Nothling Fitness, Birkdale (2026)

06/03/2019

RACE REPORT - 2018/19 QTS Round 7

This season has flown by in the blink of an eye, and last Sunday was the 7th and final round of the Queensland Triathlon Series held at my home venue, Raby Bay. The situation heading into the race was that I had a 3.5 point lead in the Championship, and essentially needed to win to have any chance of holding on.

The swim was great. The water was fresh, and for the first time this season I decided to get on the front foot on the water and try to be a bit aggressive. I went fairly hard and tried to stay with the lead group, and managed to do so until we hit the 2nd buoy when it strung out and I lost touch. I kept pushing and came out of the water in 2nd place. 400m swim done in 5:52.

I had a really smooth transition and made it out onto the bike with little fuss. I fumbled around with my shoes a little bit longer than normal but once I got going, I got on with it. I decided to ride this relatively hard, yet take minimal risk which lead to a slightly lower than normal average speed. Early in the bike the race venue was hit by a heavy rain shower, and after nearly losing the front of the bike on the slippery surface, I pulled back just a little bit more in the corners and played it safe, pushing hard when it was safe to do so. The bike leg flew by in 24:56 at an average of 34.7kmh. By the end of the first lap, I had taken the lead of the race and was 4:10 in front of 2nd place. I just had to hang on for the run.

I came out of T2 and a quick shout from my coach to keep my feet moving quickly helped me settle into my rhythm within the first 100m and sitting at about 4:40/km. I was quietly hoping to push faster than 4:30/km, but that was really optimistic. I had a bit of bait in front of me with one of my club mates Mason just ahead of me on the run. I slowly worked on reeling him in and at the first turn around I caught him. He wasn't doing so great so I ran with him for a little bit before I realised that he was costing me time. I made the tough decision to leave him behind and got back on with it. I came back through to start the 2nd lap and was greeted by my friends and family all cheering me on. It was at this point that it hit me - this was going to be my last run leg for quite a while. This was the last time that I was going to be hurting for a while. At this point, I was going to push, and push hard. I told myself that whatever pain I was in right at that second, I knew that it would be over in less than 9 minutes, and it wasn't going to hurt anywhere near as much as the disappointment of the Tweed. I was ready to put myself in a hole in that last half of a lap and readied myself for it. I hit the dead turn at the other end and started to open up the legs. I built the pace through the 4:20/km barrier where I passed some other friends and made the turn for home at about 4:00/km. Last few 100m. Past my friends and family again and into the finish chute. Stopped the watch. 17:20 run split (4:39/km).

Straight away I was greeted by Cal who asked how I went. I never wanted to look at a clock so bad. It was the complete opposite of the Tweed Coast race. Total time was 51:56 - a PB of 39 seconds. I was stoked. I didn't care about the rest of the race at that moment. I knew that time would be competitive, but was it enough? I didn't care. I had proven to myself that it was OK and that the Tweed was a blip. It was behind me.

As the other competitors rolled in, it turns out that I had won by an official margin of 3:05 over 2nd place. I was stoked with that too. Now to recover and head to the award ceremony to see what happened with the Championship.

After a very long and drawn out ceremony, with a few mathematical hiccups, it was announced that I had won the Series. I don't care by how much, but this was a great achievement. I didn't set out to win, but to have fun and use these races as training, but to stand on the top step and have that medal around my neck felt amazing.

I want to thank my beautiful wife Zoe, my family, my friends, my club team mates from Starfish Fitness, Ben and TriathleteTed, everyone who has cheered or yelled, everyone who reads these posts and everyone who encourages me when they see me out and about. I'd also like to thank the people and companies who support me and offer advice along the way.

What now? I'm going to take 4 weeks off training, and just exercise for the fun of it. I'm going to do all of the things that never quite fit in with my training schedule - walks with Zoe, mountain biking, maybe a crit race or a TT race and just general fun stuff on Zwift. Then the twins will arrive and it will all be turned on its head. Until then, I'll train for the Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3 and see how it plays out. You just never know. I'll also be focusing on spending some time with Zoe and also putting some big effort into my PT clients and helping them to achieve their goals throughout 2019 as well.

Until then, happy training!

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23/02/2019

Thank you to everyone who contributed photos!

23/02/2019

RACE REPORT - 2019 Tweed Coast Enduro

First of all, I need to apologise. I need to apologise because this post is probably going to be a doozy. I also need to apologise for this taking a week to post - not because I have been lazy, but because I've rewritten this about 4 times since finishing the race last Saturday.

Last Saturday was race day. Everything that I'd worked for came down to last Saturday. All of my training, visualisation, nutrition and psychology was aiming in on Saturday February 16 at 0731 when my race would start.

The swim was absolutely incredible. A short 50m up the creek before another 50m across the creek before sending it 1800m straight up the guts. The water was crystal clear and a beautiful temperature and you could see all of the fish on the bottom. I had done a swim recon the day before and knew that the left hand side of the creek was faster than the right, so I hugged left when the masses went right. This was quickly justified when I noticed that I was cruising straight past big groups of people and again when one of them sat up and joined me on the left where the tide was stronger. I actually really enjoyed myself and the swim was over and done with in a time that I never dreamed of. 31:47 for the 1900m swim at an average pace of 1:38/100m.

The ride is normally my happy place, but last Saturday was a bit of an exception. The wind was howling and a direct headwind on the way out, the rain was blowing in in heavy showers which meant that the roads were greasy and the roads themselves were terrible, filled with loose gravel, potholes and uneven surface causing neverending vibration. The bike course was 4x 22.5km loops with approximately 10km straight into the wind. My race plan was to sit at about 230W but I was forced to adapt this once the weather conditions and road conditions didn't allow this to happen. I found a HR and power output that allowed me move forward without blowing myself to pieces. I noticed that I was moving forward and it was actually only at around the 65km mark that someone passed me on the bike on the road. Every other overtake to this point was me moving forwards. I really focused on my nutrition and hydration on the bike and managed to hit all of my targets and came off the bike in great shape. 90km bike done in 2:35 at an average speed of 34.6kmh.

The run was the one leg that I've been really working on, and to be honest the first 5km of the run were amazing. By this stage, the sun had come out and was baking the run course. The roads were hot and the humidity coming out of the grass was able to be felt. I actually had to hold myself back given how well I felt and I made it through the first 7km run loop on track for a 2:00 21km run time. Within literal steps of starting the 2nd lap we had to run up a short sharp hill onto the road and from there, my legs fell off. My cadence went to rubbish, my HR blew out in the heat and my headspace turned rather negative. As the distance ticked by I was watching my predicted run split blow out by huge chunks and I knew that my pre-race goal time was becoming less and less likely. Come the start of the 3rd and final lap, I just wanted it to be over. I'd gone from averaging 5:45/km for the first lap to 6:30/km for the second and it wasn't really improving on the 3rd lap. Once I hit the 16km mark of the run, I knew that I just had a ParkRun to go and started to break it down. With 2km to go, I decided to empty the tank and just make it home I came home at a recently respectable pace. 21.1km run completed in 2:11 at an average pace of 6:11/km.

Race over in 5:24:29 to take P13. This bit hurt. I had an imperfect race at the Sunshine Coast 70.3 back in August, and I really wanted to improve on that with another 6 months of training and experience under my belt. With the way that I had trained and the paces that I had been holding in training, I genuinely felt that a finish time of 5:15 was on the cards. Possibly even faster. In fact, even with a slower than expected bike, I was staring down the barrel of a 5:13 if I could run a 2 hour half marathon. My immediate feeling was that I had failed. I had failed myself. I had failed Zoe and I had failed everyone one of you who had belief in me and encouraged me over the past months. It genuinely took me nearly 2 hours to look at my finish time. There was anger, there was tears, there was disbelief. I've since come to terms with this and after a long talk with my coach Ted and my beautiful wife Zoe. I had thrown everything at this race, and with our twin babies due in the next few months, this may have been my last crack at a Half Ironman distance for quite a while. However, after much reflection I have taken quite a lot of positives and lessons from this race and I'll be back. I'm not sure in which capacity, but there'll be other races, and promise you all right now that I'll go faster than 5:15 at some point soon.

Luckily for me, I have had enough time to rest up and recover this week before kicking off training again head of the last round of the Queensland Triathlon Series next weekend. I have nothing else on the schedule after that race and I will be giving everything I have to try and win that Championship. Standby for that one!

Thank you to everyone who has sent me messages or spoken to me over the past 2 weeks either before or after the race. It really does mean a lot to me and I hope that I can make up for it the next time I hit the line.

Until then, happy training.

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13/02/2019

TWEED COAST ENDURO TRAINING UPDATE - P2C6
..and with 1500m of easy swimming in the pool tonight, that's it! It's all over! Done! All of the training and peaking ahead of the Tweed Coast Enduro is finished. Nothing more to do now except get to the race venue and roll up to the start line on Saturday.

Since I started training for this event on September 3 2017, I have spent 40 hours in the pool, 104 hours on the bike and 74 hours out running for a total of 217.6 hours for an average of 9.0 hours per week of training. I'm finding that this sort of training volume is enough for me to challenge myself at this race distance and continue to improve, without stressing family life or exhausting myself.

For those of you interested, my race starts at 0731 (0631 QLD time) on Saturday morning which means that I'll be finishing somewhere around 1245-1300 (1145-1200 QLD time). I'll definitely update you as soon as I can about how the race went. It's looking like it will be very warm and very windy which could make things interesting, but I have my plans in place and all of the hard work is done.

I'll post a few photos once I get to Pottsville but until then, I'm going to put my feet up and enjoy the day off training tomorrow!

03/02/2019

RACE REPORT - 2018/19 QTS Round 6

Today was Round 6 of the Queensland Triathlon Series held on the Sunshine Coast at Caloundra. This race was a Sprint distance race - 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run. I really enjoy this race venue as the bike is fast and flat, but today wasn't the greatest day.

I woke up this morning to the sound of quite a strong wind, but it was a block crosswind meaning that I can push on with the bike without too much fuss. When I got to the race venue, it was quite strong, with a bad chop on the water.

The swim was brutal, the tide and the chop were forcing people backwards and at times, I saw some of the weaker swimmers literally going nowhere. I pushed as hard as I dared, but came out of the water in 18:23, which is about 4 minutes slower than I normally cover the distance.

On to the bike and time to rip in. I knew that I had given up a few minutes to my team mate Matt and set about trying to chase him down. I slowly worked my way up to him and made the catch at the 10km mark. They bike course was tough, with some unexpected gusts keeping things interesting. I was able to average 37.1kmh and cleared the bike in just under 32 minutes.

The run was a big part of today's race and I really tried to push. Unfortunately, I never felt comfortable on the run and was only able to manage around 4:45/km. I completely emptied the tank in the tricky last 1km and crossed the line in 24:03 for a total time of 1:17:28 and 6th place.

This was a good hit out 2 weeks before the Tweed Enduro and now I know exactly where I am at. I've also taken a 3.5 point lead in the Series with 1 race to go which I'm stoked about. It's going to be a big 4 weeks but I'm really looking forward to it. Bring it on!

As always, thank you to everyone who cheers at races, likes my posts or just has a chat to me about it. Your support means the world to me and I really appreciate it.

All Properties Group | Boss Money | 99 Bikes | Brakes Direct | Starfish Fitness | TriathleteTed | MAW Active

14/01/2019

RACE REPORT - 2018/19 QTS Round 5

Yesterday was Race 5 of the Queensland Triathlon Series, and the first race of 2019, held at Robina on the Gold Coast. I was racing the extended Sprint distance which suits me perfectly, as the bike leg is 24km instead of 20km, and as the bike is my favourite part of the race, happy days!

The swim was pretty good by my standards. I got off to a good start and was able to settle in quite well. I was able to stick to straight lines from buoy to buoy and cleared the water in 14:22, a pace of 1:50/100m.

I decided to pull the trigger on the bike and let fly as much as I could. I started to do the thing and was watching my average speed go up and my heart rate come down. 3 quick laps later and I was able to sit at about 38.5kmh before slowing down a bit to prepare for the run. 37:15 for the 24km at 37.3kmh in the end.

The run was nasty. My legs came good a little bit into the run and I was able to suss out what the plan was for the run. After the first kilometre marker, I made a conscious decision to back off the effort. The heat was starting to become overpowering on the bitumen part of the run, and it was going to take a big effort to run the pace I wanted to. Given that these races are for training and fun, I decided to race smart and in a way that would allow me to have fun and also allow me to keep training as normal for the Tweed Coast Enduro which is rapidly approaching. Instead of aiming at 4:40/km and turning myself inside out, I backed off to 5:00/km and brought it home in 26:01 for a finishing time of 1:20:26.

As soon as I crossed the line, I went and sat in the water with the other likeminded people and cooled off. I made my way back to the club tent to find out that I finished 2nd. This is a great result for the Series and a good confidence boost ahead of the Enduro.

There are 3 short weeks until Round 6 of the QTS and only 2 weeks after than until the Enduro. Bring it on!

Until then, happy training!

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31/12/2018

Every year Strava do this cool thing where they collate all of your data together to show you what you achieved. This has definitely been the biggest training year of my life and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement along the way, whether it be leaving a like or a comment here, chatting to me face-to-face or supporting me at a race.

I've ticked a lot of boxes this year and 2019 is certainly going to be very different, but I can't wait to see what it holds and how it will shape me as an athlete and as a human.

I'm also incredibly proud of all of my clients and also my friends and family for what they have achieved over the year as well and I can't wait to see what they get up to in 2019.

I know that this page has changed focus away from possibly what you liked it for in the first place, but I do hope that it helped to motivate or inspire you in some way to go out there and get after what you've always wanted.

30/12/2018

TWEED COAST ENDURO TRAINING UPDATE - P2C4

Hey all. I must admit, I really love the way that the end of this training block lined up nicely with the end of the year, but small things amuse me like this.

This block of training has been really good, if not a bit more relaxed. I've mixed it up a bit and allowed myself to have a bit more flexibility, all whilst making sure that all of the boxes are still ticked. For example, I've started training a bit more outside instead of on the trainer and I'm letting my runs be dictated a bit more by feel rather than out-and-out HR rules. End result? I'm enjoying my training more and more and getting better results from it too.

Training in this Cycle has shifted from Base training to Build training, which is best described as a shift from 'training to train' to now 'training to race'. I have just this 4 week block of training left before I start my 2 week Peak cycle so pretty much every training session is a race-like session at either race pace or race intensity. I'm also really starting to hone my nutrition as well which is something that I need to have locked down.

Pretty much the only major training result of note from this training Cycle is that my 1000m swim time has come down again and now sits at 18:23 (1:50/100m) but my stand-out highlight was logging another PB at the QTS race a few weeks ago and taking the win there too.

This Cycle consisted of 7.3 hours in the pool, 16.2 hours on the bike and 11.9 hours of running, for a total of 35.4 hours of training.

The next 4 weeks will see a slight reduction in training duration, but even more of a shift towards race simulation and race pace intensities. I really enjoy this type of training and I can't wait to see what comes of it. I also have another QTS Sprint distance race in 2 weeks time so I'm looking forward to comparing times and tracking any improvement.

47 days to go...

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03/12/2018

TWEED COAST ENDURO TRAINING UPDATE - P2C3

I'll keep this short and sweet because I know that I tend to waffle, and nobody wants to read waffle.

I've just finished the last Base training cycle of my training for the Tweed Coast Enduro - 3 weeks of brutal intervals and long training sessions. 6.5 hours in the pool, 17.7 hours on the bike and 12.2 hours out running for a combined total of 36.4 hours of training in the 3 weeks. The base has been built, the foundation set, and it's time to start building now with 10 weeks to go before Race Week.

The long aerobic runs were mixed with intervals of 6, 8 and 10 minutes at around 4:30-4:45/km and the bike intervals were conducted at around 235-240W.

Testing was thrown out of the window this Cycle because purely and simply, it's too damned hot to get any sort of reliable numbers and compare them to cooler weeks, so I swapped the FTP test for a 30 minute TT session at 70.3 pace and the run for 4:30/km controlled run to collect Stryd data. The 1000m swim test was conducted as normal and I managed to shave 24 seconds from my previous PB which now sits at 18:31.

P2C3 also included the Queensland Triathlon Series race at Kawana where I took out 5th place in 1:15:35 after a good battle with Matty Lovell. I wasn't happy with the race, but I have learned from it and I'm looking forward to racing again this weekend back at Raby Bay for Round 4.

I'll let you know on Sunday how the race went. Hoping for another good result after finding out that I'm currently sitting in 2nd place in the series.

A quick congratulations to Matthew Lovell who set a new PB at the 70.3 in Busselton on the weekend, Lachlan Ireland who completed his first full Ironman and TriathleteTed who completed his 7th full Ironman.

Until Sunday!

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19/11/2018

RACE REPORT - 2018/19 QTS Round 3

Yesterday was Round 3 of The Queensland Triathlon Series at Kawana on the Sunshine Coast. This race was all about having a bit of fun, banking the training and race experience, and doing doing a bit better than I did last year when I crashed out and had my first ever DNF in a triathlon.

The swim was fairly typical for me. Swinging out way too wide and unnecessarily adding distance ot the swim. I managed to catch the group in front and logged a swim time of 15:07 at an average pace of 1:51/100m including the extra 50m that I added on for myself.

The bike course at Kawana is very tight and technical, with lots of turns and a mixture of surfaces that are in varying condition. The first lap was all about having a bit of a recon and learning where to be careful and where I could push. After finishing my first lap and starting the second, I officially made it further than I had last year and I set about chasing down my team mate Matty Lovell, who had about a 90s lead after the swim. I managed to catch him at about the 7km mark of the bike, but unfortunately the wind kicked up, the course got crowded and I decided to err on the side of caution. I finished the bike in a time of 34:12 which is an average of 35.3km/h.

By the time that the run started, the wind had really kicked up and the sun had come out. I settled into my pacing strategy and tried to keep Matty behind me. I felt pretty comfortable on the run, and Matty made the catch just after the start of the 2nd lap. The rest of the run was uneventful, with a late surge to try and catch another team mate proving unsuccessful as I ran out of race distance. I finished the run in 23:41 (4:39/km) which was disappointing, but I'm happy with how I felt at that pace.

My overall time was 1:15:33 which I am equally disappointed and happy with. I know that the course was not conducive to fast racing, but I would have liked to have finished a bit faster than I did. I ended up taking 5th place and a healthy bag of points, finishing 61s behind Matty who crossed the line 4th. I'm really looking forward to Round 4 at Raby Bay on the 9th of December.

On antoher note, this week is the last week of my Base building cycles in the lead up to the Tweed Coast Enduro in February. I'm really looking forward to moving into the Build cycles and adding some race pace efforts into my training. I will update you all at the end of the next week to let you know how it's all going.

Until then, happy training!

All Properties Group | Boss Money | 99 Bikes | Brakes Direct | Starfish Fitness | TriathleteTed | MAW Active

14/10/2018

RACE REPORT - 2018/19 QTS Round 2

Today was Round 2 of the Queensland Triathlon Series and the first attempt at the Super Sprint race distance. I really enjoy racing this distance, as it is all about the intensity and the ability to push yourself at the limit from start to finish. There is no settling in, it is a lesson on being on the rivet from the ho**er to the finish line. I set a course PB of 53:13 back in February 2017 and I really wanted to beat this time.

Unfortunately I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the rooftop and all morning it was raining on and off, heavy and light right the way up to the start of the race when the heaviest downpour of the day hit as we were in the water waiting for the start.

The swim was an interesting experience. The water was cold and the entire wave was extremely compact until after the turn at the buoy. I was able to sit on some feet and followed the churn until it was all over and done with faster than I expected in 5:58.

The bike was playing on my mind a bit. I had seen a lot of people crash on the slippery roads and I had to remove myself from spectating because I was starting to overthink it and second-guess my ability and bike skills. I took it easy for the first lap and had a look at the conditions. Apart from a few corners that had some obvious water, the rest of the lap wasn't too bad and I got on with it. The wind picked up a little bit and made the long drag up the hill from Ormiston a little harder than it needed to be, but it wasn't too bad. 25:38 for the bike course at an average of 34.0kmh.

The run was tough. The course at Raby Bay involves running on the grass and on some slippery concrete which means that it's quite mentally taxing. By the time that I started the run, the grass sections were quite chopped up and boggy which made staying light on the feet challenging. On the way from the dead-turn back to the finish line, there is a long section of pebblecrete pathway that was incredibly slippery to run on. I tried running on the grass beside the path, but again, it was too chopped up from other people trying the same thing. I persisted with the path and managed the best that I could. Run time of 17:15 at an average of 4:39/km.

I came home really big in the last part of the lap and crossed the line pretty spent. I didn't want to know how my race time was because I wasn't sure how much the weather had slowed me down. I had given it my all and was worried that it hadn't come to fruition. Eventually Zoe let slip that I had done it and I checked the time on my watch - 52:52! New course PB by 21 seconds! I was stoked.

Back at the tent, I was really surprised to learn that I managed to finish in 2nd place. This is a result that I really wasn't expecting, and will definitely take a huge confident boost from. Just like Robina, I'm really happy that I have high intensity ability, despite being deep into a block of aerobic base building which is relatively low intensity.

A huge thank you to my friends and family who stood in the rain to cheer me on, and a well done to all of the other Starfish Tri Athletic athletes who had amazing results.

I have 2 more weeks of training in this block before starting to add a bit of intensity and effort to my training in the lead up to the Tweed Coast Enduro. I'm really looking forward to it because I think this will be where my biggest improvements from this phase compared to my training for the Sunshine Coast 70.3 will be seen.

Until next post, happy training!

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12/10/2018

2 races. 2 finish lines. 1 special champion. The first photo was taken on the 17th of September 2017 - 1 year to the day since Luke's passing. The second photo was taken on the 23rd of September 2018 - 2 years to the day since we said our final goodbyes at Luke's funeral.

I'm extremely proud to carry Luke's race number on my tri suit and also on my bikes. It's a constant reminder of how precious life is and how it doesn't matter how the race is going, it's important not to take yourself too seriously and have fun with it, just like Luke. Sometimes it's about so much more than just winning.

Nothling Fitness

06/03/2019

23/02/2019

23/02/2019

13/02/2019

03/02/2019

14/01/2019

31/12/2018

30/12/2018

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