I've started a new blog!

I often find myself searching for my favourite poems, verses and quotes online so I decided to start a new blog!
Everything that I post on there means something special to me. I think that they are best enjoyed one at a time, like you would look at works of art when you go to a gallery. So read slowly and allow it to affect you a little bit deeper if you can!

… and now for something different…

My report from Taupo Ironman 2007


As the East grew red with the first light of dawn I stripped off and joined the other 999 competitors in the clear still waters of lake Taupo. What was I doing here? I certainly wasn’t planning to set any records, win any prizes or challenge for a Kona spot. Could I honestly claim to be lining up at the start of an Ironman ‘for fun’? Was I deluded to think that I could last the distance with only a scattered handful of modest training sessions in my training diary? And how DID I come to be here in the first place… ?

Last Spring I spent two weeks cycling and hitch hiking from Christchurch up to Auckland via Motueka, Picton, Wellington, Havelock North, Napier and Taupo. Lush green hues, enchanting birdsongs and captivating mountainous backdrops made riding all day a genuine pleasure. Back home in Surry Hills I looked up the IMNZ website and called the race office eager to find an excuse to return: “Hi my name is Dunstan, I represent Total Immersion Swimming. Your Ironman looks like a great event and I’d like to give away some state-of-the-art swim coaching in return for some exposure.”. I met with and enthusiastic response from Jane and they somehow persuaded me to take part too!

… so there I was, waist deep in the lake at 0700 and ready for adventure! My ‘taper week’ had consisted of early mornings at/in the lake giving swimming tips, coaching sessions at the local pool and co-presenting seminars on “What makes good swimming?” and “How to achieve your perfect Ironman swim” with Terry Laughlin, Mr Total Immersion himself! I felt pretty confident that I would be able to complete the distance but I knew that it would take a bit longer than my other 3 Ironman races - Forster ’04 and ’05 and Kona ‘05. I had trained pretty well for those and managed two that were close to 9:30 and one that was well inside. My plan for today was to swim relaxed, survive the bike and walk/run the marathon as best I could.

I started at the back and took my time as the start gun sounded. My goggles leaked so I discarded them pretty quickly, feeling grateful for the clean, fresh water. I used focal points to work on different parts of my stroke and core rhythm for 20 strokes at a time. On the way out to the turn I cruised past a good number of swimmers, ‘feeling my way through the pack’ and did my best to avoid the thrashing legs I encountered! On the return I cruised with the pack, feeling great and saving energy.

Onto dry land and my lack of wetsuit raised a big cheer from the crowd. Speedos off, nicks on then out onto the road armed with dates, tamari almonds, a bag of fresh apricots and a couple of sandwiches. Feeling fresh, powerful and loving the crowd! 60km later it was a different story … speed dropped right off and I switched to survival mode. Back into town, the halfway point, a big wave of energy from the crowd carried me back out to the turnaround... and dumped me there. I chuckled to myself as I realised that I was empty. I truly had nothing! I lay down by the side of the road and really didn’t care if I looked ridiculous! A couple of minutes eased my discomfort slightly and I continued the struggle to get home. Reaching the final right turn was pure bliss; I had never imagined that a yellow arrow could make me feel so happy!

Through T2 and changed I walked out onto the run course. What a pleasure to be upright with a straight spine after 6+ hours hunched over my bike! I worked in some brief sections of super slow jogging, relaxing into my best form. I figured that I had about 20km of running in me and I didn’t want to ‘use it up’ too quickly! By 32 km I really was all used up. Fully spent! Walking in the marathon was a new experience for me but it really wasn’t that bad. I enjoyed some good chats and for the first time I took full advantage those wonderful aid stations. I mustered something resembling a run for the final kilometres and scored top for high 5’s in the home straight. My finish was happy but not especially glorious. My adventure had lasted close to 13 hours and the experience was quite unlike any of the others. Thank you IMNZ for a fantastic day. Yes I DID enjoy it, yes I AM deluded and yes I MIGHT even do it again sometime…

Couch Surfing, WWOOFING and SERVAS

I've just signed up as a 'couch surfer'! It looks like a good way of connecting with like minded people, with the added benefit that you might be able crash on someone's couch for a few nights. Click here to see my "Couch Surfing Profile"


When I was in NZ I used the SERVAS organisation. I stayed with some really great hosts and I'd like to be a host in the future.


As part of my travels next year I'd like to deepen my experience of organic / biodynamic farming / sustainable living / alternative communities and I'm hoping that WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms) will provide some opportunities for this.

One way or another, I shouldn't be short of somewhere to stay! All of these organisations seem like a great way to establish a meaningful connection to a place when away from home. I'm hoping that my new housemates will be up for getting involved too as I'd love to offer our sofa bed!

The Importance of Being Earnest

Click here the photos from our graduation performance!














Here is what I was thinking a week out...

I've never been involved in anything like this before, this final week is 'production week' and the best way I have of understanding it is to compare it to something I am more familiar with, the last week before a big triathlon / rowing event. There are 8 of us cast members plus our wonderful director Joanne Panagiotopolous and we are a tight team so it feels a little bit like our final week of rowing before Henley '97...

In both cases you are trying to build your energy and bring your performance to a peak at the right time. In both cases an outstanding performance involves reproducing the best from all the hours of practise you have put in but also creating a good mental space to allow something extra special to happen on the day. Great 'performances' seem to correlate quite strongly with 'letting go' and enjoying each moment as it unfolds... The biggest difference, as far as I can make out, is that I'd be spending most of the week ahead of a race with my feet up doing very little!

Oscar Wilde is a comic genius and you if we the team do our job well then the audience will certainly be laughing a great deal more than you ever did when you watched a race!

Looking for housemates again!

Olivier and Chrissie are moving out in the new year, they are going to get a place together. So I'm on the hunt for housemates again. It gets a bit easier each time. I'm a lot clearer about what I'm looking for now. We always get a lot of interest so it is good to be really clear about what kind of a person you are looking for. Click anywhere on the text to see the ad.

Here are some of the people I have lived with over the last 3 years: Nick, Bianca, Jane, Jamie, Melody, Elmo, Mattieu, Carole, Thomas, Martin, Adam, Cath, Chrissie, Josh, Mali, Olivier, Christina. Perhaps we ought to have a 303 reunion sometime and see what everyone is up to...

2006 draws to a close

My year is nearly over and it has been the best of my life so far. I have been a full time student at Parsifal College in Sydney for the year and that had a lot to do with it! In my spare time I have been running Total Immersion swim coaching for Australia. I've started a photo page too. My aim is to post only the best ones so that we can avoid digital overload! In any case I've put in permanent links for each of these so you can check them out.

Does anyone use RSS with 'live bookmarks'? It seems like a great way to see when websites have been updated without checking them every 5 minutes...

Bye for now,


Dunstan

February Birthdays

Well 3 of the 9 of us on my course happened to have birthdays within 4 days of each other so Zohar, Evan and Myself shared a cake!

... and then there were the parties...

Myself and Josh had a joint BBQ in Centennial Park and managed to find some fairly subtle (not!) fabrics for our togas. People made a great effort, Phil maintained his near-perfect record for party attendence and the bottle walking brought out a competitive streak in many!

The following week was Claire's 'Moulin Rouge' themed party at 'Slide'. Another great night where people made a real effort with outfits, although the sight of a 6ft drag queen was somewhat disturbing, especially to me!

Here are a couple of photos. Emma has provided her ususal excellent service of publishing them online and I have added her website as a permanent link on the right ... Dunstan & Josh's Toga BBQ and Claire's Birthday

on becoming an anthroposophist...

Well I'm now 4 weeks into my course. It is unlike anything I have ever done before and I am enjoying some of the creative tasks such as sculpting, painting and weaving. We have 3 sessions each day from Monday to Thursday. I leave home by 8 am for the hour ride up to Pennant Hills and am showered in time to start at 9:30.

I've also started a blog for us, the students at www.anthroposophists.blogspot.com. Full time students are: Celine, Connie, Dunstan, Ella, Evan, Kelly-Anne, Naho, Naoto, Rosa and Zohar. 5 of us are international students from as far afield as Japan, Israel and the UK so its a good mix.

Here are some photos!

Dunstan's UK Tour draws to a close...

Well my 6 weeks excellent weeks in the UK are drawing to a close. Lots good times with great people. Sorry if the blogging has been a bit sparse!

I've been doing my best to get around the UK and see as many people as possible and am doing a couple of weeks of supply teaching to finish off the trip.

I'm having a great final week in Northampton. Lots of challenge, especially in the classroom - teaching in a school that is in special measures - ie under threat of being closed down. This week is their follow up Offsted inspection. Yesterday one of the inspectors went onto the field when a fight was in progress and had a burger thrown at her! Most of the classes need a pretty high level of behaviour management so it is keeping me honest!

Thought for Thursday 19th Jan 2006:

"A lot of the kids at school seem to think that I (their supply teacher) am there for their entertainment and try their hardest to get a predictable reaction. Well they are most mistaken - I'm actually there in a spirit of lovingkindness and light humour to help them to learn and to grow as people. Often I feel as though certain individuals are the ones who are providing entertainment for me and the rest of the class!"

... love that shit!


When I get back to Sydney I'll be starting my course in Anthroposophy with a view to becoming a Waldorf teacher. I will miss many aspects of my job at NumberWorks and there will be many sad farewells but I am fully excited about the start of the next chapter of my antipodean adventure. It seems as though the Steiner approach treats a person as'an acorn to be nurtured in growth', rather than a 'vessel that needs to be filled' and this is something I believe in my heart.

I'll also be running Total Immersion swim workshops, setting up swim squad, getting more involved with Rob's Run teaching, helping friends with their triathlon training and perhaps doing some supply teaching and maths tuition.

Plenty to keep me busy there!

Dunstan's UK Tour draws to a close...

Well my 6 weeks excellent weeks in the UK are drawing to a close. I've been doing my best to get around the UK and see as much of my friends and family as possible. Lots good times with great people. Sorry if the blogging has been a bit sparse! I'll post some highlights soon :-)

I'm having a great final week in Northampton. Lots of challenge, especially in the classroom - teaching in a school that is in special measures - ie under threat of being closed down. This week is their follow up Offsted inspection. Yesterday one of the inspectors went onto the field when a fight was in progress and had a burger thrown at her! Most of the classes need a pretty high level of behaviour management so it is keeping me honest!

Thought for Thursday 19th Jan 2006:

"A lot of the kids at school seem to think that I (their supply teacher) am there for their entertainment and try their hardest to get a predictable reaction. Well they are most mistaken - I'm actually there in a spirit of lovingkindness and light humour to help them to learn and to grow as people. Often I feel as though certain individuals are the ones who are providing entertainment for me and the rest of the class!"

... love that stuff!


When I get back to Sydney I'll be starting my course in Anthroposophy with a view to becoming a Waldorf teacher. I will miss many aspects of my job at NumberWorks and there will be many sad farewells but I am fully excited about the start of the next chapter of my antipodean adventure. It seems as though the Steiner approach treats a person as 'an acorn to be nurtured in growth', rather than a 'vessel that needs to be filled' and this is something I believe in my heart.

I'll also be running Total Immersion swim workshops, setting up swim squad, getting more involved with Rob's Run teaching, helping friends with their triathlon training and perhaps doing some supply teaching and maths tuition.

Should be plenty to keep me busy there!

Flying Long Haul

Here is an excellent article about surviving international flighst from my friend Matt Eaves. His hilarious posting includes factual info, tips for coping and comments.

Check out the site by clicking here!

here is my response ...

haha - I thought he was joking about the pepper thing!

re: when to get on the plane I agree with Matt that being in the middle of the anxious throng is the worst scenario. My solution, however is the opposite - I like to stay in the lounge, with my laptop plugged into the mains, until the very last! I figure they will always give me a final call and once you get around the corner there is always a queue anyway so you haven't exactly delayed proceedings... I just hate queues so I want to avoid them & spend the mimimun time in the plane possible!

re: charging your lapton on the plane - especially for Cokaru the new Airbus A340-600 has in-flight charging facilities without having to buy one of those silly and expensive adaptors. You just plug in between the seats! The socket takes US, Au and UK plugs (very clever) but my AU iBook charger didn't have enough clearance to fit in. Next time I'll take my US adaptor or an extension!

BTW I once got 'in trouble' for plugging my laptop into a socket I found. I figured that if it was going to cause the plane to crash then they wouldn't leave it lying around, but the I got busted and the head air steward told the pilot who told the head air steward to spank me soundly! If only it had been a stewardess, sigh... note: only one part of this story is elaborated, can you tell which...?

an aside: Has anyone ever tried charging from a 110V shaving socket? Kind of antisocial but if you were on the last level of Tetris and you combined it with a pepper snorting mission...?

Cheers Matt,

PS "Discomfort is a state of mind!"

(my)OPIC bar accused of racist door policy

What do you think of this article (click the link)?
What is your opinion of 'bouncers'?
Do you have any personal experiences?

I'd be interested to see if experiences in the UK are different to Australia

I used to live with a guy who worked as a doorman. This guy had a PhD and had some pretty logical yet innovative ideas on the subject.

More from me once others have expressed their opinions...

Dunstan's UK Tour dates

I've added a permanent link to my online diary - look on the right...

Don't forget to check down to the bottom of this page for new photos.

OK - off to Saffron Walden, more later,

D

Cambridge Trial VIII's

I caught the Train in from St Albans with Dom and headed down to Putney to watch Cambridge University Boat Club's tideway race. The squad is preparing for the famous Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race that takes place at Easter. Trial VIII's give two matched crews a chance to race head to head over the Boat Race course from Putney to Mortlake. There is considerable media interest and pundits attempt to gain an early indicator of the form of the two squads.

The 'Tideway' is, as the name suggests, a tidal section of the Thames. the race is timed to coincide with the fast tide flowing in, and both crews will attempt to position themselves in the fastest moving piece of water or 'stream'. I was in a Launch with good friend and CUBC boatman Rob Baker and Legendary coach Donald Legget.

It was a drizzly, grey day which required several layers + waterproofs. The two crews were 'Goldie' and 'Fairbairn' after two influential figures from the rich history of Cambridge rowing. We followed 'Goldie' who got off to a good start but suffered at the hands of the harbour master who, for reasons unknown, decided to wash the race down. 'Fairbairn' contained Tasmanian President Tom Edwards and 2000 Olympic gold medallist Kieran West in the stroke seat. Fairbairn sat on a higher rating for the whole race and moved up to a length of clear water by the mile post. Goldie's rhythm improved visibly in the flatter water after Hammersmith and they managed to neutralise some of Fairbairn's advantage, but they were never a threat.

Chief Coach, Duncan Holland seemed pleased with the performance of the two crews and all returned to the King's School Boathouse in Putney for hot soup.

UK here I come!

On Monday I finished packing just in time and Claire gave me a lift to the airport :-) My flight was uneventful, although I met some cool people, including Molly, a triathlete from Wellington, NZ who was on her way to the UK with her sister Jessica to spend Christmas and NY with relatives.

The Cathay Pacific airbus from Sydney to Hong Kong was brand new and boasted laptop charging facilities (hooray!) and internet connection. The latter didn't work but is clearly the way of the future! At HK airport I connected to the wireless network and sent some quick emails. I also used Skpe Out to make a couple of calls to the UK from my iBook. Rather cool to be talking to Red in the UK for a cent per minute whilst wandering around the terminal. I only had to hang up as I got onto the plane. Tres cool Technology!!!

Landed at 0500 Tuesday morning and Dad picked me up from Heathrow and drove me home to Northampton :-) I haven't seen my dad since summer '03! I'm hoping to do some supply (casual) teaching for a couple of weeks in the New Year to help to fund the trip and I fired off my CV to 'Kingsthorpe Commuinty College' where I was a pupil from to 1988-1993. After lunch with my mum and a quick nap I headed down to London for a beer. The venue where we were meeting turned out not to exist anymore and I was unable to contact anyone to let them know plan B... BIG APOLOGIES to James and anyone else who couldn't find us. I was able to introduce two of my best mates Dom and Rob from the UK to Sydney training partners Charlotte and Kristian and Headed back to the Adair residence in St Albans where Dom lives with his wife Maria.

10th / 11th Canberra Weekend

Friday night was a late one at NumberWorks, finishing everything off for the end of term. I caught the late bus home and was forced to move to a higher seat when a fellow passenger evacuated his stomach. The bus driver kicked the offending passenger off at the next stop with 'All you had to do was ask and I'd have stopped the bus!" fair point...

Dan picked me + 2 bikes up in the morning for the drive down to Canberra. I stayed with Jaqui and Chris, two of Wendy's excellent friends. Chris led a group of us out for a tour on the mountain bikes, the highlight was a BMX track where I made and emergency landing and narrowly escaped a big stack after getting carried away on a big jump!

In the afternoon I registered, racked my bike and gave Ainsley & Richard a hand on the Inner City Cycles stand. That evening we were treated to a gourmet Pasta feast at the Pulkkinen residence. Wendy is part of a wonderful group of friends who were all involved in the 1/2 Ironman in capacities including hosts, photographer, support crew, relay team and full distance competitors. AJ, Dan, Kerry, Mark and Wendy completed the full event and all had really positive experiences that were enjoyed by the whole group. Notably Wendy and AJ both 'popped their 1/2 IM cherries' with big smiles and very respectable performances.

I had a good swim but took a wrong turn on the bike course. This was 100% my own fault, as I hadn't driven the course or checked the map, but certainly wasn't helped by the illogical signage and general confusion. I ended up riding with Aeromax team mate Chris Shaw and we were several km past the point of error by the time we realised we had missed 20km of the course!

Dunstan "That sucks. Were you racing for an Ironman slot?"
Shawey "Nah, I already qualified at Port Mac Half."
Dunstan "Well I can't be bothered to go back now, what say we head back to transition and do the run anyway?"

We rode into T2 in 5th place overall and for a while the crowd and announcer thought we were having the race of our lives and had made up 15+ minutes on the pros but our amusement soon gave the game away. We explained our circumstances to the TA officials, gave our recommendations for improvements to signage and were stripped of our timing chips before we were allowed to progress to the run.

Belinda won her age group by 22 minutes.

I'll put some more results here soon - has anyone compiled them yet?

Lots of blogging to catch up on!

The 3rd / 4th was a great weekend down in Melbourne visiting Belinda. On the Saturday we went down to the beach for a swim with Andy Sleaman's Tri-Bal squad and then headed over to 'Gwargy's' house for their christmas party. Sunday was a fine day and we rode down to Sandringham for the 'Protivity' sprint race. I had a great time racing and think I won my age group, although there were some pretty major issues with the timing / results! I caught up with Greer for a coffee in St Kilda and managed to catch up with Nathan, Su-z and newborn Keira in the evening.

Dunstan's UK Tour 2005-2006

Well I'm flying out on Monday the 12th, arriving in the UK on the 13th in time for a beer with Charlotte, Kristian, Dom and others! Can't wait to catch up with everyone over there, its been too long - not far off 3 years... Woah!

I've published my 'Tour Dates' Calendar here so that you can keep track of my movements.

Do have a look, and be sure to bookmark it as I will update it when I plan more details. I think its pretty cool! Note: the bit in italics at the top is where I will be spending each night ;-)

Just finishing everythin off here at work and Off to Canberra in the morning for MTBing and Half Ironman on Sunday, then back to Clovelly for farewell drinks on Sunday night. Pretty busy and lots still to do...

More soon,

D

Meanwhile...

Whilst Charlotte and the others were over in WA getting their final pre-race sleep I was at the Murrayfield Scottish Ball! A black tie affair with Haggis aplenty! I headed over from Bondi with JP (via an unmissable photo opportunity on the beach) and bumped into Anna wandering through Martin Place in her ball gown and looking rather fine. Roo had organised two tables of 20 great people and showed us why she is a Highland Dancing champion. Claire was diverted from a quiet night in after a last minute cancellation and turned up within 30 minutes looking stunning! Kenny showed us what to do with the Haggis, Jack and Alana told us of their recent engagement - CONGRATULATIONS! Emma suffered some impressive 'fling-bruising' on her upper arm, JP claimed that it was inflicted collectively. Doug Isles arrived after dinner but without his kilt and entertained us all with his infamous game of 'C or B'. Emma has published some great photos from the night, they are on her website which can be found here...

Sunday morning was a rather wet affair. What better way to recover than at an Ocean Swim, the 'Round the Island' in Coogee. I got there in the nick of time for the 1km warm up swim!

There are three things you need to know about the morning...

1. It started well but soon revealed itself to be cold, wet and windy.
2. We didn't make it around Wedding Cake Island - the organisers changed the course to keep us inside the Bay. Probably a wise move!
3. It was good to finish the swims feeling positive, with some great results from the crew:

In the 1km Ian won his age group with his usual laid-back & modest attitude and picked up a nice photo at the soggy presentation. Eva managed to overcome her fears of open water and finished 2nd in her age group. Anna completed her first ocean swim and coped really well with the challenging conditions, all smiles at the finish on around 3 hours of sleep. Nice work! Chad's teams (racing as 'Sea's the Limit') picked up 1st (Dash) and 3rd (Splash) for the 1km event and the Mermaids were 3rd overall in the 2.4km.













































... meanwhile Emma was standing on her head somewhere in Brookvale as part of her yoga competition! Perhaps not the best position to recover from a big night, but certainly a great look...

Those links again in case you missed them...
Emma's Photos are here
'Sea's the Limit' is Chad's swim club
Coogee Swim photos - I'm in at least 2 of them, can you spot me?
Coogee Swim results are here I'm still trying to work out why I didn't get a time for the 2.4km, I reckon it was about 24:45 which would have put me 18th in my age...

Its interesting to note how 90% of swimmers in the photos lift their heads right out of the water to breathe. I know its important to be able to see where you are going but doing it every breath is like driving with the handbrake on!

"Ideal Body Shape" by Grace McCLure

Click here to read an interesting article by Grace McClure
(scroll down)
Her modelling website can be found here

Grace is an interesting combination of: IronMan Triathlete, Model and Single Mother. This gives her a pretty unique perspective on several worlds!

Grace has experienced pressure to conform to a body shape that is expected of her as a model and this is now at odds with her desire to pursue her ambitions as a triathlete. Recently she has been turned down by a bikini swimwear calendar on the grounds of being too athletic!

The irony of that is certainly not lost on me...


Grace seems to have rejected the notion of having a 'perfect figure' in favor of living and training as she wants to, citing her happiness and health as higher priorities. She quotes a survey which claims that 74% of Australian women are unhappy with their bodies. I think Grace would like to challenge some of society's firmly held notions from within the modeling industry. I have never met her, but I can imagine that this takes a certain amount of determination and courage.

As for my opinion...?

I think that athletic girls can be very attractive and I think that beauty resides in the heart and mind as well as the body. When a person is living strong mentally, physically AND emotionally then they are are truly alive they radiate life energy. To my mind the 26% are the truly attractive ones ;-)

So what do YOU THE READER think?

Would you like to see models that are more representative of the general population?

GIRLS Are you happy with your body the way it is? Do you feel that there is pressure to conform to an 'ideal' body shape?

GUYS Do you like athletic girls?