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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The old adage \u201canother year older another year wiser\u201d rings true for Torquay\u2019s Nathan Taylor as he touches down in Hawaii ahead of the Ironman Triathlon World Championships.<\/p>\n
At 44 years of age, the father of two is in the best shape of his life ahead of the October 14 event in Kona but this wasn\u2019t always the case after he suffered a major injury two year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had thought about doing triathlons in my 30s but didn\u2019t think I would be able to commit the time needed and wasn\u2019t sure I could do it physically,\u201d Nathan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my good female friends competed in the Ironman in Melbourne and that really inspired me so I registered and began training for the 2015 event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan began a gruelling regime that he sourced from the internet, copying and pasting other athlete\u2019s routines, but suffered a major setback two months before Ironman Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a stress fracture in my hip which meant I had to pull out and was unable to do anything for six months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I recovered, I began training again and competed in the Port Macquarie Ironman qualifying for last year\u2019s World Championships in Hawaii.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went over there (Hawaii) and got smashed in the swim, people were swimming over me and I rode too hard in the bike section and suffered on the run.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got back, I contacted Adam Beckworth from Beckworth Racing and he became my coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sat down together and discovered I\u2019d been over-training. We came up with a plan and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam said Nathan was ready to take on the 3.8-kilometre swim, 180-kilometre bike ride and 42-kilometre run in what will be Nathan\u2019s fourth triathlon in 16 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cNathan hadn\u2019t come from a high sporting back ground when he came to me or competed at a high level,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI slowly built that into him and now he\u2019s
\ngot a lot of skills compared to 12 months ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more understanding on his part now, not just to complete the race but to compete at the top level within his age group instead of just making up the numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan said that it would all come down to six months\u2019 training for one race and was hoping to reach his goal of under 10 hours, using his extra knowledge about nutrition and race tactics.<\/p>\n
\u201cHawaii will be a big test because the conditions are so brutal but hopefully I\u2019ll get a better result than last year because I\u2019m smarter and I\u2019ve learnt a lot more about racing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn racing terms, I burnt all my matches at the beginning of the race and went out too hard in the beginning. This year I\u2019m going to hold back a little so I have more left in the next two legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, I completed the race in about 10 hours and 4 minutes coming in at 70th for my age group. This year, any minute under 10 hours will be a massive achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The old adage \u201canother year older another year wiser\u201d rings true for Torquay\u2019s Nathan Taylor as he touches down in Hawaii ahead of the Ironman Triathlon World Championships. At 44 years of age, the father of two is in the best shape of his life ahead of the October 14 event in Kona but this […]<\/p>\n