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D3 Issue Three - January 2018

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 21:34:19 +1300

ISSUE THREE

D3 Newsletter September 2017 - Issue Two

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 23:08:36 +1300

ISSUE TWO

SEPTEMBER 2017

August 2017 Newsletter - Issue One

Wed, 13 Sep 2017 21:38:43 +1200

Issue One

New me, New shiv

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 09:07:27 +1200

Super stoked with my new Specialized Shiv.
Thanks to the team at Chain Reaction Cycles for the awesome build and for this little blog pre my 2017 racing season.

Cheers

Dylan

Check it out here!

2016

Sun, 08 Jan 2017 12:12:58 +1300

I had high hopes for 2016.

What I thought (hoped) would be a continuation of the past 3 years, a steady improvement and putting what I had learnt in to action, wasn’t to be.

The plan was similar to 2015. Go well at Challenge Wanaka (win) and go well at IMNZ (podium), followed by a good to great performance (at least top 10) at IRONMAN Texas in May, and then a good break before focusing on Kona an aiming to get there fresh and firing, and deliver a great performance.

I felt a lot of pressure going in to Challenge Wanaka, of course mostly from myself. I knew Dougs (Dougal Allan) would be swimming a lot better than previous years and Maik Twelziek was also there to throw another uber cyclist in to the mix.
I was more determined than ever to show that I could ride my bike… and in the end that was my downfall (plus maybe a minor hip issue). The first 90km was done at my best Half-Distance power (not recommended in a full) and for very little time gain. By 100km I was done and so was my race. I soldiered on and at 5km in to the run I felt the ‘pinch’ that has led me to where I am today; walking around on crutches!

I did not know what was going on at that stage and so I headed up to Taupo anyway for a bit of redemption. The result was my first DNF in a full-distance event out of my 15 starts.
After Taupo I had to refocus my year on actually making a living, I couldn’t keep chasing the Kona dream with so many unknowns and I didn’t have the dollars to keep throwing them down the black hole.
So I went off to Challenge Taiwan for the 4^th year in a row and managed to survive for 2^nd place, but with a now thorough understanding that full-distance races were not in my best interest in the state that my hip was in. At this stage I still didn’t know what was going on.

I had always planned on heading to Font Romeu, France, to train with my good mate Tony Dodds in his Olympic build-up, and so that is what I did.
I managed my best performance of the year on the way to France at Challenge Galway, Ireland, simply by being fresh and with lots of physio on the hip. In the end I felt good and came away with a 3^rd.

France was awesome and it was amazing to see how far Doddsy has come over the years – we basically started Tri’s at the same time and both came from swimming backgrounds. He is one hell of an athlete! A special thanks to Tri NZ and their support staff for looking after me while away. The constant physio was a real treat and allowed me to get in to the best shape of the year.

It was then a quick trip home for a wedding in early August and finally an MRI to find out what was going on, before heading off to Challenge Iskandar-Puteri, Malaysia.
I again had high hopes for a great performance in Malaysia after training really well in France, but alas, it wasn’t to be as great as I had hoped and another 3^rd place for me.

The MRI showed what the doctors and physio’s expected, FAI (femoral-acetabular impingement), with a torn labrum, and cartilage damage.
Surgery was then scheduled for early-mid October… all going to plan.

So, I had about a 6-7 week window to work from and squeeze in one last race. I had always wanted to race the ITU Long Distance worlds. I felt the distance couldn’t get much better for me; 4km swim, 120km bike, and 30km run. Although I loved the distance, my body didn’t quite enjoy it as much as I had hoped and I struggled through to 10^th place in Oklahoma City… at least another city to tick off the list!

Once I was home things took a little longer than expected and I didn’t go under the knife until the 6^th of December. As I write this I am just over one month since surgery and all seems to be on the mend fairly well.

All in all and considering the issues with my hip I cannot really complain about my season. I still managed a few podiums, and well, Wanaka wasn’t to be and if anything was my own doing.

I have always said you need the good with bad and the bad with the good, otherwise how do you tell them apart!? I had 3 great years in 2013,14,15, and if anything I learnt the most in 2016, and I have potentially got on top of something that has more than likely been an issue for longer than I have known.

I want to say a special thanks to Colliers International for coming on board as my major sponsor for 2016 and for sticking by me when I did anything but deliver on the goals we set out.
And of course to all my other sponsors who did the same:
Specialized, Profile Design, Brooks, Blue Seventy, Polar, Clif Bar (who are new as of August and have agreed to stick by me while I don’t race!), Smith Optics, Aloe Up, and Morrison Cars.

Aand I can’t forget my family, friends and supporters who are always out there and who don’t seem to care about the performances, but more the person – that means a lot.

Cheers to 2016, and a bigger cheers to the year ahead.
Looking forward to seeing you all out there in 2017 (hopefully) in the near future.

Instagram round-up

Thanks for reading

Dylan

Challenge Iskandar Puteri / Season Update

Sun, 04 Sep 2016 14:44:56 +1200

Challenge Iskandar Puteri

It has been a busy few months. From Taiwan, to Ireland, to France, and now Malaysia.

Although busy, it has been good too. I really enjoyed my time in France training with Tony Dodds and Sam Ward, under our coach Tim Brazier, and basically just doing what I was told each day. Generally I have quite a bit of input and set my schedule to how my ‘non triathlon’ week is looking. In France it was nice to not have to worry about that and simply get out there and ‘enjoy’ it, some days more than others! It was also cool to do some ITU training again, and pretty incredible to see how far Doddsy has come since we raced German league together a wee while ago now!

After France I made a quick 10 day trip home for a wedding before heading back to Malaysia for Challenge Iskandar Puteri. I had been feeling great in France and continued to feel good while at home.

I had target C.I.P as a race I could win, and felt as though I was in the shape to do it.

It was a hot swim, but relatively uneventful apart from the huge schools of fish making the odd appearance.

I climbed the ladder out of the water with about a 45 second lead.

On to the bike and the legs didn’t feel too bad. I knew on arrival to Malaysia that I hadn't brought my best legs with me, so I was hoping that they would turn up on race day.

I saw that Brad Kahlefelt and Mike Phillips weren’t too far behind after 5km on the bike so waited for them and we got in to our work. After about 30km I really wasn’t feeling it, but we were still putting good time in to the chasers.

The 3 of us were surprised to get off the bike with an 8 minute lead and new that the race was essentially between us.

Mike had a penalty, which I thought was a 5minute drafting penalty, and so decided to go for the win. I ran with Brad for about 500m and basically blew up then! I got one hell of a fright when I saw Mike only a 100 or so meters behind, he only had a transition penalty of 10 seconds, so I now realised that I had a race on my hands. Brad continued to pull away little by little and Mike slowly caught me.

I had done some ‘sprint’ training in France and was looking forward to testing it out come the finish chute against Mike, who's got a serious turn of speed. However, at about 3km to go the wheels seriously fell off and I was left to mope home for another 3rd place!

Not the result I was after, but always good to be on the podium.

I am now building up for a real focus of mine this year, the ITU Long Distance World Championships in Oklahoma City, 24th September. It’s a distance that really suits me, 4km swim, 120km bike, and 30km run. I am seriously looking forward to having a crack.

On the news front, after ITU Worlds I will be going under the knife to have surgery on my Hip. The condition is called FAI (Femoralacetabular Impingement), and has been an issue since Challenge Wanaka this year, where I finally tore my Labrum – a common occurrence with FAI. Up until then it has been a gradual process of grinding away at my cartilage and hindering my muscle function.

I have been managing it as best I can since Wanaka – lots of physio and strength work, but it is safe to say I can not operate at 100%, even more so the longer the race goes.

So ITU worlds will be a stretch, but one I am really looking forward to.

I will update again on this front soon.

In the mean time thanks for reading and I hope everyone is making it through winter well, or enjoying their summers up in the north.

Until next time,