Stu Hayes interview

This blog is not a blog as such but an interview I did for the bonk triathlon webiste and insight into one of the best triathletes in the world over the last decade, ITU star and Team GB Olympian Stuart Hayes. Stuart is a highly experienced athlete and has been competing for nearly 20 years! He has seen a lot of changes within the sport, its racing styles and training methods. He has used this knowledge to great effect competing for England in the 2002 Commonwealth games where he broke away on the bike with non-other than triathlon legend, Chris McCormack. He has used his bike strength well over the years winning many non-drafting triathlon events and also winning the 2010 World Triathlon Series event in Kitzbuhel, Austria. But it was because of this bike strength and tactical ability that he was selected to compete for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics as a domestique, to help Team GB take that long awaited sort after Olympic medal! This had been a lifelong ambition after being a reserve in Athens 2004 and then in 2008 having his chances scuppered due to a double puncture at the selection race in Madrid and consequently missing out on a place for Beijing. This interview just gives you a little insight into what it takes to race at the very top and what training is involved. We also ask him about his plans for the future. Me: Hi Stu, Many thanks for taking the time for this chat! Firstly Congratulations on making the Olympic team and the fantastic job you did in helping Team GB get gold and bronze with the Brownlee’s. How was the experience for you? Stu: Yea thanks, the experience was fantastic and I had the best triathlon experience of my life from start to finish. Me: In 2010 you won an ITU World Series event in kitzbuhel, Austria. Something that not many triathletes can say they’ve done! Which for you was the best race, London or Kitzbuhel? Or is there another race/performance that you would rate higher? Stu: Kitzbuhel was my best performance by far! Because all the best ITU triathletes in the world at that time were racing and I won! That stands as my best performance to date. Me: You’ve been trying to get that Olympic place right since triathlon was put in the Sydney 2000 games, you must have just about given up hope on ever going? Stu: After a double puncture in 2008 at the selection trials in Madrid which ruined my chances of going to Beijing. Then in January 2012 I suffered a stress fracture in my knee which stopped me from running so I thought it was game over as far as London was going and the whole Olympic dream period! But if you keep fighting anything can happen and my wife, Michelle Dillon, kept me in the fight! Me: Coming from London yourself and having all your friends and family and the whole country cheering you on, if you were ever going to make one games then London would have to be the one! Do you think it was meant to be? Stu: It meant everything to me when I was selected! It was a dream come true because it was my first Olympics and it was in my home town of London. What was even more special was the fact that I was part of a Gold and Bronze medal winning team! We knew that the other competitors would be racing for themselves but went into the race with a team approach, to race as a team, as team GB, and it worked! Me: You started your sporting career as a swimmer and changed to triathlon 18 years ago when you were 15. Why the change, and how did you get into the sport being as it wasn’t as prominent in the public eye all those years back? Stu: Spencer Smith got me into triathlon. I watched him win the World Championships in Manchester, 1993 on TV and it made me want to be part of the swim, bike and run community! Me: Did you ever think that you would make a career out of the sport and go to the Olympics all that time ago? Stu: I saw Spencer Smith and Simon Lessing training and racing as professionals and new that was what I wanted to do. I love being active and getting paid for it! When I first started out in triathlon it wasn’t an Olympic sport so when it did come about, I was one of the first to say I wanted to go, but I didn’t think it would take me 12 years! Me: Obviously the sport at ITU level has changed massively over the years, going from non- drafting to drafting and you were around when drafting races started. Did your training change at all during those early days? Stu: My training has changed completely over the last couple of years. We train so much more and really have to plan our training blocks so that we’re peaking for certain events. Me: One of the biggest things that I have noticed has been a massive increase in the performance of ITU racing, especially over the last few years, most notably in the swim and run! Do you feel the bike has improved or not? Stu: The bike has got faster but I feel that this is a discipline which will be the next to jump up to a new level, especially if they make the bike courses harder. The athletes will have to spend more time on their bikes in training. They can’t get much faster on the run! Me: Just touching on the swim, the standard has shot up big time, with the likes of Gomez, the Brownlee’s and super swimmers like Richard Varga really pushing the pace. Has it been a gradual increase in performance over the years or do you feel the pace has suddenly gotten faster? Stu: The pace has gradually got quicker. A couple of years back I was the big man in the swim but now there are 50 guys who can swim as fast as me and the only way I can make sure I exit with the leaders is by doing loads of swimming! Me: Yea like you said you’ve always been one of the fastest swimmers in the sport anyway, so you would have had to improve to stay with those guys. How has your swim training and methods had to change and adapt over the years to go with the pace? Stu: I am swimming 6 times a week and 5km a session, which is 10km more a week that what I was doing back in the 1990’s. The problem I have is that I get so skinny from all the running and biking that I do, it makes me slower because I don’t float as well and sink! I get round this by making myself a stronger swimmer by using paddles and a band when I swim which is a must. (Hand paddles create a bigger surface area for the hands against the water increasing resistance and a band is a tube tied around the ankles to make it harder to get through the water!) Me: Same with the run, back in the mid to late 90’s and early 00’s the likes of Simon Lessing were winning with a 31min 10km run splits, I remember Simon Whitfield just broke 31mins to win in Sydney 2000. Those times wouldn’t have got a top 10 in London! In fact the top 4 all ran sub 30mins! What training methods are athletes doing different now compared to back then to try and go with this increase in performance? Stu: The top runners that can handle the load are doing a lot of double run days and even triple run days in there training week! Those kinds of sessions were unheard of back in the 90’s. Me: You’ve had great success over the years in the non-drafting format of racing, especially in the USA where there are a lot of big money races that are non-drafting. Which style of racing do you prefer? Stu: I like them both! If I do loads of ITU races then I miss the non-drafting races and vice versa. If you have ITU run speed and have been doing loads of riding on your TT bike, you can win the non-drafting events, so that’s why I do both. Me: Does your training have to change much depending on what style you are racing? Stu: Not for me. I like to attack on the bike in ITU races which means I need to be able to time trial so I can break away. This obviously transfers well for non-drafting racing. Me: What about long course? I know you dipped into it in 2010 with a good result at 70.3 St Croix and then going to the 70.3 World championships in Clearwater. Any plans for more in the future? Stu: I’m going to do a couple more years of Olympic distance non-drafting and the odd ITU race as I want to qualify for the ITU World Triathlon series final which is in London in 2013! Me: What will be your main goals for the 2013 season? Stu: The 5130 triathlon championship final in Hy-Vee. Me: And what about Ironman? You know you want to! Stu: NO IRONMAN!! Me: “Brain training” is a big thing at the minute, especially for Ironman; do you do any mental training methods to help with training and racing? If so what kind of things do you do? Stu: My wife Michelle Dillon is my mentor. She pumps me up all the time, especially before races. She also keeps me on the road when things go wrong. Me: You’ve been under the guidance of many coaches over the years, but your recent successes have been under the coaching of your now wife, Michelle, at Team Dillon. How do Michelle’s methods differ from other coaches you’ve been with? Stu: We live, sleep and breathe triathlon! We also change things every year. I recently spent 3 months training with the Brownlee brothers which really opened my eyes. We will be taking this forward with us into 2013. Me: Is strength and conditioning part of your training with Team Dillon? What are the area’s you would get triathletes to focus on in the gym? Stu: GLUTES! Without your glutes working properly you are going to get injured at some point! It’s only a matter of time! Me: What are your favourite sessions for swim, bike and run? Stu: Swim; 2km warm up – 4 x (300m max with 30sec rest then 4 x 50m max off 1min then 100m easy) 1km warm down. Bike and run; 1hr TT best effort with a 5km hard run off the bike. I have PB’s for this and like to try and beat them. Me: Do you have three tips for triathletes to help them improve? Stu: Work the glutes in the gym in the winter, loads of bike miles all year round and try training at altitude! It really works but don’t overdo it. Me: Thanks for your time Stu, and good luck for the future!

The Mental Game

Hello for this blog I decided to do a training article on training your brain. Something a lot of us neglect but can help us all not only to help when the going gets tough in a race, whatever the distance, but also when the going gets tough during training. Being positive and mentally focussed will not only help you achieve your race goals but also keeps things positive during training so you get the session goal done! If you don’t stay motivated how are you ever going to get those sessions done during the winter when its cold and raining? This is an extract from my blog after my 2011 race at Ironman South Africa titled “Into the depths of pain!” This was a race where I struggled and ended up walking home to 18th place. “I was ready for the run, 3 laps of 14km each. The first lap felt easy I was holding back as I didn’t want to go off too hard and blow. I went through lap 1 in just over the hour and I felt I could hold this pace easily. It would have given me a sub 3.10 marathon split and an overall time of around 8hrs 30min. I tried not to focus on this and just focus on staying relaxed, but it is funny how the head starts to play games with you. The more I started to think about the times the more pressure I was putting on myself and I could feel my relaxation going and the tension building. This tension then started to feed negative thoughts into my brain. By the 18km point I was still in the top 10 but my form was going, I was starting to delve into the depths of pain! At this point I started to get stomach cramps, they weren’t that bad but my head made them bad. My head was starting to look for excuses to stop. This was the first negative thing to happen throughout the race and my brain jumped on it in a negative way straight away. The real battle had begun.” And this is an extract from my Racetime Raceteam blog I wrote after this years Ironman South Africa where I RAN home to 7th place! “At 25km I started to feel sick and bloated and couldn’t face any more gels, so laid off them to let my stomach settle. Because of this the next 10km or so were really tough. I started to really struggle but I kept running. Going into the last 8km I got passed by 2 of the guys that were chasing me but I couldn’t go with them, I was doing all I could to keep running at this point. I did manage to keep the 7th place guy in my sights with the hope that my legs and energy would come back. I’d been caning the coke to try and get an energy spurt and with 5km to it came! I was starting to catch 7th place back up and was feeling good again! With 1km to go I got on his shoulder and was contemplating a sprint finish with him but I decided to use my momentum and go straight past him and see if he could run with me. I didn’t look back until about 300m to go. I was expecting him to still be there but luckily for me he wasn’t. I didn’t have to sprint but instead I could enjoy the last 200m of the race and come in 7th!” The biggest thing that strikes me is that in the first extract it is all about being negative and how it took over my brain and ultimately my race. Whereas the second extract from this year’s race, where it clearly shows I was struggling physically, is about how I stayed focused and was able to come through that tough bit without my brain being negative and ultimately run home and actually pass someone! The reason for all of this wasn’t luck or where “my mind was” at that time, but it was down to training! Specific training to my brain! Since that 2011 race I had been working with a sports psychology coach, Janet Sayer, from EMD Coaching. It wasn’t all plain sailing from the start and if anything things got worse before they got better. Three months after Ironman South Africa I did the Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt Germany. At this race I pulled out on the run with no physical reason to do so. Mentally at this race I had cracked! I was ready to pack it all in and even nearly put my bike up for sale! Janet told me to take a break and to not be so hasty. So I went on holiday and re-evaluated what I wanted to do. I came back ready to carry on. I carried on working with Janet as I started my physical training again as I had realised that if I wanted to race well at Ironman then I needed to keep improving my mental side of things and to train my brain to become indestructible! This time the process was working and I noticed it working throughout my training during the winter. During harder sessions or longer sessions, when the weather wasn’t so good, when I would have been in a battle before the sessions had even started with my head, there were no negative thoughts. Janet had given me cues to use in races that I started using in my sessions. These cues were things like “Pain and Suffering are irrelevant!” and “It’s part of the job!” “Get the job done!” With these cues I just got on with it and with that the quality of my sessions improved and I was hitting every session perfectly and getting out of it what I should have been. Because of my new improved trained brain I had ultimately put myself in much better physical shape than ever before! I had been doing less training volume during the winter, but working much harder with more intense speed work and had not missed a session due to lack of motivation. I had also stayed more focussed on my nutrition side of things, something that you need will power for, especially if you’re like me and you enjoy all the things you shouldn’t, like biscuits, cakes and sweets! I was trimmer, I was fitter and I was ready to win! I went into Ironman South Africa 2012 in such a positive frame of mind as I knew I had done the training and I had my nutrition dialled in. And I also knew that with my mental tools that I had used all winter, I could execute my race in a positive way. Below are five tips from sports psychology coach, Janet Sayer of EMD Coaching, for staying motivated and focussed during training and racing. Set Goals That Are Performance Related Performance goals are those where you strive to achieve improved times or techniques. Make goals challenging and break them down into short, medium and long term goals. Always write goals down along with the specifics of how you are going to make them happen and by when. Positive Self-Talk – Consider What You Are Saying to Yourself Make sure that what you are saying to yourself in your head is positive and motivational. Spend time experimenting with key power words or phrases to find the ones that you can repeat to motivate, push yourself and feel good. Prepare Well Mentally for a Race Mental preparation involves visualisation. Research the race layout and if possible look at videos of previous races so you can sense the atmosphere and finish line. Mentally rehearse the race and visualise yourself completing it successfully. Break Down The Disciplines In a Race Swim – Reset Bike – Reset Run By breaking down the disciplines in a race and considering each as a separate element will help your head feel clear and fresh for the discipline. This also helps mentally move on if something has not gone to plan. Race Yourself Not Other People Focus on yourself, what you need to do and what you want to achieve. I cannot underestimate the power of training your brain and being mentally strong not only for racing but for staying motivated during training. It is during training where you do the work to reach your race goals. The race is the icing on the top of a very big cake with lots of different layers in it! Don’t neglect this side of things, it might not be made of carbon or cost thousands of pounds and it is not something you can show off to your team mates. But when the going gets tough, in that race that you had all been training for all winter, and your team mates are floundering, this is when you can show off that invisible power and steam past them like they’re going backwards! Until next time, stay strong! Craig.

Race Update

Well it’s been a while since my last blog for the team and loads has happened since my 7th place finish at Ironman South Africa, both good and bad! I recovered well after South Africa and decided to enter Ironman Regensburg in Germany with a couple of “shorter” races in between to open the system up a bit. After my recovery period I started back training and started back well, I received my new bike from Phian, which looks and rides great, but this is where my problems started. The first little ride I went on was just a 40min spin to try it out, but in my excitement I hadn’t got it set up quite right and had the saddle way too high and subsequently strained my right hamstring! I didn’t really notice it that much at the time but the next day it was very tight and I had a triple run day to get through. This definitely sent it “over the edge” and the next day when I went for my run I barely got 5 strides from my front door before I had to stop. No running for the next 10 days! After some intense treatment it was getting better and I was able to start with some easy running again. I next had a little sprint race, organised by the BRAT club in Birmingham. It was 750m/20km/5km. The swim went well, even though it was very cold, the bike started well but I hit a pot hole and snapped my tri bar pad off. No major problem as I could still ride, just not very aero. On the run the legs just didn’t work and were very tight. I got through it and somehow managed to finish 3rd. I had no business finishing 3rd being injured. There weren’t any problems after, which was good. The next week I did the little Beaver Olympic distance triathlon. A good tough event and I won it fairly easily. I tried to go as hard as I could but found it difficult to really “hurt” myself having built up an amount of fatigue in training as I did this race having ridden 5hrs the day before. All good though and the hamstring was getting better. After that was Ironman Regensburg. I felt okay going into this race. I was still tight through the hamstring but was confident I could produce a good result. My goal going into Regensburg was a top 5 result and I even thought that 3rd place was wide open and there for the talking! The race started well, I had a good swim and was out in 50mins which is a pretty normal pace for me. I think I was out in about 8th place. I started the 2 lap bike and after 15km I was in 4th place. We then hit the climb and straight away I could feel my hamstring getting tight. I felt like pulling the plug there and then but I was in 4th so thought I might as well carry on until everyone passes me. They didn’t! I eventually got caught towards the end of the second lap and we still had another 20km to go to get back to T2. I had to get back to T2 anyway so I carried on. I came into T2 in 5th place and wasn’t that far off 3rd place so thought I might as well carry on, maybe the hamstring will ease? It did for a couple of Km’s but then started to get tighter and tighter. When I got to 12km it was really pulling and when I got to the 15km point I started walking. I had to make a decision here, do I carry on just to get to the finish line, but risk further injury or do I pull out and live to fight another day? I decided to pull out. I was totally happy with my decision as I knew that if I got it sorted quickly then I could race again in a few weeks. Luckily the injury wasn’t too serious and I’ve been having some intense treatment including acupuncture, which is great! I started back running and did a couple of days to really test it out and I’ve come out of it fine. During this period I took part in a Castle series event as part of a Racetime Events relay team over in Cheshire. It was over a funny distance of 800m swim, 44km bike and 8km run. We won the event by 26mins! On top of that we won £5000 for Macmillan and an I-pad each! My next race is Ironman Switzerland on July 15th in Zurich. Let’s hope for a good one!!