Tag: performance coaching

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Viviane Esteves

Name: Viviane Esteves

Nickname: Viv – short, simple, and what everyone calls me 🙂

Age / Age Group: 51 years young!

Lives: Ashwood, Melbourne

Targeted Sport: Triathlon

Years in the Sport: I’ve been doing triathlon for about 7 months now, and it’s been an amazing experience.

How did you get started: I’ve always loved staying active and exercising. For the last five years, I’ve been going to the gym doing Body Pump, Pilates, and weight training. But after a while, I started to get a bit bored because I love learning new things and challenging myself.
One day, I was walking in Elwood and saw a group of people training. I got curious, so I went over and asked what they were doing ????. The coach told me about a six-week beginner triathlon program and I thought, “Why not give it a go?”
I started the program, completed my first sprint triathlon in January, and absolutely loved it. After that, I joined the Nunawading Triathlon Club, which has been amazing. It’s a great club with a really supportive and friendly community, and I’m excited to keep learning and improving in the sport.

Why I choose CPC: Everyone at Nuna Tri Club speaks so highly about Sarah, so I thought, what a great opportunity to learn and grow.

What I ‘get’ from my sport: Even though I only started 7 months ago, triathlon has already changed my life. It gives me confidence, keeps me challenged, and reminds me that I’m capable of more than I think. Plus, I’ve met some incredible people along the way!

Ultimate Goal:  My next big goal is to complete my first 70.3 in November. After that, I’m sure I’ll keep setting new goals and finding new challenges along the way!

What I couldn’t live without: Coffee! I definitely need my coffee to kick-start the day.

Biggest love: My kids, family, and friends. They mean the world to me.

Pet peeve!: Early alarms but they’re necessary!

Interesting fact about me: Finished the Camino de Santiago (French Way) last June. Loved every step of the journey!

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Jason Collins

Name: Jason Collins

Nickname: Late 30s

Age / Age Group: late 30’s… 🙂

Lives: Strathallan (country Vic)

Targeted Sport: Triathlon

Years in the Sport: 1 or 2 years. Migrated from footy, to motorbikes, now triathlons.

How did you get started: Love riding road bikes and running, so why not.

Why I choose CPC: Sarah’s local involvement in events, she’s just an awesome person, and takes into consideration families and work life and balance.

What I ‘get’ from my sport: It’s a good switch off mentally, great socially, a safe form of exercise and just for fitness for the job that I do.

Ultimate Goal:  Just continuous improvement, always striving to do better.

What I couldn’t live without: Two wheels.

Biggest love: Two wheels.

Pet peeve!: A limited amount of time.

Interesting fact about me: I’ve finished the Finke Desert Race 4 times.

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First Time Ironman to Kona Qualifier

When Kerryn came to us 12 weeks ago to help her with the final part of her build to her first Ironman, our goal was to ultimately hear the words at the finish-line “YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!” And not only did Kerryn hear those magical words, the follow day it was followed with “YOU’RE HEADING TO THE WORLD CHAMPS!” “I still can’t believe that!” she said after she qualified.

Kerryn had a fantastic 3 months leading into Busso. We’d done enough to feel confident and capable, but not too much that we over cooked it. We logged some big training days (and weeks) in preparation, trialled and dialled in nutrition, done the heat prep and planned for all the ‘what if’s’ that can happen in an Ironman race day…

“Completing Ironman Western Australia in Busselton was one of the most physically and mentally demanding things I’ve done but also equally the most rewarding. It was capped off when I received a qualifying slot for Kona…I still can’t believe that!

Overall, for me, it was about finishing my first ironman and ideally hoping to do it in 12.5-13 hours. I found the windy conditions tough, so to sneak in at 12 hours 58 minutes was a relief! It was my first ever marathon and I wasn’t sure how I’d go doing it off the back of the swim and ride. I’m proud to have run most of it. I realised it was going to be touch and go on the last few km to get under 13 hours, so I told my brain and legs to shut up and ignore the pain I was feeling so I could pick the pace back up! Running along the famous foreshore past the crowds in that last km is something I’ll always remember and I felt like I was flying! ?

Thanks to Sarah for your coaching support over the past months to help me achieve this goal. I’ve learnt a lot from you.

I’m looking forward to the next chapter and training for Kona… but also looking forward to  a little break and eating icecream! I also now appreciate what the ‘post-Ironman walk’ feels like!” ~Kerryn

Swim: 1:38
Bike: 6:27
Run: 4:37
Overall: 12:58.11

Congrats again Kerryn, welcome to the IRONMAN club! And here’s to another Ironman build next year! ;-p

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First Time Ironman nailed it to a tee!

“Sarah – you believed in me this entire journey and we blardy did it!” – Matt

When most individuals set themselves a goal of completing their first Ironman, as a coach, I generally always give the advice of ‘first and foremost, the goal is to complete the Ironman, from start to finish, in as best shape possible.’ For most, that is enough, for many, even that won’t happen. Ironman is a long day. For most, anywhere from 10-15hours is where their day will finish. And for many, it will incorporate walking.

But when you are someone with natural ability, with an engine built on a swimming background, the willingness to do the hard yards and an eagerness to get the most out of himself, I knew this was going to be more than ‘just finishing’.

So starting his Ironman campaign in June, local to Echuca Moama, Matt Brooks set about the task of first racing in just his second Half Ironman at Sunshine Coast in September where he nailed the target goals we set and came in in 4:52.

As another ‘general rule of thumb’. If all things being equal, double your Half Ironman time and add 30min (give or take) and it can give you a rough guide on what an ironman time may predict. So for Matt, a rough prediction for him was a 10hrs:15min. He told me he would be stoked with that.

But as his training progressed, I knew we would be working on a faster time, as he continued to train, absorb the training load and improve. Matt was knew to cycling and so another few months in the legs and he was only going to get stronger. Plus the work we were doing with his race nutrition and hydration plan – including a sweat test which confirmed what we already knew – he was a prolific sweater! This was going to be super important going in to a race like Busso.

Fast forward to the weekend at Ironman Western Australia 2024, and Matt was so well prepared. His training went relatively stress free, he ticked off session after session, wekk after week. He trained mainly solo – which is no mean feat! And worked on keeping his body healthy and injury free during that time. Which is imperative to an Ironman build!

My main message going into the race: Ride your own race!
We knew Matt was going to get out of the swim at the pointy end of the field, but I also knew there would be a lot stronger riders around him. So it was imperative for him to settle in and ride his own race. To not get swept up in the moment and with others. And he stayed true to the plan and this paid dividends to his whole race overall!

THE RESULT: A sub 10 hour Ironman!

Based on the training and the conditions on the day, check out my predictions v’s Matts actual. Impressive!

PREDICTED:
Swim: 55-60min
Bike: 5:10-5:20hrs
Run: 3:25-3:35hrs

ACTUAL:
Swim: 1:01:59, 4th AG
Bike: 5:08:31, 22nd AG
Run: 3:30:45, 14th AG
Overall: 9:55:21, 15th AG

Full results here.

“I couldn’t have imagined a better first Ironman experience. I was so nervous about the weather and conditions, with heavy chop in the swim and crazy headwinds and rain on the bike and run… But I stuck to our race plan and just enjoyed the entire day! We can’t do it without the volunteers who are literally the best. And the support from home has been overwhelming so thanks to everyone and particularly Coach Sarah – you believed in me this entire journey and we blardy did it!” ~Matt

Congrats Matt – you deserved that result wholeheartedly!!

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Women on the world stage

Ironman World Championships in Nice, 2024

2024 saw the first time the women would take on the Ironman World Championships in Nice, France. And what a spectacularly beautifully tough course it is!

CPC athlete Jacqui Graham qualified for this race at Ironman Western Australia in December 2023 in her first Ironman, started coaching with CPC in February 2024 and we’ve been working towards this since.

Ahead of the race, Jac was spending 5 weeks travelling around Europe with her bike in tow, and runners and swim gear packed. With this, we opted to take the roadie and therefore would race the course on the roadie too. This race was for the challenge, the experience, to race against the best in the world and to challenge herself against a super tough course, and she did all that and more!

Jacqui shared some of her thoughts post race…..

Woweee. That was humbling!

Swim I was stoked with. Was pretty rough out there so I was very happy with how I went especially how much swimming I’d managed in the last two months.

That bike course was something else. It was tough! 2400m of elevation in the first half of the race and a relentless headwind on any flats, but absolutely STUNNING descents! There were so many strong riders. Everyone seemed to be quite conservative descending – probably as they were on TT’s, whereas I found I could handle the descents well on my road bike. So would have been interesting to have my TT but I’m glad I had my roadie for the previous 5 weeks so happy with my decision. Also gave me confidence on the descents – which is where I actually felt I did my best!

The run was tough. A stitch for first few k’s and the stomach wasn’t overally happy, so started conservative but the legs felt good! I was overall happy with the pace given the course. Only overtaken by Lucy Bartholomew and one other person on the run course so that’s a win! (we say a 3:30 mara after a TOUGH bike course is well and truly a win!)
But I know I can do better and my best run is still ahead of me, so that is exciting!


Overall a killer day. The most spectacular days racing, with amazing support on course on a very humbling course. 37th in age group. I don’t think I can complain about that !

The end result? After coming out of the water in 60yh position in her AG, Jacqui rode and ran here way through the field finishing 37th in her Age Group and a super proud Ironman World Championships Finisher!

Swim: 107:58
Bike: 6:29:16
Run: 3:29:24
Overall: 11:18:45, 37th F30-34
Full results HERE

Next up is the mens Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 26, 2024. We can’t wait to watch this one too!

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The road to Green and Gold

Ironman Athlete Shane Kervin shares an insight into his prep for the Aquathon (run / swim / run) Multisport World Championships.

I am the first person to admit that I probably have no real business donning the green and gold and being any part of an Australian team, but hey, if you qualify and are lucky enough to snag a spot, you would be mad not to take it, right?

Once on the team, the reality of toeing the line with some of the fittest  and fastest 50-54 year olds in the world started to hit me, sh*t I might have bitten off more than I can chew here.  There will be no where to hide on race day.  Don’t get me wrong, there is no shame in coming last, but if I can help it I would prefer not to.

Thankfully Sarah was kind enough to squeeze me onto her busy roster of athletes and agreed to an 8 week training block to drag the few fast twitch fibres I possess out of hibernation.

The first week consisted of some testing, with the results pretty underwhelming on my behalf and some of the efforts had me gasping and questioning my choices.

However, I soon learnt the difference between ‘exercising’ and ‘training’. 

I was suddenly ‘training’ and loving the variety and Sarah’s approach to it, moulding the program around my work roster and family life.

By the time I flew out to Townsville I could clearly see the improvements in both my run and swim paces, and in my training I felt ‘strong’, which had me mentally in a great space and excited for the race.

I was hesitant to set a goal time, because I hadn’t raced this particular format of the Aquathlon and the conditions always play such a big part, but I had some reference times in my head. 

If I went over 45 minutes I felt I would walk away disappointed, if I went under 44 I would be really satisfied and if I went under 42 I would be rapt.

So to finish in 41:51, in the top half of the field (by one spot) and having enjoyed every second of it, I could not have been happier!
(Race distance 2.5km run, 1km swim, 2.5km run )

Looking back at my qualifying event times compared to the World Champs the improvement is considerable.

A HUGE thank-you to Sarah – what she achieved in such a short period is amazing!

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