| Iron Man |
| Written by Margreet Dietz |
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Photography by Timothy Carlson Australian Lucy Alexander, who turned four in May, is spending her fifth summer in Boulder, Colorado, which is home to many triathletes including six-time Ironman World Champion Dave Scott. She is already a frequent long-haul flyer who knows to ask flight attendants for extra pillows and blankets, and understands exactly how to operate her personal TV screen. What also seems normal to Lucy is that Dad wins almost every triathlon he enters. She was born in 2005, a couple of months before Alexander won the Life Time Fitness Triathlon—the richest triathlon in the world consisting of a 1.5-kilometre swim, a forty-kilometre bike, and a ten-kilometre run—and he’s been on a tear ever since. In 2006 Alexander became the inaugural Ford Ironman 70.3 World Champion (1.9-kilometre swim, ninety-kilometre bike, 21.1-kilometre run) and a slew of other impressive results that saw him chosen as Triathlete Magazine’s Triathlete of the Year. In 2007 he started his first Ford Ironman World Championship (3.8-kilometre swim, 180.1-kilometre bike, 42.195-kilometre run) in Kona, Hawaii, to finish an incredible second. 
Ironman world champion Craig Alexander running in Boulder, Colorado. Photograph by Timothy Carlson.
Dad sometimes worries he has set the bar a bit too high for his little girl. “In some ways I feel bad because so many races since she has been alive I have won; I think she just expects that is what happens. Hopefully she will remember that Dad was someone who worked hard and tried hard because that is what I would like her to remember.” Hard work and the unwavering support of his wife Nerida are exactly how this thirty-six-year-old Australian has managed to become one of the most successful and versatile triathletes in a now ten-year professional career, which started relatively late. Initially a short-course triathlete, he only tried his hand at the Ironman distance in 2007. People had high expectations for him and Alexander didn’t disappoint. His main objective this year is to defend his Ironman World Champion title—a challenging goal. In the Hawaii Ironman’s thirty-year history only three men have been able to win in consecutive years: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and Tim DeBoom. “Once you’ve won a race, unless you’re going to do that again, it’s not the same,” Alexander says. If his early results this season are any indication, he’s on track for another stellar performance in Kona. Alexander has won three Ironman 70.3 races in 2009: Geelong, Australia; Singapore; and Hawaii. “So far it has been a great year. I see no reason why that is not going to continue. I’ve been training hard and I am in good shape,” says Alexander, who loves racing the half-Ironman distance and is scheduled to race Calgary’s 70.3 event on August 2nd. The win at the Hawaii 70.3 came just five weeks after son Austin was born—it’s not just Lucy who will equate Dad with crossing the line first. In the eight weeks leading up to Austin’s birth, Alexander took a break from racing and used the time to work hard on his perceived weakness, cycling. With a minimum of 450 kilometres of cycling a week, Alexander has pushed towards the 700-kilometre mark for several weeks in the last few months. “I felt I was already at a high level on the bike. Obviously in the Ironman you ride 180 kilometres, so coming from a short-course background I felt that is the area where I most needed to improve. Time-wise it is the largest part of the race, so it’s a place where you can make up the most time but also lose the most time,” he says. Part of the motivation to focus on his cycling endurance and strength is the fact that he has posted some of the fastest run splits in Kona and the sport. He ran a 2:45 marathon in his first and second appearances in Hawaii. “If you’re perceived as one of the best runners in the race, then people think you are not strong at anything else. That is a fallacy—you need to be strong in all three (disciplines) to win. I perceive that my competition feel that there is a weakness on the bike, and I feel that is where I am going to be attacked this year. So I am just shoring up that aspect of my race,” Alexander says. Don’t for a moment think he’s neglecting his run. Alexander says he believes he can improve his running too. “It all works hand in hand because I think the stronger you are on the bike and the more efficient you are on the bike, the more energy you have for the run anyway. So not only do you ride quicker but you also ride more efficiently.” Alexander, who has a bachelor of applied science in physiotherapy but laughs when asked about his stretching routine, writes his own training programs. However, he has always sought the help of others including Ironman legend Dave Scott and Victoria’s LifeSport master coach Lance Watson, who has guided the likes of Simon Whitfield. Scott has provided a wealth of information and advice to Alexander, who’s not the least bit shy about asking for it. “If I am sitting next to someone like Dave Scott on the pool deck and I’ve got a question to ask, well, I am going to ask someone I think knows the answer,” Alexander says. “It all comes back to being a professional and doing everything you can to get the outcome that you want. “Dave has been really generous with me and always been more than willing to help me. Some days I just hit him with question after question and he answers them all. He has been a massive, massive benefit to me.” As he made the move to Iron-distance races, Alexander sought more structured advice. In 2007 he was introduced to Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong’s coach, and now works closely with Nick White, a coach at Carmichael Training Systems. “Nick is a very knowledgeable guy. He knows he doesn’t need to look over my shoulder every day, and we certainly don’t speak every day—not even close. But I know that any time I need a question answered, I can ring Nick and get great advice. I have a power metre on my bike, and most of the rides I download the data for Nick, so Nick certainly oversees pretty much every bike session.” Alexander is a professional in every sense. “If you’re going to make the commitment to do all this training and spend all this money to do all these races, and live overseas for six months, it’s your duty to do everything you can to make it a successful campaign. That doesn’t mean you have to win.” Contrary to popular belief, he doesn’t assess his season based on Kona, and he doesn’t consider having won in Kona last year as a reason in itself to celebrate. “In my mind, the performance was far from perfect. I can improve a lot on it.” Alexander says his Hawaiian victory represents “a successful campaign because I trained hard physically, I mentally prepared well, and I did my homework. My preparation was very good—that’s why, in my mind, that whole campaign and that race was a success. As long as I can say I did everything I could, that’s important. It’s not the winning or losing that keeps you awake; it’s maximizing your potential and executing a great performance that you know you’re capable of. The fact that I won it is a massive bonus, obviously. “For me, a great season is not just one race. If you look over the history of our sport, the best athletes over any distance have been consistent over a whole season. Even now, you look at ITU racing, guys like (Simon) Whitfield and (Bevan) Docherty just keep it going year after year for the whole season. It’s the same in Olympic distance non-drafting, Craig Walton was the same, and also when you step up to Ironman: guys like Normann (Stadler)—he is rarely out of the top five when he is not sick or injured. “When I came into the sport I modelled myself on the top guys at the time. You look at who’s the best and why they are the best. I used to like the guys who would win, obviously, and I liked the guys who could win in different conditions: non-drafting or drafting, hilly bike ride or flat bike. And I used to like the guys who were consistent. That’s what you model yourself on, and I guess you aspire to that sort of level yourself. It’s funny, getting back to the goal for this year, it has to be Kona, as that’s what everyone is going to judge it on. But for me, I always judge a year on its entirety, not on just one race. That being said, Kona is the jewel in the crown, for sure.” Alexander says he doesn’t over-analyze his rivals. “I do think about them a little bit in training. I like to think about myself and what I need to do. We’ve all raced each other enough times over different distances—everyone knows everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and the way people tend to race.” While the pressure is sure to be high on him in Kona on October 10th, Alexander says he isn’t fazed by it. “There’s always pressure. When you train hard and you expect big things of yourself—I mean I put a lot of pressure on myself. I know what I expect and it will be the same. There will be pressure this year.” Alexander says his focus is on his preparation: “You’re nervous before every big race, but I think I try to take that out of the game as much as possible by just preparing as best as I can in the months leading up. “If you’re sitting there on race week thinking: physically I have done everything on my program that I had to do; mentally I am up for it—I am ready, I am motivated to go. You feel like you have done your homework. I think that alleviates a little bit of the pressure because it’s not like you’re walking into an exam thinking, I haven’t studied.” He also credits his wife with reminding him of his love for the sport at times when pre-race anxiety builds. “A lot of the pressure comes with the fact that it is your job, but the reason you started in the sport is that you had a passion for it and you loved it. My wife is very good at helping me remember that and she is probably the greatest asset I’ve got because she takes a lot of the stress out of it for me. She deals with the sponsors, the media, and all I have to deal with is the race—that’s it.” Alexander also often thinks of his family during races, as he wants to make the sacrifices they make to support his career worthwhile. It helps him focus on the goal—getting to the finish line first. Knowing what it took to get there is what makes winning so sweet each time he does. “Every single race I win I get an immense joy out of because that is why you do it.” Alexander says he takes nothing for granted. “There are no guarantees in sport—you can’t go there expecting to win. You can go there thinking ‘I am in great shape and I am going to be competitive.’ Twenty years from now I am the only one who is going to remember my races there, so it is important for me to do it the right way and to be happy with what I’ve done.”
Calgary 70.3Alexander is looking forward to racing the Viterra Ironman 70.3 Calgary. While he has trained in Red Deer and raced in Edmonton years ago, he hasn’t been to Calgary yet. As usual he will do his homework to prepare for the course. “I’ll have a look at it online. I know Lisa Bentley and Dave Cracknell very well, and I know the race organizers well, so I’ll ask them about the course. I’ll have a look at it in the days leading up to the race. I’ll either drive over it or ride parts of it. I love going to new races and really nice races.” Alexander loves competing in Canada. “Every 70.3 race I have done in Canada—Muskoka, Newfoundland—has been very well organized. They’re always beautiful scenic races and very well organized. I’ve really enjoyed all the racing I’ve done up there and I am very happy to be coming up for sure.” Mental gameCraig Alexander stresses the importance of keeping things in perspective in the week leading up to Kona and any other key goal race. “The main thing is just don’t lose your head. People tend to lose their head in that last week and overtrain or get nervous. Have faith in your level of ability, firstly, and have faith in your build-up, in what you’ve done, and then just go out and express your fitness on race day. Once you get into race week, it’s too late to start worrying about a lack of fitness. That had to be worried about a few months ago. That’s my mantra: worry about it when it needs to be worried about. I try to turn it around a bit and think, Hawaii is a great race. It is a great day. It is one of the pinnacle races of our sport and this is where I want to be. You’ve put yourself in this situation so there is no point worrying about it and being nervous about it. This is excitement. This is what it is all about.” About the Photographer and the Author
Timothy Carlson is a writer and photographer living near Boulder, Colorado. An award-winning journalist and author, Carlson currently focuses on writing and photography about endurance sports, serving as editor and senior correspondent at Inside Triathlon from 1999 to 2008 and presently serving as senior correspondent and photographer for the world's most popular triathlon Web site, Slowtwitch.com. Margreet Dietz has been a professional journalist since 1996, mostly for Bloomberg News in Europe, Canada, and Australia. In her spare time Dietz has completed ten certified marathons, five Ironman triathlons, the 100-kilometre Sydney Oxfam Trailwalker and numerous other triathlon and running races in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. She is a regular contributor to endurance sports magazines in Australia and Canada and is now based in Squamish, British Columbia, where she is writing her first book and training to improve her marathon PB of 3:07. |
