Chris_McCormack

Training in Hawaii - Enjoying Oahu

 

Well the last two days here have been a lot of fun. Tim and myself have got some nice training done on the south coast of Oahu and fly across to the Big Island today. I have the Lavaman triathlon to race in on Sunday and am looking forward to a tough windy hitout.

The jetlag has been a little tough this time around flying across from Singapore but overall I have enjoyed the training here and have enjoyed being in Hawaii again. Here we have uploaded a video of our ride yesterday on Oahu. This was from Waikiki across the south shore and along the coastline. We manged to get a good 3 hours in and enjoyed the sun and wind. Oahu is actually a great place to ride. I was pleasantly surprised.

Enjoy and I will write again tomorrow. We have so many small videos and photos to share so check them out over the next few weeks.

Safe Training,

Macca

I love Hawaii

Well I just arrived in Hawaii yesterday and have been staying in Oahu with my good mate Tim Marr. He has a house on Diamond Head and we have crammed in a couple of nice training days. It has been great. We are heading off to the airport now to fly to the big Island for the Lavaman triathlon on Sunday. The Olympic distance race has 1500 athletes competing this year so it should be a buzz. I have uploaded another video thanks to Biestmilch of our arrival here in Oahu. It is a little scattered but they were rushed for time. Enjoy and I will write again from Kona. I love the lifestyle of Hawaii. It is so laid back. I could get really used to living here.

Macca

Ironman 70.3 Singapore

Well I am actually back home after a relatively pleasing result in my first hit out for 2009 in Singapore. I got exactly what I was looking for in a very hot, humid race. Crowie touched me up on the run and to be honest I did not have the run base yet to match his fitness at this time of year. I felt very good on the swim and bike and was by far the strongest cyclist in the field doing the lions share of the work on the tight, flat course. I really wanted to see how the body would hold up if I kept the bike pace solid and then had to run in hot conditions. I was really not concerned about the guys sitting back off the pace and paid no attention to the  7 guys that came along for the ride. My instructions and plans were to ride a good hard tempo in my first race of the year, and to "test the engine." I felt really good and am happy with the position changes we have made on the bike. On the three lap course, 1 by 1 the group broke apart until it was a small little group of 4 guys which included Crowie, Colluchi, Watt and Myself. The two surprise casualties were Jacobs and Thompson, who both lost contact about 60km into the bike course. Rhodsey had dropped about 20km earlier. I very much enjoyed the bike course. Despite being tight, flat and a litte conjested, for a major city event it was nice. It was always going to be tough to get away on a course like this. I knew this coming into the race, but enjoyed the attempt none the less. I have to go up against the faster bikers this year in Europe so it was a good dress rehersal.

 I have to give a shout out to young Aussie Cameron Watt who rode really hard yesterday and raced the event in tough conditions. He really had a hard go on the swim and bike and melted on the run a little, but I was really impressed with his racing attitude and his go for it mindset. It was great to see in a young guy. I managed to grab some footage off the Biestmilch crew again of some of the behind the scenes stuff during race day. All in all a great race. Crowie was a step above on the run at the moment and is in his own words, "exceptional condition" for this time of year. Australian Olympian Simon Thompson, who won the event last year finished 3rd and Australian Long Course champion Pete Jacobs rounded out the top 4. It was a great day for the Aussies. Well done boys and good luck to Thomo and Pete who are racing Ironman Australia in two weeks.

I am back in Sydney and fly out for Hawaii in two days. It is great to be back racing. A few more events and the ring rust will be blown away and I really feel like my strength and power will be substantial this year. I love it. I will write before I jump on the plane for Hawaii on Wednesday.

Thanks to all the guys in Sinagpore for your unbelievable hospitality. Bobby, it was great to finally meet you and your family mate. I hope to catch up with you all again later in the season. To Nick, Graham and the Team who put on the race, honestly, you did a wonderful job organizing an event of this stature in a major hub like Singapore. Well done. I can only imagine how difficult the logistics must have been.

Cheers

Macca

Arriving in Singapore - First Race for 2009

This video was supposed to be uploaded yesterday but the Internet access here is a little more difficult to get too. I am here in Singapore to start my 2009 racing season. I am very much looking forward to a tough, hard race in very hot humid conditions. We selected Singapore as a race venue this year as we have made some big changes to my pre-season training and wanted to start our season much later. The choice of events for us were about racing in very hot, humid conditions in our early season events. Singapore was perfect for this. Next week I will race in Hawaii, and the week later in New Orleans. I will then fly to China to do an event in mid April. The feedback and the information we will obtain from doing these events will be key in our preparations for later in the year and our Kona block.

As it turned out, Singapore is a stacked field. The arrival at the airport was a big buzz with the media. I have a German film crew following me for most of this season and filming a documentary on my season and preparations. I have uploaded here a snippet of some of their filming. The film crew have labeled the project Macca09 and I will have access to lots of their footage that I hope to upload on my new site. YouTube will also have a lot of this footage before the final film will be released next year.

Enjoy

Packing up to GO

Racing around the world is lots of fun, but now on my 14th year as a professional and now a family guy with two wonderful children, the preparation for a trip away is much more daunting than 10 years ago. I am currently packing up everything for my first race of the season in Singapore this weekend.

It will be nice to blow the legs out and see where I am at. All the guys i am racing are a few events into their season so I am expecting it to be a tough challenge for me, but it is the beginning of my 2009 racing campaign and that is exciting from a racing and competitive perspective. I am in solid form but intend to really race myself into peak condition over the next few weeks for a really focused European campaign this year that will begin in St Pollen Austria for the Ironman 70.3 race and culminate in Ironman Germany and the European Championships on July 4th. Our focus has been about a very heavy European presence this year and some very tough European racing to lay down the foundation for my Kona block in August and September.

As my girls get older they start to understand what I do more and are now realizing that daddy will be gone for a few weeks. This is tough on them and on me as well. It really makes the time away tough and gives me the drive to ensure that anytime away is productive and solid time.

Even after 14 seasons I still hate packing my bike. I thought I would get a small blog done before I started the process. I really wish their was a simpler way to do this. You have such a nice bike and no matter how well you pack it, after a good season of racing, they always end up a little beaten up and scratched. I better get to it.

Will write from Singapore.

The last month

The last few weeks has been pretty tough. One of my close friends passed away last week which was devastating news. Tony was a childhood mate and we spent a big portion of our lives hanging out and running together. He was an amazing athlete and an amazing guy and when I received the news of his passing I was floored. It was a really sad time.

I sort of floated by the past week our so and was a little on auto pilot after the funeral. I still got up and did my job, but it was the times alone running and riding that I really reflected on the great times Tony and I spent together. He was an amazing guy and will be missed by so many people.

The last few days I have really settled into my training block and am feeling amazing. My fitness is sound and my motivation is really high. I am thoroughly enjoying my workouts and the group of guys I am working with. We have a great little training crew and the results have been awesome. One of the young guys who has been training with us this summer just captured a third place finish at the Australian Long Course titles in only his first attempt at the distance. He was only caught by Craig Alexander with 2 km to go on the run and it was only his inexperience that cost him the Australian title. Michael Murphy is a great little training partner and a great little talent. We were all stoked for him with his result at the Aussie Championships last week and I really think he surprised a lot of people.

Anyway our seasons are set, Murph will be joining me in Europe for a stint this year and the boys are all getting ready to race the Northern Hemisp here summer. I am off to Singapore in a few weeks for my first hit out of the season and to be honest I am really looking forward to racing again. I just ant wait to pin a number on my jersey and mix it up. I live for that and love racing so much.

Jonathan Toker from Salt stick has been out here for a few days and joined us on a few rides. Here are some photos from today's long bike session. Anyway that's about all I have to report. Will write again in a few days. I am looking forward to my new website. You are going to love it. It will be unreal.

Cheers,

Macca

The 2009 Season - Bring it on

It is now early February and training is going great. My season schedule is locked in and my training camps have been set in stone. It is full speed ahead now for the season and I am so excited about racing again this year. Bring it on!

 I want to have a special season this year and will be going out of my way to target athletes and race them on their home soil to get a feel for them. People race differently when they are at home and tend to be much stronger so it is always great to put yourself in a position to race people under these conditions. I have added a few new events to my schedule this year and will spend some good time this year in Europe prior to Ironman Germany. After the disappointment of a mechanical limiting my chances of defending my World championship title in Hawaii, this year it is my only focus. I was in spectacular form last year which indicates that my training was exceptional and the planning was spot on. We will continue to build from here and add some more speed to the mix with victory in Hawaii the primary focus.

 All athletes attack Hawaii with this mindset, but for me it is everything this year. Last year winning the European Title in Germany in another sub 8 hour performance was a real highlight, but not being able to unleash 15 weeks worth of build into a Hawaii campiagn was devastating.  I just cant wait to get back on the Island and attack that race course. Its all I think about. We have some selected camp dates set on the Island this year that will be very focused and course orientated with a drive like we have never done before. My aim is to really set up a solid bike ride in Kona and put together another run under 2:43. If you cant run under this time in Kona in 2009, you will not be winning this race. Times under 2:40 are more likely this season. I know it has been our primary focus and speaking with a few of the European guys they have the same mindset. The race has really evolved with a much bigger pack on the bike giving the chance for weaker cyclists to still be in the mix late in the race. Many of these cyclists in races like Germany would be expelled because the packs are not as big, but Hawaii has really set itself up into being a race that gives these faster smaller guys a chance to hang in the mix and then put together runs that can get them right up in the front few. This was not the case a few years back and has seen a change in specific training focus for many athletes. The big bikers had a chance. This will bring a fast run into play and if your not ready for that then you are missing a big string in your bow. I am not denying that the bike can still be a huge weapon if the winds are up, but the solo breakaways are gone if you want to win this event. The future of the bike racer in Kona will be to take smaller groups away of 2 or 3 athletes and share the workload off the front. Mentally this is easier and physically also. I am definately an athlete who can do this, and my specific bike work will be centred around this style of racing, then executing a dynamic run. My strength is my ability to run faster than anyone else in the world if the bike is tough. The damage is done along Alhi Drive on the run in the first 10 miles. Weak cyclsits struggle along here and then may find their legs later in the run if anything is left. Our focus will be to make Alhi Drive stupidly fast. We did it a few years ago and will do it again in 2009. I love the attention to detail my team gives to facets of this event. It really is enjoyable working with them and I draw huge confidence from them when we plan in this way and watch the videos of how races evolve. It is obvious to see your competitors weaknesses and then plan your attack around these.

My race season looks like this:

March 22            Singapore Ironman 70.3

March 28            Lavaman Olympic Distance Race Hawaii

April 5                New Orleans Ironman 70.3

April 18              China Ironman 70.3

May 24               Austria Ironman 70.3 St Polten

June 7                Challenge France - Niederbronn  70.3

June 14              Challenge Germany - Kraichgau 70.3

July 5                 Ironman Germany -  European Championships

August 23           Timberman Ironman 70.3

October 10         Hawaii Ironman World Championships Kona

These are the key events to my season with a specific focus on Ironman Germany and Ironman Hawaii. I have now won 12 Ironman titles including a World title and really want to continue my winning streak in these Ironman events. I thoroughly enjoy them and enjoy the process. My marathon has become a key weapon and the workloads we have put in this early season have set a solid foundation for a bigger platform of marathon strength in 2009. Watch my marathon times this year. This is a specific focus of ours and running sub 2:40 times is the key. I have been 4 times under 2:43 in the marathon including a 2:40:04 marathon pb off the bike, but it is the sub 2:40 times that are all I am focused on now. It is a key to our season plan this year.

My new site will have lots of photos and video from some of our training camps this season in Switzerland, Utah and Hawaii so stay tuned. I hope to introduce you to many of the people in my team who have worked with me for the past 10 years. This year looks set to be one of our most successful and everyone is pumped with the plan, the schedule and the training volumes. It is now up to me to deliver my end of the bargain. Bring it on!

Happy training everyone,

Macca

Full Speed Ahead

The last few weeks here in Australia have been hot hot hot. Adelaide and Melbourne are suffering through a heat wave and the humidity in Sydney has been brutal. Despite this, the group of young guys I have been working out with have been training the house down and we have been kicking off our training sessions at 4:30am to avoid the heat of the day. It has been tough but enjoyable. The fitness is definitely coming back and despite some heat fatigue I am feeling great for this time of the year. I am a lot lighter than I was this time last year and am back swimming with my old swim coach Dick Caine at Carss Park pool in Sydney which has been really enjoyable. Seeing the young guys who were kids when I left, now swimming 16 x 400metre efforts leaving on 5 minutes is just awesome to watch. I love seeing young athletes with dreams in their eyes and solid work ethics. It is just so positive to be around. All in all training is going well and the fitness is solid now. C J Sutton and many of the Garmin Slipstream professional cyclists are in Sydney after the Tour Down Under. Linking up with them the past week has kept the rides enjoyable and a lot of laughs. Its always funny to hear the story's from the pro peleton and at the same time getting the tough sessions done.  I am feeling wonderful and have been kept busy.

Outside of triathlon, my oldest daughter, Tahlia had here first day at "big girl" school last week which was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. For those of you who have experienced this you will understand what I am talking about. It was just amazing to see Tahlia in her School uniform and going to school. Emma and I took her to school and watched her run off with her friends. It was an amazing day and we really reflected on how quickly the last 5 years have gone. We are still a little stunned that our daughter is at school now. Incredible stuff. I have uploaded a picture of us all on our way to School with this blog.

I have been getting a huge number of emails from people asking me training advice and coaching questions. I do apologies for the delay in replying to many of you, but the number has been incredible. Just last week alone I had 90 emails from people, so I do promise to reply to all of you. The problem we have at the moment is the way my website has been designed and set up, so we are working on changing this at the moment and I will offer a forum board and a question section for members soon that will allow you to ask these questions and many of my coaching team will be able to assist you with your queries and your questions along with myself. We are currently designing this at the moment so stay tuned. I am really excited about it and believe it will be an amazing resource for people to get the endurance questions and training and racing questions answered as quickly as possible. I often feel terrible that it takes so long to get back to many of you and it really is just that my site does not allow me to quickly reply to many of your questions. The changes we are implementing and the resources we will make available to many of you will be amazing. I hope you enjoy it.

Anyway I better head out now and go swimming. I am off to the beach at cronulla for an open water session with a few of the young hot shots. It should be fun.

Safe training Everyone,

Macca

Summer in Australia

I have not been home to Australia in 2 years and time honestly softens your memory for how wonderful things can be. Sydney during summer is just incredible. Actually Sydney has a great climate all year, but summer in Sydney is just awesome. I forgot how great it really is. This year has been extra special as my girls are quickly growing up and being able to enjoy all the beach activities and boating time with them now they are a little older has been unreal.

Training is easy at this time of year in Australia and I have been steadily building up some solid fitness. This year my focus is only on Hawaii Ironman success. I cannot wait to get back to Kona and my spirits and feeling for the season are perfect. We have planned my year and my season and flights have been booked all the way up until the October 10 date of the event this year. I am stinging to kick off the year. I will start my first race of the season in Singapore with the 70.3 event, and then move onto do the Lavaman race in Hawaii before New Orleans 70.3 on April 5 and then China 70.3 on April 18.

Planning this year has been very specific as my daughter Tahlia starts school and will be staying at home in Australia. I will be commuting a little more and for this reason we had to ensure that our travel time was kept at a minimum. My entire approach to my racing and my career has always been about "Making it Happen." and my planning and training has been executed with this mindset again. We have some great things in the pipeline for many of the amatuers this season so stay tuned for that. I apoligise to all those people who have been emailing through my site recently. We are making some changes behind the scene that will come out in mid April and this held things back a little. I thankyou for your effort and patience and want you to know that I appreciate your feedback and emails. For all those people chasing training advice and knowledge I promise to get back to you all as soon as I can. We will make this a much sleeker process with the changes to the site and the addition of some of my coaching staff to the Q and A for many of you.

I have included a few pictures here of our summer holidays. Tahlia starts school here next week, and I am excited about her first day at school. We are back in our home which is great and are currently getting some renovations done on our place which is wonderful. It is great to be back in Australia and I absolutely love this time of year. I do miss my friends in the USA and I miss the LA training scene but will be back again in March to see you all.

Safe Training everyone.

Macca

The New Year 2009 - Lets Get started

Well I have had a few weeks since my last entry, simply because I have just arrived back in Australia for the first time in 2 years and it is just wonderful to be home. It is a great time of year in Australia as summer is upon us and with Christmas and New Years the festivities are awesome. I have been catching up with friends and really enjoying my last few weeks at home. 

New Years day for me always stands as my first day of training after an extended holiday break. It is now time to start getting more structure to my training and looking down and preparing for the season ahead. I have settled back into southern Sydney and will remain here until mid March before returning to the USA. The training is easy in Sydney at this time of year as the weather is perfect and big bike groups, swim groups and running groups are always easy to link up with. I have just started back swimming which has been tough after an extended break, but my bike and run fitness are much better. It is great to hook up with all my old mates and get back over some familiar bike and run routes.

I flew back to Sydney from New York in late December which was an enormous flight. New York was freezing and got its first heavy snow dump when I was in town. It is such a cool city and I was on location as part of the Under Armour shoe launch. The entire new Under Armour add campaign, "Athletes Run" was launched to a huge media Audience just off 5th Avenue in New York. It was really cool, and hanging out with some of the biggest names in US sport and US sports media was cool. UA are such a positive company I always walk away from this group pumped and physiqued about the future. This launch is going to be huge and the product is just spectacular. It was a real buzz.

Arriving home to such hot weather was unreal and then spending the past few weeks surfing and water skiing with friends has been just perfect. We had a beautiful Christmas at home with the kids and our New Years was spent on the beach with the kids watching the firework's over the city. It was unreal.

Anyway I thought with the New Year starts the new training but also I will post bi weekly on my site. I like to return to routines and this is the beginning. I apoligise for know pictures with this post but will upload a couple of pictures tomorrow.

Safe training and happy New Year,

Macca