1km efforts)! She was doing 4:45 min k's so I just had to keep her in my sights. Thankfully she had already run 10km before meeting me so I thought I could at least try and keep up with her! Turns out we had a stellar run together. The best run I've had in ages. It was pouring with rain but the weird thing was, I wasn't even thinking about how wet my clothes and feet were. To be honest, I was just trying to keep up with her. My legs felt so good the whole time (a feeling I have never had before). I wasn't out of breath and Mia and I just paced off each other. After about an 1 hour, I took a caffeine gel (tried a new one from SiS – it was brilliant) and somehow found my second wind. Before I knew it, I was at the end of my 1.5 hours and I had run a 15 min PB; covering 18km. I couldn't actually believe it. And the best thing was, I felt confident about racing Husky. Having the other girls out there running on the course kept me focused and although I was looking like a drowned rat, I was on a high for the rest of the day. All the negative thoughts I previously had about my training were shoved to the side and I realised it really was just in my head; I was ready to do this. 

Drowned rat self portrait!

I want to say a huge thank you to all of the girls who attended the camp, especially my BTC girls who pushed limits they never  thought possible, got out of their comfort zones with so much enthusiasm and trained so hard. They made me laugh the whole weekend and gave me the push I needed. To Mel L, Tracey Rhona, Staff and Mia for the company, to Todd for lending us his wife for the weekend and lastt, but certainly not least, to Coach Mel for always having faith in me. It makes a massive difference when someone you admire and respect so much believes in you - has honest and genuine faith in your ability - especially during your sad moments in training. The funniest thing was that when I did my first camp with Mel in Port, I was so slow, I got dropped by everyone and I had the biggest sookie-la-la. I was a snail. The comparison between my fitness level now to back then is massive, and I finally feel like the consistency and experience is paying off. What a lightbulb moment.

Five key lessons I learnt:

1. Train with people – it helps motivate you, keeps you accountable to turn up to training sessions and makes it more enjoyable
2. Learn to train on your own too – this doesn't have to be all the time but at the end of the day, you are going to be out there on your own come race day. Perhaps even imagine you have someone chasing you or you are chasing someone down.
3. Get your technique sorted – we go through weeks and weeks just swimming, biking, running and just going through the motions. Tweaking one or two things can make a massive difference, especially when it comes to swimming.
4. Learn to run by feel – I never thought I could motivate myself to run without a Garmin but when my strap broke, I started running by “feel” which I never though I could do. This has made a massive difference in my speed and now I never run in a race with a watch. You get too caught up in trying to get a certain time. I find I run faster when I am not aways looking at a watch.
5. It's all in your head – you can find 100 excuses not to train, to blame other issues for being slow and put yourself down. Having negative thoughts is normal sometimes but at the end of the day, it really is all in your head. Nobody else believes these thoughts but you. Take time to look back on what you have done and appreciate that you are doing better than you think.

I can't wait to finally finish off my Level 1 Triathlon Coaching course to get certified and start helping other people achieve their goals, just like Mel has done for me.

Two weeks to go until Husky Long Course. Hope to see you there. I am absolutely pumped!