Wet and windy bank holiday in Auckland

Well, I have flown 36 hours in order to experience a bank holiday weekend not unlike our own in the UK!

It is 3 days before the Age Group event in the ITU World Triathlon Championships, 2 days before the men's elites, and 1 day before the women's elites. And we are all hoping against all logic that the weather will improve. Its currently about 7-10 degrees at night and up to 15 in the day (if you're out of the wind and between showers!) and I've seen a lot of athletes really worried about race day. The organisers are saying no clothing over the top of your national race suit unless its an unbranded clear jacket (who has one of those??!)
This is me at the top of the Savage Memorial, one of the aptly named 4 sharp little climbs on the bike course, which we have to do 4 times.

So on Monday it will be mind over matter. To be honest, after racing in Eton at 10 degrees air temp, and swimming in Shepperton at 9 degrees water temp I am well prepared. Although there is no way I'd have gone out on my bike at home in gale force winds like we had this morning. I rode my bike around the North Shore and investigated lots of lovely areas like Mairangi bay and Brown's Bay. Its a really sport-oriented culture here - many people live here and compete at a high level in all sorts of sports - Surf live saving, netball, rugby as well as swimming for New Zealand. Down at the Millenium high performance centre there are silver ferms every where you look, and even Olympic medal-winners hanging around on poolside coaching the kids. And down at the Triathlon Expo we had Hamish Carter and Javier Gomez (top pro athletes) meeting and greeting the athletes today.

The last week has gone about as well as you could hope - highs being training in the Parnell Baths (above, sea filled and 17 degrees) and the wonderful food and company of the Mckenzies who I am staying with, lows being my ribs still giving me grief, and my luggage not arriving for another 24 hours after I did.
But I'm feeling relaxed and confident ahead of the race, based on having done all the hard work this summer, and testing out the swim course earlier, plus the bike course and going for a blustery beach run yesterday.

The parade of nations was fun, and we all got to wander around in our GB kit while checking out all the other nations kit and deciding what is worth swapping for.

Hope you like the photos, and that this conveys some of the preparations and the excitement ahead of the big event. Hoping to get a good view of the elite women's race tomorrow from the Grandstand, and another couple of days of getting blown about before it all kicks off at 09:20 (GMT-12) on Monday i.e. 9:20pm UK time on Sunday.

Sleep, pain and the Land of the long white cloud

I'm just getting ready to head off to Auckland this weekend for the ITU World Championships.
The past 4 weeks being back at work seem to have flown by, but its been a good experiment in extending my peak conditioning phase while not actually putting many hours of training in. The dark mornings haven't helped, but I've managed 5 mornings of 6am alarms to train before work this week.

Its been hard to train effectively with my ribs still recovering from the bike crash, but I keep reminding myself that, as Chrissie says: 'pain is a conversation between the mind and the body'. I proved that by racing successfully at the Votwo race in Dorney, rather annoyingly being beaten into 2nd by 15 seconds - a result of having raced in the men's wave not the women's. That will teach me to get too big for my boots! That, together with the Speedo Hampton Court Swim had proved to me that I can handle the cold in a swim again, after getting used to the balmy bath temperatures in Las Vegas.

Anyway, as usual I've been thinking.... about two different things. Firstly, now is the time to be planning the race season for 2013, and I've been helping out athletes both new and old to the sport to enable them to both assess their current season, learn from it and to form the right goals for next year. Its very rewarding and it is good practice for me to make sure I can answer the same questions for myself to my coach Tom Bennett at T2 coaching like:
1. what are my strengths and how to make the most of them?  Answer: work ethic, resilience. I will be looking at another set of mentally tough races next year to test my resilience in 2013!
2. What are my weaknesses? lack of self confidence and sometimes self-belief. I really surprised myself this year because deep down I didn't think I was capable of the results I've achieved.
3. How will I do things differently in 2013? - I have learned a lot about myself, my ability to make great leaps in performance by raising my game, and I know the conditions I need to allow this to happen next year. And rest is the key.

This is my second point- I'm thinking that there is something to be said for sleep being key to being able to make breakthroughs - for one simple reason - pain thresholds. I've noticed that while my ribs are still inflamed, I feel very forlorn, like the little meerkat that was bitten by the snake on the BBC's Life of Mammals and I am not able to push myself as my pain thresholds are not good enough.When I've slept a bit more, then I'm much more able to withstand and push through the pain -this is a well documented phenomenon, see Pertovaara et al. and any number of references to the HPA axis in response to pain.

So I'm thinking about ways to get myself new targets for next year based on achieving a set number of hours of sleep. We all know how hard it is just to get to bed at a decent time during the week. I think I need competition to encourage me. What about a strava equivalent for logging your sleep hours? No idea if it will catch on, but I want to be proud to rest more in 2013, and I'm looking for incentivisation.

Speaking of sleep, I need to try to get a whole lot of that during my 36 hour journey starting this Sunday- I've never raced this far from home so it will be a new experience to fly in on Tuesday and race the following Monday with a 13 hour time difference.

Have a great weekend and for those racing Kona - have a blast, I'll be following in envy ahead of setting this as a goal for the future. And of course it will be one way of staying awake on Saturday to make sure I sleep well on the long flight!

Back to earth with a bump

Well, I'm back at work now, sitting behind a desk each day, and commuting for the best part of 3 hours a day, just like the rest of society. And its not only a shock, its tough not to eat comfort food all day to get over the depression. I keep reminding myself how much it hurt all day every day to push myself as hard as  I did all summer, not to mention how little money I had and all the times I had to avoid going out anywhere to save cash!

I am 4 weeks away from my last race of the year in Auckland, and its all about staying sharp now. Unfortunately I hampered my own preparations this weekend when I came off my bike- due to my own muppetry - I had failed to properly tighten the cassette on my wheel and the gears slipped in a very inconvenient manner leaving my Vegas tan on the pavement, and a couple of ribs and some other bones bruised.

So now I'm nursing the bruises, and trying to get  in some short sharp interval sessions when I get home from work in time. So tonight I finished training at 9:30pm, and I'm pleased to say my legs still feel great;  I pushed some good intervals out, fuelled rather strangely by Nigella cooking and the Masters of money - a programme about economic theory.

Anyway, I now have to rediscover the balance needed between work, training and sleep to get my best performances. I am so pleased that I decided to spend the summer training full time and I know what it feels like to really push yourself in a way that I would never have been able to otherwise, with the appropriate attention to rest, recovery and conditioning. I think I can maintain my fitness just til the end of this season, with any luck, and hopefully my bruises will mend in time for me to squeeze a couple more races in, before its the long, dark off-season and mince pies, festivities and endless turbo training!

8th at Las Vegas World 70.3 Champs

I have had two days in Vegas to reflect on the race Sunday. Overall I am very proud to have achieved 8th in Age Group at Las Vegas 70.3 World Championships. I am also being told by my body in no uncertain terms that its time for a rest! I got a cold almost immediately after the race, so my partyig is being fueled partly by cocktails and partly lemsip!

 

Here's the race report... Hope you like it!

It was a very tough event but very honest and the best athletes definitely came out on top. The times in this race do not really give much away about what it was really like. To even finish the race is actually an achievement. The DNF rate is high, and the Did Not Start rate even higher. Having trained in the heat for the last 2 weeks I had a lot of respect for the effects it has on the run, so I had made it my strategy to hold back a bit on the bike and save some for the run. Had I truly acclimatised to the heat? Not sure. I don't really think its possible to get used to running when the outside air is hotter than your blood. But clearly some people can still do it.

As it turned out, the strategy that seemed to work better was to give it all on the bike. Both pro winners did this, and the 3 girls who podiumed in my age all rode 2:37 compared with my 2:50. I swam 33 mins, and came out with the leaders, despite being kicked so hard at 28 mins that I have bruises on my face today, and had to put my goggles back on. I was determined not to lose the position. I managed to make up a bit with T1, which had a long (slippery) run in it and a transition with everything on your bike so that was easier than last year which involved picking up a bike bag from amongst 2000 others.

I rode out of T1 with the lead girls but saw the speed they went off in the first half of the bike, and thought 'that's just suicide', and decided to stick to my plan and pace myself. I lost about 8 mins in the first half, and then clawed some of that back as I rode a strong second half. I felt like a rock star coming back towards T2, having made the most of my nutrition and hydration. But my plan hung on waiting for others to expire. It was going to be a war of attrition in the run. With hindsight, my plan was a bit too passive, and I suppose you can't really wait for other people to give up in a world championship, as they had not been informed of my plan, and sadly did not cooperate!

It was probably already tipping 35 degrees at 10:20 when I started the run and reached 40 by the end. The course had no shade and was punishing, and although I remember every inch of it from last year I was determined to have a better experience but the heat still had the sapping effect on your energy and will to push yourself. I had made it my goal to run the whole 13.1 miles, no walking allowed. It was very tempting once you saw so many people walking but I kept it together, albeit at snails pace. I did not look at the Garmin, just tried to keep going, through some very rough patches and some really good patches. Finally reached the last mile and the finish line where I could lie down at last! Completely spent, I was very dehydrated all afternoon, probably suffered more than after last year's Ironman. And its a sobering thought that my run was significantly slower than my entire marathon in the ironman.

Parys Edwards had a great day to win the Age Group in 4:50 with a 1:35 run, so my 1:49 really wasn't enough, but my overall race time was still a 29 minute improvement on last year, and I never would have dreamed that 8th in the world was a possibility back at the start of the year - my goal was top 20.

Big thanks to Tom Bennett for raising my game and to Jenni Wilson for keeping my body together as well as Brendan Wylde for ensuring my mind was tougher than the rest. To all the Turbos and others who've trained with me come rain or shine, I owe you. Here's to the next goal. An ITU Worlds result in Auckland on 22nd October. Oh, and a few good nights out this week on the Strip before its back to work on Monday!

This is it...

So, all the hard work is done, the bike is racked, one last meal awaits and some body marking and a warm up separates me from the event I've trained for all year - Las Vegas 70.3 World Championships.

I'm over the moon to have reached this point in such good shape - one cold at the end of March and one chest infection after it plus the food poisoning before Cowman have cost me 5 days of training since Jan 2nd, and I've only missed one session of my sabbatical - a swim when I had food poisoning. I'm pleased to say no injuries, apart from Sunday's ankle sprain which fixed itself quickly. One infected wisdom tooth that could have derailed things, but didn't, and probably 2 hangovers that could've grounded mere mortals, but I managed to train through. The consistency, and the amount of enjoyment (and of course pain) that I've managed this year is up by at least 20% from the past 6 seasons that I've been competing in triathlons with increasing commitment, starting at 10 hours a week in 2006 and reaching about 18 this year.

That is one journey. On to another one, my drive from Scottsdale to Las Vegas, which was rather eventful as it turned out.
Firstly, there was a Haboob, otherwise known as a dust storm, which preceeds a real storm in the desert as the high winds pick up dust from the dry ground.

You can see the line of the mountains in the background becomes invisible as I enter the dust storm. Weird. Then of course the storm itself hit, and I had the weird sensation of driving a car in the desert through roads awash with very heavy amounts of flooding! I made it out of that (temperatures dropped to 23, so cooler than its been at night the whole time I have been here) into the Joshua Tree National Park. Had to do the tourist thing, and nab an unsuspecting Mr Joshua for a photo....

And then, as I looked around for somewhere to readjust my fluid balance, I heard this tsst, tsst noise. And b*gger me, there was a rattlesnake. just right there, by my feet.

As you can see, he's kind of looking at me as if to say 'What are you doing in my desert?'. I won't make that mistake again in a hurry. Got back in the car quickly, and decided I could drive a lot further before finding a McDonald's for a pee!

Anyway right back to the present, and I'm in my very luxurious suite just a couple of blocks from the finish of the race. Its not the best organisation still, as its only the second year, and they have changed their mind over a few things, but I don't expect chaos tomorrow. I had a swim on the course this morning: its warm, brown and otherwise pretty nice. About 26 degrees so a bit like a muddy bath really. Today there was a fairly decent headwind out on the first half of the bike, but its forecast to be lower tomorrow. I felt great on the swim and bike, and then had a major blonde moment, which could have completely ruined everything. I locked the keys in my fancy-pants car, which automatically opens and closes its vast sliding doors, but apparently doesn't unlock the rest of the car... oops! So I got about 1.5 hours extra heat acclimatisation in my socks waiting for Luis, a nice bloke from 'Pop-em Locks' of Las Vegas to come and sort out my predicament! I'm sure he's had to deal with a lot more grisly scenes than my car - at least there were no bodies, or other CSI-type storylines.

I'm going to have to show off by putting some more inspiration that I used for tomorrow's race, when I checked in yesterday, my timing was perfect as double world Champion (Hawaii Ironman and Las Vegas Half) Craig Alexander was also checking in. A thoroughly nice bloke, he agreed to have his photo taken, and we joked about a little competition I have with Turbo Andrew Ingoldby where I have beers riding on him winning, but he said he's going to have beers anyway  even if I don't!

So that was one reason I feel so good going into this. I also banished all my demons by downloading a couple of important songs and running that evil hill from the course last year, that I particularly dreaded. Today I had a big smile on my face as I heard:

'Bulletproof, nothing to lose, fire away, fire away. ' - David Guetta

 followed by:

' What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller; doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone' Kelly Clarkson,

and, just for a laugh:

'I've got passion in my pants and I aint afraid to show it!' LMFAO.
That's because I'm inches away (well 70.3 miles to be precise) from getting my dancing shoes on... Its been a long time since my last little dancing on the bar post-race shenanigans...

Can't wait to get out there and put this machine to the test. For anyone wanting to track online, my start is at 7:30 pacific time, which is 3:30pm GMT and there is a tracker on www.ironmanlive.com  bib number 1271.

Its' time to smash it.

Proof positive its been worth it - at last!

Well, this morning one of my followers who shall remain nameless mentioned that he wanted to see more evidence that hard work was going on, not just enjoying myself around the sights of Arizona. I explained that I had assumed there would be little interest in the mundane work ethic that is required to be here competing at this level. However, I don't have a full time photographer, which is the main reason why I only have pictures of the wine tasting and the rather more enjoyable moments. So, for those who are interested, this is the glamour of full time training at its best...

Yoga at 6:30am. No photographer for this. He was asleep still.
5km swim set at the Cactus Aquatic centre - I got the pool attendant to capture the proof.

Then after a short aquajog I headed over to a coaching company in North Scottsdale to have a discussion about groups to train with here. And then I had lunch while watching the Vuelta Espana, and watched Jonny Brownlee running down the rest of the field at the recent ITU World Team Triathlon Champs in Stockholm for another impressive GB win. I had a little sleep and then it was out into 38 degree heat for my first attempt to run on my ankle to see if it was mended yet.

 I did some drills out at the trailhead on the gravel, and then ran home, and for the first time ever, I managed sub-7 minute mile pace for 5 miles at 38 degrees. Very chuffed with myself when I got back, I had some well deserved Coconut water- that stuff is a godsend for rehydrating, and then I made some tilapia fillets with roasted butternut squash, aubergine, red onions and a green salad.

So pleased to be back in form and finally able to actually perform the way I have trained to. Its only taken 12 days of acclimatisation. Whew, just in time! Now I feel like one of the songs that has been inspiring me:
'Bulletproof, nothing to lose' (David Guetta, Titanium)

Clouds over the red rocks in Sedona

Well, its the last week before the World Championships in Las Vegas, and I took the weekend away from the searing heat of Scottsdale to take in some of the lovely scenery and slightly cooler conditions in Sedona. Its one of my favourite places in the world, but I have yet to the make the most of it. Last time I visited straight from the finish of my first marathon in Phoenix, and was reduced to hobbling around so I saw the delights from a Pink Jeep tour. This time I was hoping to actually hike one of the trails. But yet again, it was not to be....

I drove up on Saturday morning after yet another baking hot run, this time with hills at race pace, so that was yet another milestone ticked off. I can't say it was pretty by any stretch, but it was important mentally, and it meant I had earned my trip away to cooler climes.

When we arrived and took a drive to look at my bike route for the next day, it became clear that the sunny blue skies I had come to expect were not on the plan for this weekend. It started raiming really hard, so we did the most sensible thing possible, and stopped for a bit of wine tasting....

Bizarrely, it then started to hail. So a few local Grenache/petite syrah blends and a lovely goat/sheep/cow's milk cheese later, we set off to Sedona again, with a few stops on the way to admire the clouds. What??? you may well ask. Coming from an island where clouds are the norm, I couldn't really understand this,  but my host Ben, who is a photographer, was pleased that the red rocks had clouds in the background. I can't quite see it myself. You decide...

Anyway, the things I love about Sedona are: the laid back atmosphere, the gift shops, the slightly crazy people into all their new age stuff and of course sampling the local delicacies, like deep fried cactus, rattlesnake meatballs, and of course the ubiquitous Prickly Pear Mojito. Just the one of course. I also had some of the best bison steak I have ever tasted.

But it wasn't all touristing. I headed out for a ride climbing 2000ft to Sedona from Camp Verde, and then running off that on one of the hilliest roads I've ever had the displeasure to toil up and down. But of course the views were spectacular, and I put some extra effort in when I realised that people were shooting just off to the side of the road. I only hoped they hadn't been drinking as well!

And on the last 1.5 miles downhill, where the radar gun clocked my speed at 9 miles an hour, I managed to sprain my left ankle. So the rest of the viewing of rocks in Sedona has been done while resting and icing it. I could react by being panic-stricken this close to a race, but I know I've done all the hard work and my body feels absolutely like its coming into race condition exactly as planned, and I have sprained this ankle many times before, so I am calm. I am of course taking daily guidance from coach Tom Bennett as always, and I was already scheduled to have 2 days off running, so I think it will make very little difference to my buildup - if anything possibly forcing me to spend time resting will be a good thing.

Compared with all the other things that can go wrong before a race, this seems to be a small hitch, and I have a strong belief that it will heal in time, given the right regime.

It also means I have no excuses not to watch Andy Murray's journey in the US Open. He looks like a different player since he won Olympic gold. I wish I was watching Paralympics of course, but sadly there is no network coverage here in the US. A real shame.
Back to Scottsdale and 38 degrees again. Cactuses abound....but no trail running for me ;-(

Meeting some new friends on Sonoran desert trails

Well I went in search of Javelina this morning, and I found them!

Just like that, I was on the trail for all of 5 minutes and I ran into a herd of the little spiky fellas. And they were very friendly: one of them seemed intent on coming with me for my run.
He was pretty fast too:

But I carried on my way, enlightened by the experience of the desert wildlife, and I got to see the sun rise above the McDowells which was beautiful:

It was just so much more enjoyable than the 38 degrees yesterday. If I lived here, I'd definitely be out on the trails before work. Plenty of people were, but none on my Javelina trail. It was a great way to quiet the mind and appreciate the world before the craziness of the day takes over.
Amusing comments I got today were (on the run, I was wearing Texas flag running gear) - 'I don't know whether to salute you' ! and from the guy at the pool 'I've never even seen a Javelina, let alone a herd of them.'
I'm suffering a lot with allergies here, either to the pool, the air quality or the air conditioning. So I've prescribed myself a trip to a sushi bar later with double doses of wasabi!

Onwards and a rest day tomorrow....

Beating the heat...

Well, I've been here in Arizona now for 5 days, and I've got just another 11 days to be ready to smoke the competition at the 70.3 World championships in Las Vegas, Nevada. I chose to come out here and train so that I could try and get my body used to the conditions. Life seemed so easy training in the benign London summer. (What summer? ) but here its a rather different matter.

I can say that I am loving it here, the change of environment, the culture of enjoying the outdoors, plus some absolutely inspiring views and training venues... take a look at these:

I'm in Scottsdale, and I've always loved the desert here. Lots of spikey things, including Javelinas - I saw one on my Sunday ride. Like a pig but with spines. Plus I also saw a mountain lion which was just magical. We are close to a range called the McDowell's and the wild animals seem to be fairly close to humans - particularly around dawn and dusk.

I'm pleased to say that I'm eating healthier than ever - shopping in a great farmer's market and cooking all my own food in a bid to try to show my host how eating lots can be healthy! I don't want to get on my high horse, but it does seem that there are misguided views that prevail about what is healthy here.

Why have a bottled salad dressing or a fat spray for your food in place of natural ingredients such as olive oil and real butter? Why drink cans of soda, so-called energy drinks full of nasties when some orange juice with a small amount of salt tastes just as good. No sweeteners, no additives. I am using only single ingredients, and putting together meals quickly that keep me feeling full of energy but not bloated. Oats with fresh fruit, yoghurt and agave nectar for breakfast. Plenty of salads, sweet potatoes with some leftover steak and black beans, with some home made tzatsiki to top it off for lunch. Fresh fruit is easy to come by (raspberries for $89c!), avocadoes, lovely big tomatoes, fresh basil and some mozzarella.  Roasted aubergine, peppers and onions with some couscous is another favourite.

So far, I am managing to stay perfectly hydrated (mind you, this means bathroom trips through the night) and my sweat rate is up to that of a local now. After about 10 mins on my bike its like someone turned a tap on. Today was my second big test, after an 80km ride Sunday which caused me to lie on the sofa for the rest of the day. The challenge this morning was an hour 30 ride into an hour's run. My least fave pre-race session even when its normal weather. Unfortunately I can't say that the run was anything other than miserable. I managed to lose 3kg of fluid in the hour I spent gently cooking at 38 degrees. (oh, and I was drinking electrolytes throughout the run). What's worrying is, I got home at 10:20am. On race day its likely that I will only start the run at this time!!

I think what's needed is a really strong mind. I know I've done all the training. My body is ready for this, like never before. But I've got to toughen up when that little voice says 'I can't,' I need to block it out and replace with 'I can'. I am sure that some amount of dealing with conditions is in the head.

So the next 11 days will be for training the mind. Building Callouses as Chrissie would say. And maybe searching for a few more Javelinas amongst the cacti tomorrow.... time to hit the trails I think...

Exciting times leading the European rankings!

How hard is it to find something motivating now that the Olympics is finished? I tried 2 approaches:
Firstly I raced (now that is a surprise, for me!) and secondly, I boosted my confidence by checking the Ironman Age Group Rankings.... more of that later.

This weekend was the Thames Turbo Club Championships down at Worthing Standard Distance triathlon. This race has history for me - in 2010 I was just about to take the lead on the bike when I punctured, and couldn't finish. In 2011 I was the female winner, but in a great twist, the organisers run a men vs women format, where the women start first, with the men going off at the time of the gap between the male and female winners the previous year. The first across the line wins £100 cash. So, after I won in 2:25 last year, and Colin Dixon powered home in 2:01, I felt that the 24min gap was a great chance for me. However, I hadn't banked on one Yvette Grice, a top British pro who chose to enter the race in the final week for no doubt the same reasons as I did. So the race was well and truly on with me wearing number 1, and Yvette number 2. She also rides a Blue Triad, so it was all down to the two Blues and their riders.

After a low-key beach start of only 29 women, I found myself swimming back with the current, speeding along, and coming out with no one in front of me, or so it seemed. Until the Turbo supporters informed me that Yvette was long gone, with a lead of 2:15. I was kicking myself for letting that happen, but with a 20:35 swim, a massive PB, there wasn't much more I could have done....

So I tried to nail the bike, hoping to reduce that lead, but in fact, when I saw her at the turnaround it had only extended by another minute. Onto T2 and I was feeling really strong, but the gap was 4 mins now... so i had my work cut out. However, I had the run of my life, crossing the line in 37:51, after at least one 6 minute mile (wind assisted) so again I couldn't have worked any harder, but sad to say the £100 was still Yvette's by a clear 6 minute lead. Both of us had managed to cross the line before any of the men, and the closest woman was a further 6 mins back. So I rationalised the defeat with the fact that Yvette has been a pro for many years, and has some amazing performances - including a win at IMUK, while I produced an 11 minute improvement on last year, it just wasn't enough.

It was wonderful racing in great conditions with all my club mates around, and I shouted as loud as I could for the athletes still running, before we all went for a well deserved fish and chips, and a cheeky ice cream. I was thoroughly exhausted, considering the race was so short, and needed my easy day on Monday.

Here are some photos of the race and the finish line.

So, what to do come Monday, tired and lacking in BBC Olympics Breakfast to wake up to? .... well, I checked the Iroman.com website and guess what I found? I have made it to Number 1 ranked athlete in Europe for my age group. This is a great position to be in before the World 70.3 championships in Las Vegas, and of course I'm dead chuffed. It might also help me to approach potential sponsors so I'll be writing off to a few this week.

My coach Tom Bennett has also been plugging the success so it has helped me forget being beaten at the weekend now... and of course that experience has taught me to always respect the competition, and that I really enjoy the chase. There would be no fun without something to aim for, right?

We could be Heroes....

Well I've been pretty quiet, not just because I'm glued to the Olympics, but its actually been quite a struggle to get my normal hours of training in, plus trying to fit in seeing as many live events as possible. And I'm pleased to say that my Dad is now home from hospital so I'm visiting him as well, before I head over to the US for the final build to Las Vegas. Life is good, body feels great (apart from being beaten to a pulp daily) and I'm more inspired than I ever thought it was possible to be!

Its been a totally amazing Olympics, as we all know, and to have been in London, with some events flying right past my front door (the two road cycling races, and the Time Trial) just makes it even more special. I was already an Olympic-obsessed fan, and this Olympiad has exceeded all expectations.

Here are some highlights that I witnessed:
- the road races were all about celebrating the success of British Cycling with all the local residents of South West London. My whole street it seemed was in the Olympic spirit and came out in their union flags on the first weekend.  The atmosphere was so amazing, despite the gold going to Vinokourov in the men's event, we could still revel in Lizzie Armitstead's silver the next day. I actually watched the men's finish from a local church, who were very welcoming to anyone who wanted to watch - even with beer and crisps (check the photo out!)  And as for Sir Wiggo of Kilburn, and his dominance by 42 seconds on the Time Trial? Well, we renamed Hampton Court Bridge in his honour!!

I managed to get tickets for the Tennis on the first Monday. This was truly amazing, again because of the atmosphere, and everyone just being able to enjoy the big players in the colours of their home nation without as much of the stuffiness of a Wimbledon Grand Slam. For me, the most special part was being able to get really close to my sporting idols. Check the photos out....

Tuesday marked some rowing at Dorney, and I was just so pleased to see so many of my idols who came to their fame while I was still rowing, some 10 years ago, still racing. Alan Campbell of course is a local Tideway Sculler, who I used to train with, and he symbolises the spirit of giving it everything on that one big day - even having to be lifted out of the boat by Sir Steve Redgrave after his final. Here he is winning his semifinal.

After Tuesday of course, the gold rush began, and we had to be near a TV at all times just to keep up! I am so proud of our Velodrome, Rowing, swimming, track and field and Equestrian teams - its been amazing just watching performance after performance where individuals and teams have delivered on the day.

One thing I have noticed is that, in every event that we have excelled, there has always been a game-changer, a father figure, or matriarch who has inspired the future performances. Take the cyclists following in the footsteps of Chris Boardman,  David Millar, then Sir Chris Hoy and Vicky Pendelton. Then there's Jess Ennis emulating Denise Lewis's success, and our gymnasts following Beth Tweddle's leaps and bounds.  I know this sounds obvious as someone has to get there first, but look at the differences in ages of our Dressage Team, the pro helping the newbie in our Women's 470 class (Saskia Clark and Hannah Mills), and of course the women's pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning. Clearly the Brownlee's have been setting the pace for each other now for some time, so to see them take it home to a gold and bronze yesterday in Hyde Park was very poignant.

There is something in here about believing in our own performance. We as a nation are so keen to be the underdogs, and its been wonderful to see us actually, for once, trusting in our own ability. That is what it takes to see someone else perform and think 'I could do that'. Just to believe is half the battle. We could all follow the footsteps of our heroes, if we only believe.

I am fuelled in every session right now by the amazing performances of team GB, not to mention the other athletes from around the world who are laying it all on the line for that one elusive gold medal. So onwards and upwards, I feel that each of us can be inspired in our own way by what we see at London 2012. And just remember, the only failure here is the failure to do your best. That is what I shall be aiming for at Las Vegas. And meanwhile, just one last little race on UK soil this weekend - at Worthing. A bit of fun, but I will still be trying to nail it, as always!

My fastest race ever....Antwerp 70.3

Here we go, possibly my favourite race report ever. From my best result ever, (in my view) - my most satisfying win and just a really special day.

Firstly -to recap on the last blog, one week before Antwerp I raced my first ever Pro wave at Zurich 5150. This was my choice, but I was very disappointed at being swum over, and really didn't feel that I justified what I was capable of, and similarly after racing Cowman to a 4:54 2nd place with food poisoning, I knew that I deserved better and I was dearly hoping Antwerp would be where I could right those wrongs.

The reason I enter this race is because its cheap, fast, and you swim with the men so plenty of feet to draft. Oh, and I like Belgian beer, moules and Frites!

It was a shame that I didn’t know anyone else there though. A bit lonely having dinner on my own, but these days you can stay in touch pretty well using electronic means. It felt like my support crew were only a Facebook post away.

So having explained why I wanted a good result – what was the preparation like? I arrived at this race having completed a big tour around Europe, and spending the last week tapering in the French Pyrenees at Sancture Sportifs. It was a strange place to taper, with hindsight, as the cycling is so good there, and the temperature so hot, I was tempted to really nail myself. But I (mostly) stuck to the plan, slept a lot and drank some French wine! I nailed my last 2 bricks, although I would say that I suffered a lot from trying to run my race pace at 38 degrees. I also had 3 steaks on the 3 nights leading up to the race, and I drove for 12 hours to get from France to Antwerp. But out of my car I hopped at registration to do my pre-race run, and I felt like a champ. My legs were just raring to go. I did the unusual step of emailing Coach Tom and Brendon my sports psych to tell them how good I felt going into the race and I texted my Mum to say that the race started at 11:30 and I’d be a winner by 4:30pm. It was actually 4:02.

I know that all sounds very arrogant, but I just knew that this was going to be a good day.  As my final preparations, I watched the Tour time trial, willing Bradley Wiggins on, and I listened carefully to his post-race interview after he’d won, where he said he thought a lot of his family during the ride.

It dawned with beautifully sunny, clear blue skies and maybe 18 degrees- warmer than the 13 degree  forecast. I rehearsed the race many times over, as I know the course and I knew pretty well who my competition was, even down to the pros who were going off 30 mins ahead, and I judged that I could catch some of them on their 2^nd lap of the run while I was on my first. We had lots of time to get ready for the start - I lay down in the sun, listened to some good tunes and did my pre-race run warm up at 1 hour to go. Then into the wetsuit and go and psych out some of the 11:30 wave.

The plan for this race, from Tom, was to experiment by nailing the bike as hard as possible and then just see what happens. I secretly knew that even by nailing the bike, I would be able to run hard. I planned to be aggressive on the swim, push through the pain on the bike, while keeping my chest open so that I could breathe on the run.

At the start, I aimed to swim on the left this time, so as to avoid the carnage of Zurich and it worked. I can’t tell you when I realised than instead of swimming amongst my own wave I was overtaking the next wave, but I got out in 29:16, which is almost exactly the same as my time 2 years ago, my  career fastest split over 1900m. I felt great.

Onto the bike and I swiftly made it past any women who were out there, and just pushed the Baby Blue to its fastest ever  - averaging 36.6kph. I have a Garmin which doesn’t work, but sporadically it turned itself on and off again a couple of times on the first loop, and I saw my HR was 162 and the speed was 39kph. I resolved to keep it there, and just kept on overtaking as many as I could. There were no packs near me and the draftbusters were good to me, as they watched me overtake each time and gave the thumbs up, never getting in my way.

Unfortunately my father got taken into hospital suddenly while I was away and I have been calling and sending him pictures from all the places I’ve been training and racing, and now I’m back home I’ll be visiting him in hospital and supporting his recovery as much as I can. He measures his progress by how many tubes are stuck in him, and some days when the pain is not too bad and they remove another tube he seems happier. When the pain came in my legs I thought of him and those damn tubes, if he can put up with the pain day in day out, I could certainly push through 2.5 hours of it. So that is what motivated me, and it worked. I kept on overtaking, and made a deal with myself that each loop would be 34.5 minutes and no more, and I would be back by 2 hours 28. And I stopped the clock at 2 hours 27.59. This was 1 min 45 quicker than my time 2 years ago. Which I had thought would never be improved, as it was on the old course, which was faster with no dead turns in it. It was 20 mins quicker than last year on the same course.

Onto the cobbles for the run, with no heart rate, no speed, just feel. And I determined that I would just take it easy, since I’d done what Tom asked, I did my hard bike and now I knew there were no women even close to me, I could enjoy the run. I usually count the people that I overtake for motivation. It was  126 for the first lap, 128 for the second and then I stopped counting at 118 on the last lap when I had to push it for the finish line. But most significant were numbers 6 and 16. These were the pros that I’d so wanted to overtake. It made my day.  With no pacing strategy at all, I managed a 1:32 half, quicker than every amateur female, and only beaten by 2 of the pros. It was 5 mins quicker than my time on the same course 2 years ago.

So overall 4 hours 33, 6.5 mins quicker than my PB. Beating 7 pros, coming 7^th female and winning my Age group by 12 mins, I was beaming from ear to ear when I crossed the line. And I just had the strangest feeling of complete peace. Just utter satisfaction. After racing for 5 weeks on the trot, I feel I can relax now, and nail some really hard training for Las Vegas World Champs. I will watch the Olympics and see my friends and family but feeling more relaxed now I know I have  nothing to prove. I have won my age group twice at 70.3 in the last 6 weeks and beat some of the best amateurs in the world at all ages and I know that is what I am capable of now. Knowing that, were I racing as a pro, I would have won  prize money is heartening, but the main thing is that I know where I stand relative to the best. That was the purpose of taking my summer off.

Having celebrated properly with moules, frites and several bieres, I then drove home in the sun on Monday. I am still very fatigued, but no pain and my body is doing really well. Its a very satisfying kind of tiredness. In all honesty, I feel that if for some reason I never race again, I will be completely happy with that result.

The thanks of course go to Tom, as the journey is never completely smooth, but it has certainly got to the destination I want to be at for now, and the final leg is still to come. Jenni and Matt at Fresh are still keeping the machine working perfectly injury-free : I'm already missing the core/strength and soft tissue work that I do with them after 2 weeks away. Plus I owe lots of thanks to all the training buddies from one side of the world to the other who I’ve managed to drag around with me. And yes, I still need some more of that for the next month before I head off to the desert heat of Arizona. If you fancy some really hard sessions, just contact me and I’ll let you know what Tom has in the plan!

Faking it as a Pro

On Saturday I did something I thought I'd never do - I lined up on the beach with the Pros for the elite wave of Zurich 5150. It was an experiment. I could have raced the Age Group event but then I'd never have known how I would fare amongst the best in our sport. So now I know. And its safe to say that Nicola Spirig, Lisa Norden and Co. don't have much to worry about yet. I finished in 2.21 and definitely the last of the pros, but I would have placed 3rd in the Age Group.

I was pretty intimidated on the start line, but willing to give it everything. I ran into the water and for a brief moment, I thought 'I'm swimming on the feet of the pros, how cool.' That is before the onslaught of the Age Group men who'd been standing about 10 m behind us on the beach and went on our gun. So I was swum over by about 250 men all eager to reach the first turn buoy at 150m! It was hellish and I had to take a short break to decide if I had survived, regain my composure, and then complete the rest of the swim, which I did in a mediocre 26 mins. A personal worst for me, but I did see one of the pro women crying in transition who had obviously suffered too. These things happen -although never to me before.

I nailed the rest of the race as best I could, working through the age group men, and trying to chase back to reach any of the pros who were having a bad day, or punctured. I eventually caught up to Sam McGlone who had been wrongly directed to run further than necessary by the marshall. We ran into the finish chute with me respectfully behind, but pleased not to have finished completely alone.

All of this got me thinking a bit more reflectively about life, added to the fact that I'm reading a good book called 'Luck - what it means and why it matters' by Ed Smith. So, unusually for me, I thought I'd share some of my thought patterns.

The book focuses on the treatment of fate and the role of luck in determining outcomes, both of sport and in life. It shows the evolution through history, from the Ancient Greeks who considered that events were pre-ordained and 'in the lap of the gods' even as far the gods themselves, such as Zeus, who's hand was dealt by 'Fortuna' or fate. These days society regards our fate as rather more controllable, as we are told that 'anything is possible' and we can make our own luck, to some extent. Others of course still believe in the luck of the draw, hoping for the Lottery win, or trusting in religion to look after their interests. And there are those who believe that mathematical algorithms can predict outcomes such as the financial markets - we can see where that has got us.

Had I not entered the pro wave, I might not have been swum over and my race may have gone a different way. It made me consider what we can do as athletes to make ourselves 'more lucky', such as training our bodies to be as prepared as possible, and knowing the courses, the rules and the likely competitors before races.  Or we could just prepare for all outcomes and turn the uncontrollables to our advantage. Working with the psychologist Brendon Wylde has taught me the value of a self-serving bias, ie taking credit for the things that go well and learning from those that don't and moving on, without blaming oneself.

When I consider the differences between the two Ironman races I just watched, in Zurich with pouring rain, hail and 13 degrees, and in Klagenfurt Austria under melting sun and 35 degrees, it shows that some of the uncontrollables certainly influence the outcomes of our sport.

Ed Smith discusses the ratio of luck to skill in sport, and how increasing this can make the sport more enjoyable to spectators. The Giant-killers of football is the ideal that every fan longs to watch, and seeing seeds being knocked out of Winbledon in tennis, a game largely dictated by skill, certainly keeps the ticket sales high.

However, the fact that Chrissie Wellington has managed to triumph in 4 Ironman World Championships, despite such 'unlucky' incidents as a puncture that couldn't be fixed with a gas canister, and a crash 10 days before the race, surely shows that the long distance triathlon is the preserve of the skilled, rather than lucky.
The IOC have managed to inject more uncertainty to keep the spectators interested at the Olympics since this distance is a drafting event, with many more chances for things to go wrong. Of course the world's best, such as Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee will do everything in their power to avert these incidents.

For the amateur triathlete, that level of uncertainty would make the sport inherently less satisfying as so much time has been invested in preparing for the event that there is a sense of entitlement in the outcome i.e. what you put in should relate to what you get out. I for one prefer some predictability and I'm definitely not a gambler. I don't think that the chance of getting food poisoning or being swum over could have definitely been avoided but I do think that I've learned from the experiences and that is what will count in the future.

I will leave you with one quote from the book that demonstrates that great people do not achieve by following the plan to the letter:
'Successful people, by being open to opportunity and exposing themselves to chance, take new directions that prove more fruitful than anyone could have predicted. A life does not follow a course. We change in many ways as we grow. A missed opportunity represents the failure to evolve into a different, better person.'

In other words, unless you try, you'll never know.

Ups and Downs

Its taken me a while to write this, as I've been travelling, racing, but also getting a bit disappointed. Last weekend's adventure, after all that fun and games in Austria, Italy and Switzerland, was a very muddy trip to Milton Keynes, which paled by comparison to the aforementioned beauty of Venice, Verona, Varese, Annecy and Geneva. But still, I wanted to claim a National Championship, and this was the only way to do it.

Unfortunately I also managed to give myself food poisoning at our club's Handicap swim event - well the BBQ afterwards -  2 days before the race. So things weren't exactly going to plan, but I decided to race and hope for the best. Now, as I've lost a bit of weight lately, it was going to need a triumph of carbohydrate metabolism to get me the 3,000 calories I need to get around a 5 hour half ironman given I don't exactly have a large amount of fat stored that I could go to in case of emergency....

So, on the day, it was a grotty, grey start, with surface water all over the M25, M1 and a dismal mood from most of the competitors when we saw that our beautiful bikes would be racked in about 6 inches of mud.

But race we were determined to, having made it this far. And the organisers were really on the ball, making changes to the course so that we could run without inadvertently entering the bog-snorkelling championships as well as the half ironman. My club, Thames Turbo were out in force as it was our chosen club championship race, which made it a great day out and lifted the spirits when they were flagging. Which they did, at about 2 hours 15, when my energy stores ran out. So that made the rest of the race a real battle. My body wanted to stop and lie down, my mind willed it on. I was determined, as this is my last race in the UK this year, (maybe ever if we are not due to have summer again!) that I would finish. So I just carefully put gels and Powerbar drink into my poor old stomach at a rate it could take and made it to the line without any drama. But it wasn't a great performance, and I had to watch a lot of people that I should have been able to out-run overtake me, which is always a difficult situation. But I wil bounce back. I amazingly managed to sneak the 3rd place on the podium in 4 hours 55. Slower than last year despite a short run. I am really disappointed as I wanted to perform in front of so many of my clubmates, but there's not much you can do about food poisoning. So here are my lessons:

Things that could be improved:
1. I got daunted by the really feisty swim -my goggles were knocked off and I took a good few punches. Took a long time to get my rhythm, although this was the same for everyone, I lost about 2 mins.
2. Getting cold on the start of the bike started to get me thinking negative thoughts, even though I was riding well and was well placed (5th overall) after lap 1. Need to rise above that next time.
3. no more chicken at barbequeues.

Good things to repeat:
1. I managed to focus on the important stuff, and not get panicked by the lack of nutrition.
2. My new Giro Selector helmet is a dream. At least in cold weather. Not sure how well it will stand up to Las Vegas heat as its black though.
3. I made some well chosen adjustments due to the mud that paid off, e.g. ran further with the bike after the mount line to avoid the carnage of other people wobbling all over the place, and I picked up my shoes and ran barefoot til the concrete part of the run to avoid any loss of shoes.

So it wasn't all bad. And 3rd in the Nationals is still a good result. Officially I'm 2nd, so I think there must be a mistake, but I'll update this if that changes. Onwards and upwards. Zurich 5150 next week. A chance to put it all behind me.

Wilkommen auf Austria

Today I arrived in Austria, where I will be watching the Ironman on Sunday and taking a little break to drive across Italy and Switzerland, stopping off at some of the most famous lakes for a swim and generally enjoying being away from the routine for a bit. After swimming another 20km this week I am sure the pool attendants must be sick of the sight of me now... so good to try some pastures new (and hotter - its 36 degrees here!)

I have had a good week where I bounced straight from racing into training again and proved that my body will go as far as I want to push it, provided I feed it a bit of chocolate every now and then....

There were of course low spots like when my gears went wrong on the lovely new bike, but -thank goodness- it was only a blonde moment as I'd been unaware that when you buy a new Di2 system it comes only partially charged and you have to charge it. So now I know how it feels when the battery runs out! A good learning experience. Bridget Jones would be proud!

Anyway, I'm doing my bit as the support crew now, so I'd better to go and help assemble bikes, drive the course,  send positive vibes and generally shout encouragement for the next 48 hours that is Ironman mayhem. Jealous, who.... me?

2nd in National Olympic Distance Champs

This weekend was a weekend of 2nd places as it turned out. I snuck in one extra race on Saturday and I managed to get PB run times in both the 5k and the 10k over the two days. It was, however, pretty lonely driving all the way up to Shropshire and racing without any support crew or even anyone I knew up there.

The race is exceptionally well organised and marshalled, and it feels very much like a local race -except for the fact that its a World Olympic Distance qualifier and the National Championships. It also starts at 11am, which means you can have a real breakfast, another luxury that I rather like.
Its a shame they weren't able to book the weather though. Although the forecast was for it to clear up after really heavy showers during the night, actually more rain swept in during the race, and it never really warmed up above about 14 or 15 degrees.

So to the race itself.
Swim
When the gun went off, we finally got to experience the temperature of the algae-infested water  (14 degrees) and i'm not going to lie, this was a shock, and I got a bit taken by surprise. The wave was all the women under 40. So, that meant there were some exceptionally fast 20-29 year olds. I hadn't quite bargained for that, and I was dropped by the lead pack around the first turn buoy - about 400m in. I was really gutted as I know how well I've been swimming, and in this race in the past I've led the swim. Still, I did a PB in 22:40. But there were a big bunch of girls younger than me who all went 20 mins or 21 mins. This is exceptionally fast for British AG racing in my view, and it just shows the depth of talent joining our sport now -thanks to the likes of Chrissie and the Brownlees. It does however draw a big distinction between the Age Groups, as most people from 30 upwards have learned to swim for triathlon and are, like me, proud to do anuything under 25 mins. But I can't really contend with the school swimmers coming out nearer 20 mins! I feel that my inability to hang on was what cost me the gold in this race.

BikeOnto the bike, and I made pretty fast work of all the younger swimmers who couldn't take the bike pace. Heading out onto the very fast and short course on a mission- I had no Garmin or computer, so I just nailed it, and made sure my HR didn't go above 170. this got me clear of any packs so I could just work hard without worrying about the draftbusters, and I let the Blue bike do the work, freezing as I was in my arm warmers and calfguards. I loved the bike somehow, despite the driving rain that fogged my glasses, not feeling my hands to change gears and having to take it easy descending on waterlogged roads. After a very short time, compared with Italy, I was rolling into transition in 1:07, 1st place in the Age, but with about 9 younger athletes in front on the run.
In transition I struggled to undo my helmet as I couldn't feel my hands, and with the inevitably frozen feet that wouldn't go into my shoes, so my usually fast 40s turned into 1 min 4 as I sat down and forced the toes to get into my shoes. This cost me dearly.
RunThis 10k run is really brutal - I've done it lots of times so I was perfectly prepared for the mental challenge of the hills, demoralising high hedgerows and I felt ready to fight. But at 1km, I was overtaken by another 35-39 year old. I hadn't seen her all race and we've never raced each other before. I stuck close on her heels, but she pulled away about 30secs between 2-6km. After 8km I started to feel really good - I began to feel my feet again. I picked it up and sprinted home but I couldn't make up the gap and she won, with my 2:13 finish putting me in 2nd in the age group and getting me a slot for Olympic World Championships in Auckland.
However I nearly didn't get either as the chief referee pulled me to one side and told my my Thames Turbo kit is in violation of the ITU kit rule about maximum midriff showing. I was aware of this rule, but have never seen it enforced before. Sadly, now they have decided to do so, I will not be able to wear this kit for ITU rule-based races. Lucky my races are almost all WTC rules (5150, 70.3)
So I can fly the turbo flag happily most of the year, but for Cowman, I will have to go to a plain suit that covers my midriff! anyway, I negotiated my way out of a DQ, by showing him that it had ridden up during the run, and really my abs aren't on quite such prominent display, honest Never thought my Abs would get me DQ'd!!

Its is a time 3 mins faster than I've ever done on that course before, and faster in all 3 disciplines, although the biggest gain is in the run. So I'm really chuffed that the hard work is paying off, and its a personal victory to race that well in windy, wet conditions, which are not my strong point as I feel the cold so much.

I have raced Shropshire for 6 years, and improved by 11 mins in that time. I also came 19th in my first National Champsionships back in 2006, so to be disappointed with 2nd shows how far I've come.I have to thank Tom Bennett for improving my run split and for bearing with me while I question everything as he changes my running style. And of course Thames Turbo Powerbar for the nutrition, wetsuit, and Jennie at Fresh for my conditioning work and myofascial release. Next race is Cowman now - and a little break this weekend in Austria... finally some time away from this weather.

If Bridget Jones did triathlons...

With apologies to Helen Fielding, this is what my week would have looked like according to Bridget Jones:


June 18th Week 4 of Sabbatical:
weight = lower than when I was 18 years old. Must eat more. Getting very cold - had to turn heating on to keep warm.
Swims = 20km total. Arms now falling off. v.g.
Runs = 2 in training, 2 in races. Not bad.
Bikes = 2 more than the coach asked for, bit naughty
Disagreements with coach = 1. Oops. Must learn the difference between a 1 hour 30 ride and a 5 hour ride....
Races; only one aquathon so far (came 2nd this morning) and managed to watch one mid-week without getting tempted to join in!

Food consumed this week:
I ate my whole week's food by Thursday morning: 2 steaks, 1 salmon, 5 chicken breasts, 2 big tubs of yoghurt,  at least 250g porridge oats,  1 pack of polenta, 250g of rice, no potatoes, no pulses. Ribs and wedges at Jennie's house (thanks chick!) and a naughty English Breakfast, which I then regretted when I went running afterwards!
1 cheesecake with creme fraiche. A bar of chocolate - dark so it must be good for you.
Strawberries, rasperries, 3 avocados, a pomegranate, unlimited salad, spinach, asparagus and broccoli.
Alcohol units: 2 glasses of wine with dinner last night, another 2 on Monday. Not enough!!

movies watched while recovering (getting better at this): Blind Side, Never Let me Go, Daylight, Sin City. oh and a bit of Quantum of Solace plus a fair amount of Euro 2012.

I finally started to get a bit bored this week, mainly of going out on my bike and getting soaking wet. Only so many times you can persuade your friends out to get blown inside out and soaked on a bike. So its definitely time to get out of this dreadful summer and enjoy some European heat. One last race here before I leave next Friday. Tomorrow is the National Olympic distance Champs, in Ellesmere, Shropshire. My start time is 11:10. Oh, and they have warmed us that the lake has Blue-Green Algae. If this race also turns into a duathlon becuase the swim is too unsafe, I will seriously give up on triathlons in the UK. I didn't swim 20km this week to end up doing a run-bike-run!

So I'm off up there shortly, out of all phone signals probably and the great social networking monster probably can't find the results either til later on.... so I will post up here when I get home. I'm hoping that my poor tired body has something left for this race!

Decisions, decisions

So this week, I came back from Italy feeling on top of the world. My recovery was super- fast (possibly linked to the amount of great Italian food and wine I consumed post-race) and when my fantastic coach Tom Bennett (http://www.t2coaching.co.uk/) and I met up to discuss the race, he told me I was to have a light week, I admit to feeling rather disappointed.

Actually that's a lie, I was just belligerent. I really wanted to race again. I was on a roll, and I felt the need for more excitement and the adrenaline of racing. So, the text messages went like this:

Liz: I'm feeling really good today (Wednesday)
Tom: I hope its not your intention to race.
Liz: Damn, who told you that?

And I accidentally entered the USN Dorney lake sprint, run by the nice people at VOtwo events, who let me enter on the night, and were militarily well organised, and ran an excellent race.

Which I won. In a storming 1:07, with my fastest swim and run splits this season. So that was all great. But Tom didn't seem too pleased.....

Oh well, the next thing that happened was that the organisers of my planned next race, at Windsor, one of the biggest and most well-known events in the calendar, had to cancel the swim, and I made the decision to pull out. The race is tomorrow, and it will be an interesting time for all those involved, as it is a 1 km run to get your bike out of transition and onto the bike course. A bit Le Mans if you ask me. And the reason they stopped the run to the start at Le Mans in 1970? Safety.

Nuff said. My beautiful Blue bike does not like the idea of contact racing so she and I will wait til next week at the UK National Championships in Shropshire.

This is a decision I would never have made if I was working all summer. So it made me think that sometimes, you have to keep the bigger picture in mind, and of course a full time athlete may be juggling costs of getting to races with the likely prize money, and other reasons for racing. For me, its not a big enough incentive to risk injury for a race that's not a triathlon. A real shame that Human Race, the organisers didn't feel that, in order to maintain the prestige of the race, it would have been worth postponing it.

In the grand scheme of things, we only have the weather to blame and Windsor is just one of many UK races this year where the swim has been affected, shortened or cancelled. Is this really the country for me to be racing, I ask myself???

Veni, Vidi, Vici

I just got back in from Italy and the Half Ironman, which was my A race, and a key goal for the year, the aim being to win, with no room for error....

Veni, vidi, vici as they say. And then they ought to follow it up with 'I drank vino rosso'

 

Here are the main bits that spring to mind from the race - the second running of this event, which takes place in Pescara, on the Adriatic Coast of Italy. I flew to Rome and it is a 2 hour 30 drive across the country on one of the smoothest, most beautiful roads I've ever had the pleasure to drive. Only a shame not to have been able to do it in a sports car (the day someone designs a sports car that bike boxes will go in, I'll love them!)

 

The race result was that I came 1st in age, and first amateur in 5:13, which would have placed me 6th in the pros. I'm extremely proud of it, and its a good consolidation of the hard work that Tom at T2Coaching has put in with me this year, although of course he says there's lots more to work on!

 

Buildup

 

I would say that the prep for the race was physiologically very sound, but logistically rather lacking.... My body felt great going into it, the 2 week taper worked out perfectly, and I was feeling healthy, rested and raring to go. The decision not to race last Monday in the rain was also justified. 

 

Logistically, you've got to remember the race is run by Italians. Wonderful chefs, poor organisers. Everything was late, unsigned, unexplained and rules changed at the drop of a hat, e.g. you had to bring your number belt to transition to rack your bike. Eating gluten-free in Italy also proved to be more of a challenge than I expected as the day before the race I nearly had a sense of humour failure when I couldn't get any food as all the restaurants shut from 2:30 -8pm and I'd missed lunch due to an hour long queue for the bike service, and another long queue for check in. Everything took forever. Even removing my bike from transition after the race took a full hour. Still, it all worked out in the end....

 

Race Start.

I felt very very good on race day. I knew that the sunny and dry conditions would suit me, and I was prepared to leave it all out there on the course to get the result I had worked for.  

 

Swim

The men in my wave would not let me go to the front (that was an offense to the Italian machismo - more on this later) so I just had to run in from the beach behind them, and then overtake by dolphining in the water. It was too shallow to swim for a long way out but I'd practiced this the day before, and I was confident of the amount of energy that it would take, and knew I would still have a strong start.

So I set off in the front group, and before I knew it, there was just myself and one other girl, we swam stroke for stroke the whole way - with all the men strung out in a long line on our feet! Then into the shallows and she got up and walked, which it turned out was faster than my chosen route of swimming to the exit. So we ran through the 1km- long transition together, with 2 other girls who'd gone for the walking exit route! I was very pleased wtih this swim, and felt -despite the time being 35mins - it was logged as 2.5km on the Garmin- that I'd used just the right amount of energy and felt pretty relaxed.

 

Bike

I did a no- nonsense transition despite it being about a 1km long run, and headed out before the girls I'd come in with, mounting safely out of the way of the rather erratic Italian men. I then proceeded to get all the way out of Pescara on the smooth tarmac of the highway, overtaking a man about every 10m or so, and warning them to 'Occio' - I think it means 'look out' - which turned out to be the best word I'd learned all weekend.

So it was that I arrived at the hilly section in full sunshine, about 35 degrees and feeling pretty good, keeping my HR below 160.

I held back so that I didn't completely fry my legs, but all the time I'd been told there was one girl out on the course ahead of me (she swam 33 mins) so I reeled her in at last at the end of the first lap of the two lap bike. I was feeling very positive at that point, going out into to the lead for the first time, knowing I had good nutrition and was keeping my pace suitably controlled for the conditions. I won't lie that the Baby Blue worked really hard on the downhills though, making the most of her aerodynamics, I was passing big Italian guys the whole way, even the ones with disc wheels and aero helmets. That was great fun. I'm sure they will get over it, eventually.

 

Anyway, it wasn't to last that I stayed in the lead, as 2 girls then caught me on the second lap. I decided to let them work hard enough to ruin their own legs, while I concentrated on drinking and eating plenty for the hot run ahead. By the time we'd reached the fast downhill and the highway back home again, they were both there again, and letting me do all the work on the front of a pace line. This worked very well, we were mature about it, while putting off the annoying men who didn't understand that being overtaken didn't mean you were then supposed to sit on the ladies' wheel for a bit for a nice rest, before overtaking on the inside again.... I tried in my best English to educate a few, but soon gave up!

 

So I cruised into transition having drunk 400ml of caffeinated Hi-5, 1500ml of Powerbar isotonic, and eaten 3 powerbar gels, all caffeinated, plus one powerbar.

 

Run.

I went out at a pretty good pace, the pace I'd trained at, but I knew was too fast to hold for the whole 13 miles. I guessed I was in the lead, as I knew the two girls on the bike were still in transition, and this was confirmed by the nice lady who put the band on my wrist for lap 1, and I could see no women at all on this lap. I did, however, know that there was the second female running about 1 minute behind and she was constantly there, playing on my mind the whole way. I was so determined that I wanted my Las Vegas slot, and I was leading my first ever half ironman, and didn't want to see that lead getting eroded. At about 4.5 km, I started to get a sharp pain I've had in my abdominals from breathing in training, and at the race in Dorney. I calmly ignored it, relaxed, and it went away within about 5-10 mins, so I am really pleased about that. This was a big victory for me over my body. Unfortunately, my mind didn't want to stay as strong. Not sure why, but I really had some low points from about 7-12km on the run. The final 12-21km actually got better. The thing that picked me up in the end was drinking coke which I would not normally do until the very end of a race,  but it semeed to give me the instant boost I needed. A shout from an English supporter also helped, as the local supporters only really shouted for the Italians and were not really that into me, as a woman, beating the men. The racers themselves actually threw water bottles under my feet at couple of times (I said 'grazie' nicely rather than get in a fight!). I suppose for a nation of soccer and F1 fans, women's sport isn't that popular.... even though they did have Sara Errani in the French Open final the day before.

  

I crossed the line in first, although no one said anything. They didn't seem to know, or care that I was female and had won. So I just went to grab a shower, and eat in the athlete area waiting for Brent, my support crew, who was having a rather more value-for-money approach to Half ironman, having failed to negotiate one of the tight turns on the bike course.

 

I got some sparkling wine in to celebrate, and when Brent finished, we collected our gear and tried to get home to get the money for the World 70.3 Championships Slot allocation. Which is when I found my car blocked in, presumably by some nice Italians! So I did a nice hard recovery ride of 15km to get back to the hotel and pick up the money and passport that you need to accept your place, and back to the presentation in time. Of course, it started an hour 15 late!

 

Anyway, the job is done. my place is secured at Las Vegas on 8th September. So now I've just got to get there in the shape of my life.... speaking of which its off for a massage now with Jennie @jwsportstherapy.

 

Back to training in the rain now....

 

Lean, mean and ready to race

Well, I am all packed, had my pre-race massage, manicure and eyebrows done... (all in the name of racing my best - you've got to feel good about yourself, right?) and I'm off very early in the morning to Italy.

Thanks again to Tom Bennett http://www.t2coaching.co.uk/ for making sure the taper went to plan and Jennie Wilson @jwsportstherapy for ensuring my body feels as good as it ever has done. Now its all about executing the plan....

I weighed my luggage today so I don't have any unexpected trauma at the airport (I'm only checking the bike in this time, everything else is hand baggage).  I noticed that I seem to have lost some weight in the last 2 weeks leading to the race - that could be useful in the 500 odd meters of climbing. So I thought I'd add our lean, mean Thames Turbo Powerbar Team photo that we had done this week. Plenty of reasons to refuel with pasta, red wine and gelato -AFTER the race!