FELICITY SHEEDY-RYAN PROFESSIONAL TRIATHLETE

2017 Suitcase - Full of change, new places and races

6/26/2017

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Where to even start! Half way through 2017 and I am only just putting my electronic metaphoric pen to paper!
So summarizing is a massively abbreviated version of start til now.

My year started out with the broadest spectrum looking forwards I have in many years. Meaning I broadened my horizon of objectives and goals, and really sat down and assessed where I wanted to be, what I wanted to achieve, and potentially how. I wanted a different experience to last year, and went through a rigorous interrogation process of myself and those that would help me facilitate this. Time for a shake up and a change, and a new canvas to play on.

Rewinding in fast forward (if that even makes sense) haha, it was exciting to start working with a new Coach, Cam Watt. Some early season niggle saw me miss the first few races and I did a training camp in Brissy instead.
I jumped into a few World cups in the deep end coming out of niggle territory so did not see my best performances out of these but great to be back out there racing more than last year!
I raced in Chengdu World cup China, first up, where I simultaneously won and lost a race at the same time - B final win!
After the race here in China the voyage North continued. I settled back in sunny France where I indulged in fresh lettuce again, and got training ahead of the next World Cup in Madrid in a few weeks.

I was really excited about the new race course in Madrid, nice hard bike!....until my bike never arrived from the airplane. :( Slight hiccup...ok massive hiccup. First I was worried about the my pre race prep going so pear shaped, until I realized it was never going to arrive on time, and I had to worry if I was gong to be able to race at all instead! (Iberia customer service gets about a 1/10 on this on this occasion) and I actually had no bike to race on at all. Thanks to the help of the Spanish federation however, they sourced me a bike that morning. I'de be lying if I said I wasn't on the verge of pulling out. I had no race gear except my togs and run shoes. The likelihood of a crash on a foreign bike, far from my own bike set up! in someone else's bike shoes, with brakes back to front, made me nervous let alone how on earth I was going to keep up, on that hill on this bike! Somehow I got through it, definitely not the way I wanted too, I had to write that one off, but at least I got to race and saw some run legs creeping back with one of the fastest splits, I guess, I'm looking for silver linings, and I also apologize to the girls I was riding with if I was being a bit twitchy haha, now you know why!

Final pit stop of the World Cup trifecta was Cagliari, Italy. A seaside town in Sardinia, and it automatically won my affection with pink flamingos, and the way to my heart by way of gelato. :) The Italians sure know how to make gelato right!
I was fortunate enough to have my own set of wheels this time, which made for a better result, but with some big changes I had made this year, and my previous niggle, I had hurried into these races, before I found my real "groove" again. Though I knew that before I started, I still made time for a little tanty about it post race.

A new adventure loomed after Cagliari. I packed my bags, and beanie, and hoodie, and headed up to train somewhere new to me. Up to the beautiful mountains in Switzerland, to St Moritz, with the Trisutto crew. (be prepared for photo spam)
Well if I had a mortgage it would be sold to go on the cost of living here, but you certainly buy beauty. The place is quite stunning. And an amazing backdrop to train in. Sitting at 1850m, snowcapped mountains, lakes, forests, dirt trails, its quite breathtaking. I wake up every morning and say wow. Except when its freezing and raining then its more a 4 letter word, f&*k. :0.
Without a doubt trail running is one of my favs. I just love it, and there is a network of running trails here that are just insane. This tied in nicely with my niggle being the past and finally being able to clock up some decent miles to my delight, to go and get lost in the woods!

So with running coming back together nicely now, training ticking along well, I ducked down to do a local Swiss race in a place called Uri. More mountains, more pretty lakes, #Switzerland . I got to test out my new Blue seventy Helix wetty, (which was awesome by the way) had a solid bike, and was on target running down the girls to run onto the podium, until race mishap showed its head again and I fell flat on my face. I rolled my ankle, I had stepped on a tree root hidden in the grass running full tilt, and did a land version of Astro boy sliding along the grass. I hobbled my way to finish the race and inspect the damage. I wont replay the verbal dialogue going through my head here, as I had just got my running coming back together, but I knew I was out of action again for a bit, and the stench of chlorine was going to grow rather rapidly on me the next few weeks.

So there we are, 6 months in 8 paragraphs! I am still up the mountain enjoying my fresh O2 depleted air, paying exorbitant prices for tomatoes, sticky taping my foot together, spending the longest time in a pair of tracksuit pants I have in 8 years, and getting ready to race again! Next race up will be Edmonton WTS.

Flick xx

Here is just a small slide show of some extra pictures. I thought id should share.

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Things come in 3's, French, Korean and Japanese World Cup Racing!

11/8/2016

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My last few weeks over seas, were all about racing. At last! After a fun few weeks in Girona, I packed my Peugot 206 to the brim, scared to touch a single thing inside for fear of starting an avalanche of it's contents to explode out like a party popper, and drove back to the familiar Saint Raphael, France, just ahead of racing a big local French race in La Baule.

La Baule is a town north west of France on the coast. A big festival atmosphere attracting athletes of all sorts across a few days of racing. After spending a good few weeks getting back up to fitness I was definitely feeling good and ready to attack racing again with some bite!
Saturday was a special format of racing for elites, with it being a handicapped raced, with a 7 and a half minutes advantage awarded to the girls over boys, at the start. Basically we race like scared rabbits trying to keep the boys at bay! Though still a little rusty on the racing front, this time I was ready to go and get amongst it, knowing I had logged some good sessions underneath me and had been feeling good. It would be a great test of how much I had progressed over the last few weeks. Improved I had! :)
With the worlds best triathlon swimmers pushing the pace, despite me having a reasonably good swim, I just missed the jump to front pack. Being a small field with no "numbers" to fill the gap I just couldn't bridge up on the bike, but was so close! I knew straight away this was going to make my life tough ,not only to catch the girls in front, but to hold off the boys behind that would be hunting us down! Despite having others with me on the ride, I was pretty annoyed not to see their face once the entire ride, and had to set about a 20km solo TT. Naturally thanks to this "team work" we exited T2 with a time deficit, but despite the hard ride, I clocked the fastest run of the day, letting me know my training had made a huge turn around in a few short weeks. I had made up some of that gap, and resisted all but 3 or 4 boys who outsprinted me in the final meters. Funnily, I had been warming up with friend, Stephan Justus and we were having a joke and pretend sprint finishes with each other...it actually came down to just that in the race. Dam he knew my tactics! :)

The day after I backed up my racing with another Olympic Distance race. Of course tired from the prior day I still put together another solid race. Exiting the water first! (Fist pump moment!). This race actually permitted boys and girls to draft off each other, which was novelty :) so thanks to the gentlemen for towing myself and 2 other girls around the course, we had a wheel to take the sting out of back to back racing. This time leading off the bike, it let me put a good run to use, to take the win on day two. Always a bonus in front of a big crowd.

I wrapped up the last few weeks in the French Riviera, Before it was finally time to start migrating home via 2 World Cups in Tongyeong, Korea, first, then in Miyazaki, Japan, the following week.

Good old Tongyeong World Cup. I have mixed feelings around this race. I am always excited to race it and have had both fond and not so fond memories... I have had to pull out with a broken foot, a rolled ankle, after a ridiculous running stack, and last year with a torn hamstring! on 3 separate occasions. This year I would nail it!...

Almost... Luckily I stopped bad luck in its tracks this year, with the bearings in my race wheel breaking on my final spin the day prior to the race! I thought something was being murdered inside my wheel! I am so grateful this happened 24 hours earlier and not one ride later in my race, especially as this was the best part of my race. I managed to bridge across solo on the ride to the front pack to put me in a position to try for a podium. To be honest I had been feeling pretty rough with jetlag since I arrived, and these are the races you have to dig deep all day. I was digging! I knew I was in great run shape, but I also knew my legs and body were still cactus from travel. Every step was a battle on that run. I was running with a ball and chain. So I pulled the ball and chain as hard as I could and opened up a gap to the small chase pack to sit in 3rd place, chasing that bronze medal. Unfortunately I got nudged out on the blue carpet by a fast finishing, track specialist, Renee Tomlin from USA. I didn't have the kick to match this day. 4th in a sprint is such a frustrating position, you sniff it, then reach for it, and just cant grab it! I would have to seek redemption next week in Japan.

Round 2 was a World Cup in Miyazaki, Japan, the following weekend. A week ahead of the race I knew I should at least be functioning like a better human being with another 7 days to flush out my jet lag! Many sushi rolls, and sound sleeps later I was feeling better in that respect. But seemed to have put some kinks in my body after all the travel that didn't want to come out. I bent myself in strange positions, poked, stretched, got a massage from a massage chair with a mind of its own! Nope, the kinks were not going anywhere in a hurry, (screaming Mayday calls in my head for my physio to appear!..my telepathy also failed haha) I really hate travelling on aeroplanes.

Miyazaki is a coastal city with a sporting culture, The hotel was situated in a beautiful grounds which made running pleasant for the week, and my personal favourite was getting cultured in the natural
Hot Springs in the hotel, and playing with a resident cat, after being starved on my pet snuggles from home for a few months!

Race day was tricky however. I didn't really feel the body firing race morning. Just flat, I felt tight and tense...still 'kinky' as mentioned above. Despite having done all the right things I was capable of doing on my own, there is no reason I shouldn't have been firing, but I often don't travel great, and was feeling it was one of these occasions where I hadn't reacted well to all my travels, having struggled to loosen off all week.

Everyone faces the same challenges, and I knew I was in good shape across all disciplines, so no biggie, I just had to deal with it. I had to warm into this one. I got focused and swam out to my deep water start position. Unusual for an ITU World Cup start. The swim was difficult, it was a slow, long, and just a challenging swim, with swell and chop. I was feeling horrid in the water. My muscles were tight and I just couldn't get a nice feel on the water. I was really battling, and it showed, as I lost touch with the lead pack early on. Something was just feeling so off, and I guess my frustration at this in the water didn't help, when I should have just relaxed. By the time I got out on the road, those of us who missed the pack had some serious work to do, with a wind picking up, and by shear numbers we had to work pretty hard to maintain our place. I was so happy to get off the that bike! Down by 3min40 into T2 I just set about running as best I could. A 'windy and windy' course kept it interesting as I chipped away time back. I had trained to be able to run fast at this race, and I did. But I had never planned or such a big deficit into T2, and couldn't make the impact on the race I had intended. I finished up in 19th.

It's always fun to race in new places, and I never take these opportunities for granted to race the best! That's what makes me tick, and after it being 6 months since my last World Cup, I was so genuinely excited to be back out there again dancing around the racecourse. I was certainly proud to get back on the start line after a year of walking on what felt like a jumping castle. But unless you choose to stay down you always bounce back up and land back on your feet, and my feet were ready to race. After Japan treated us to it's hospitality, good food, and for the most part good weather whilst there, I headed back to home sweet home!! ...just in time for the sunshine to come back again. Yes please!

Flick :)

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Northern Hemisphere Hopping

9/11/2016

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When athletes go quiet, it usually means one of a couple of things. Things are going really great! they are minding their own business, focusing on themselves...or...Things are going really shit! and they want to lay low due to one of a hundred things...or lastly, simply, they are just really lazy at writing. ;)
And yes I fell into one of these 3 categories..maybe all 3 at some point recently;)

I wont dwell looking back on a few months ago for me, because quite frankly, life was hurling lemons from every angle, and though I tried to keep up, I just couldn't make lemonade and even use the spares for tequila fast enough! To the point I oh so nearly pulled the pin on 2016 racing.

However...without going into whys or hows, I decided not to. Instead of packing it in, I packed my bags, and jumped on a plane to France!

I was under no disillusion that this was a gamble, and I had taken a few steps back from where I had been a few months prior. It really seemed so overwhelming to have to start over again building back up...again... for the 'I don't know how many-th time' ! To where I had already been. I feel I have recycled this scenario a few too many times than the usual, annual cycle in my last few years, Only falling short with some misfortune just as I'm ready to get to the fun part of racing well! But I would certainly not be alone in this scenario, sharing this fate with many other athletes I'm sure! But I had done so much work before, it seemed such a shame to let it all go to waste.

I decided to follow this quote. Felicity, "First you do what is necessary.
.
Then you do what is possible.

Then suddenly, you will begin to do the impossible."

"St Francis of Assisis"

SO...I rebooted my training at a place called Font Romeu in France up in the Pyrenees. It is an altitude training center in France. (Above)
And I loved it up there. The weather played ball with warm sunny days almost every day. I go crazy for beautiful run trails and this place is littered with them! Running up in Font reminds me of running in Alice in Wonderland. I would not have blinked if I saw that big purple cat smiling at me from a branch. It was easy to clock up my run kms there, usually by getting myself lost and running twice as far as planned, ;) Personally I love running like a mountain goat, on technical, ankle rolling, obstacle courses, as much, if not more, than flat 'keep your tendons in tact' trails. Not every triathetes cup of tea, but you have both to choose from up there and I like the balance of both. So despite the grimace from the lack of oxygen running, I was smiling from the mountain views, flowers, streams and close encounters with 'the worlds happiest cows', to reach a neutral facial expression for most runs.

Halfway through my stint at Font I had an old friend Thomas, join me, from my very first trip to France! We hadn't caught up in years, so to have him come and join in for some training as he preps for Kona, was also a real bonus! Naturally he didn't shy away from the kms, being in IM training either, so it worked out well for us both...except for our fights for who got to the couch first afterwards, to watch the Olympics! :) Font consisted of training and passing out in front of the tele to watch the Olympics on repeat!

So training was going great, and the "necessary" box was being ticked. One thing however that Font also has plenty of, no surprises here, being up a mountain...is hills. Hills are my fave. Long climbs on the bike are my bread and butter. But after getting a little too excited and over indulging on this free bread and butter buffet for a few weeks, my leg machinery, also know as a knee, was getting rather agitated. Unfortunately just before my first race back with a new team I was force to take a small hiatus off the bike and running again. Aside from that first phase reboot at Font went well. Next abode Girona, Spain.

Being so close to Girona, having wanted to go that way for some time, now was perfect opportunity. I took the scenic route through the mountain and down to oxygen laden Girona to meet Coach Danielle, and her VIS boys. Who were kind enough to let me join in for a few sessions in the pool and on the track. Was great to see these boys gearing up in there final prep to rep Aus at the World Champs the weekend just passed.

From Girona I raced my first French GP for the season with my new team Tri Val de Gray! :) though being forced to sit out biking and running for a week or so, was not my ideal prep for a race back. Plus with only a few weeks full training back under my belt, well, I knew I was gonna just have to suck it up and it was gonna be ugly out there! It was kinda ugly, but with one of the quickest runs of the day, and a painful mere 3 sec swim deficit costing me front pack, it was much less ugly than it could have been. Il take it! Even better Tri Val finished 2nd! go team! :) I know the worst is over and I can only get faster and better than that from here.

So lastly, Girona. Its a beautiful small city, an hour from Barcelona. Its a cycling hub. I loved the old town, a nightmare for high heals or road bikes as its booby trapped with cobbled streets everywhere! But that's definitely part of the appeal. Small streets, with restaurants lining its cobbled pavements, old buildings lining streets and the river, chilled people, a safe, fun, and relaxing, atmosphere. It's really quite a romantic little spot! I loved it. Most of my days were spent rolling around getting lost on the bike. I saw a lot, always choosing new routes, riding in the mountains, through the farms, forest, and down to the Costa Brava coast. I got a pretty good feel for the place, as once again, I would often get lost! Funny now, annoying at the time! Was great to have a change of scenery, meet some cool peeps, get my tortilla fix...so addicted, and catch up with a few old friends I hadn't seen in a long time. And of course lay down some more work before my next race! ;)

Its back to France now, back in the old stomping ground, and I'm really excited to head up to my next race this weekend at the La Baule Triathlon!

Its been a great few weeks, and thanks to the variety of people who helped out the last few weeks, and the mix of training buddies. The next month will now have a few more races coming up, now I have had some time to lose the wobbly bits again ;)

Cheers

Flick :)

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WTS Goldcoast - The Harsh Reality

4/20/2016

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This I apologize may be a bit of a long rambling blog. But it's a reflection of my race for Rio selection, my lead up, and maybe even more so, my last few weeks and months, and the challenges that can arise on any level, to anyone. I'm sure everyone can identify with these feelings on some level at some point. I also feel the need to give an small insight to my sponsors, and all those others that either supported, helped, or just put up with me around it all! Those that helped me to even to get to this privileged point, those I disappointed, those I proved right, and those I proved wrong, and those that inspired me to get through, what I will call was the "Gauntlet!"

Sport has the beauty of bringing people the highest of highs...the same as it brings people the lowest of lows. Gold Coast WTS did just this for a number of people. With the Gold Coast WTS race doubling as RIO Olympics selection race for the Australians, (the first Aussie in the top ten gained automatic selection) Both Emma Moffat and Ryan Bailie, both achieved their dreams. Congrats to the both.
Myself however probably just hit the lowest and most disheartening race of my career :(

My race was basically a disaster, and couldn't have gone a whole pile worse than it did really. I knew prior to racing that I had had one of the bumpiest roads I've ever had in regards to preparation, and it was going to be an extremely tough day out, and I would ultimately need a bit of luck on my side, which I don't usually like to rely on! However extreme circumstance called for extreme hope, and luck is what I was preying for, because it had sure been sparse in my lead up!

With the pressure on, only one chance, and dreams of Olympics on the line, I had no option but to shut out those thoughts, stay positive and do the best with whatever my body had to give....which turns out was not a hell of a lot. I exited the water having my worst swim I've ever had, 1 minute back of the main pack, which put me wellll down on the leaders. From there on it was basically a solo time trial, picking up one other girl for a couple of laps. Nothing is so disheartening being so far back, so early on in a race, and knowing not only is that race over, but dreams, goals and everything you have worked for, for so many years. However, I have always been of the mentality that you never give up, no matter how bad things look, it's not over until the finish line. Plus I had worked sooo hard, and jumped so many hurdles just to even make it to that start line. I came to finish....But I didn't even manage that. With a break away of the lead girls with a few laps to go I new I was in trouble of being lapped out from behind! I took off and dropped my cycling buddy and worked hard to keep the chasers at bay, only to be forced to pull out a couple of hundred meters short. Ouch!

I was absolutely gutted. I have never felt so miserable, and disheartened or even come remotely close to that emotion after a race before. Rio dreams were shattered, I'de had probably the worst race of my career, at home, at the most important moment of my career.

The hardest part was so much was out of my control, all I had asked for was a shot, a chance, and standing on that startline, I had worked endlessly and followed a long plan to hit that startline, and we got there. And I had done everything I possibly could in my various circumstances to get up...However, it was just not sufficient at this level, I was underdone, I knew it, I could not help it, fate would win out, and I would not be able to showcase my worth on this day.

My lead up had been challenging to say the least. It all started back in October when I tore my hamstring in two spots. Worse than I had originally thought, that was the first challenge from way back. Straight away I knew I would be on a super tight timeline to get myself ready where I wanted to be, in time for Goldcoast, but it would not be the be all end all or limiting factor, just a speed bump...'literally' I did the best rehab I've ever done, and did absolutely everything I could to maximise my healing, Though it took quite a while and I grew anxious, It was healing as quick as I think it possibly could, and held up sufficiently, when I asked it to! Ok! Stay positive and keep your head in the game! We still got this! That was my mantra.

Next came an emotional curveball. Nothing punches you to the ground more than one of these. Everyone goes through periods in their life where, well life just decides to happen, and it just feels like the world is out get you. Everyone can be tough, but we are only human. Things happen that rock you to the core, and you can only deal with them like a human, and its bloody hard. You can't control it, but if your not careful it can easily control you. The wind was kicked out of me, and the bounce from my stride temporarily stolen, shattered, upset, and exhausted on all levels, I was left staring blankly wondering why? and why did it have to be now!? What had I done wrong. But once again time was not a friend, and there was no point continuing to ask the question "why?', feeling sorry for myself. It just was, I couldn't change it, I had to find a way move forward straight away. Sport and Rio will not wait for anyone, it does not care who you are, or if someone gets injured, hurt, heartbroken, sick. I made a decision to move forward that day. I did the 'healthy thing' and would push it aside, to deal with that at a later date haha. With the help of some amazing friends they took some load off my back, and we got back out there and one way or another, if I wanted to succeed, the work, the training, just had to be done.
And it got done...but not without a price.

Things started to pick up. I was doing a huge amount of training, a big load, times were dropping, and the leg, though not perfect was holding up. :) Yey! ...but all the time there was the steady drip, drip, of energy leaking into places it shouldn't have been, to keep my head afloat...and unbeknown to me those stores were almost empty.

I did my first race back, a local race in Perth, to prep for Mooloolaba World cup. This would be my teaser to ramp up for the big one on Goldy. Unfortunately this was also my undoing. I picked up 'Influenza A' at Mooloolaba. Not my best race and now in hindsight I know why. 2 days after this race I got crushed by the flu. "You have got to be kidding!!!"
Baring in mind these next 3 weeks were vital for my form to race well at Goldcoast. I was bed ridden a week, and beginning to stress. I got myself up and going the following week, sleeping to train..only to do one hard session that sent me back in to round 2 of the flu. Back to bed and a week from flying out.
:( About now, I just had to have a sit down and a good old fashioned girly cry. I had done everything I could, but the sum of circumstances beat down on my body. I was still sick, feeling terrible, and caught between a rock and a hard place. I'de needed the sessions so desperately to perform, but I just had to rest. I had no choice. To race at all, I had to rest. I tried to stay positive, and trick myself into believing,... but I was so, so, disheartened. The writing was basically on the wall. I had busted my ass to earn that spot, I had busted my ass to hold together to make that start line, but I had missed so much, was walking on egg shells, and I had no other chance. If there was another way, I would have pulled out. But this was a lotto ticket shot for me. As long as I could make the start line a chance existed...no matter how slim, that chance was there. I rolled a dice anyway. This is what I had strived for and just gave it my best.
No surprises,...it wasn't enough.

Fate tested me on almost every level leading into this. Emotionally, physically, mentally, my health, and resilience was pushed to a new boundry yet again, but I lost, The decision was taken from my hands in the end. I had asked too much of my body before it was ready. I was never a favourite for Rio. But I had been working to my plan in the background, and it had been my focus and goal for a long time. Unfortunately, things went pear shaped. I'm still coming to terms with the disappointment, it's larger and more debilitating than I ever imagined, wondering why? Why so many road blocks!? But then again, they happen to everyone. Had I been able to be fit and healthy, I think the disappointment is more acceptable when you peform poorly. When you are beaten, you are beaten, someone better goes.

But that is the beauty of raw competition, it brings out your best and worst and tests you to new levels continuously, and its part of the parcel. My parcel freaking sucked in this case! Others get bad parcels too. But sometimes you get good ones! It's sport, it's dreams, it's passion. it's your life.
When you love something, want something, strive for something, put your heart and soul and work into something, it's gonna hurt when it's taken away. And it does. But it will always hurt more if you didn't fight for it, or gave up on it.

This sport has given me sooo many good memories, this may not be one of them, but im sure there will be many more good ones when the time is right.

Thanks to those patient friends of mine who stepped up when I needed it, and to the lovely messages of support I received. I've taken a lot more than I've given back in regards to this. You always appreciate it. Every single one.

Flick

xx

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Mooloolaba World Cup

3/31/2016

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So the off season has rolled around, and come and gone pretty quick! The start of my 2016 ITU season was kick started on the beautiful Sunny Coast of Qld, Australia, for the Mooloolaba World Cup.
No secrets this is always one of my favourite races, for its great location, beach surf, heat, and of course racing at home. :)

This year though, I was jumping in the deep end a little more. After tearing my hamstring at the end of last season, my preparation to this race had to be quite different to what I would normally plan. From an off season focusing on healing, rehab, strength, and then getting race ready, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but you have to start somewhere, and at a favourite race is as good a place as any!

Well race day was, no surprises here, hard as any World Cup is! But I was using this race as a warm up race for the WTS race on the Gold Coast, which for the Australians also counts as a selection race for the RIO Olympics.

In a beach swim, you always cross your fingers for that magical wave ride in to the shore, and cross your fingers that no one else catches that same magical wave either! haha. After getting my goggles kicked off my face on the way in, and losing a few body lengths as a result, I just hoped to feel that nice little push of water into the shore just to help a buddy out a little!....but I am still waiting for it! Haha I got nothing, nada, and exited with the back of the chase pack.

8 hills, 4 laps, and a bottle of Shotz Nutrition later on the bike, our chase pack entered T2 about 1 minute down on the leaders, who had snuck out their lead. This next phase of the race was going to test me a little! After a hard bike,and not an ideal transition, my first and final steps of my run were going to be a test on how good my months of injury rehab had been, and seeing what I had to throw down against some of the worlds best! Although definitely not my greatest run in the history of my two feet on pavement, this was not to be my expectations, given the restrictions of my prep. I was happy to put a solid run down and most importantly survive it being, 'all the right' pain free! There was always going to be 'the right' pain, as the Mooloolaba Hill burnt through peoples legs lap by lap!

A hot and humid day out, over a hard and challenging course, not to mention the first real hit out back, it tests most athletes out there! This was definitely the rude wake up the body needed...although you are somewhat expecting it, its still like a camel slap to remind you just how hard racing and triathlons can be!.. and for some crazy reason we all come back wanting more of it :)

Back in Perth for me, to prepare for the next race Gold Coast WTS. Another home race, and where the stakes are pretty high!

Flick :)

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A wrap up of 2015 - and behind the scenes.

11/8/2015

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Well 2015 season came to a hault a little prematurely for me unfortunately. I had been thoroughly looking forward to hitting the last 3 races of the season hard, World Duathlon Champs in Australia, Tongyeong World Cup, and then Noosa Triathlon.
I had done a lot of work over the European summer and was getting excited to finally showcase the work and get out there and see what I had to race!...Unfortunately as mentioned in my last blog, I tore my hammy just before I left to come home. I had probably somewhat naively thought it must be minor, I could be back up and race ready two weeks later if I backed off for another week, and try for the last race of the season at least, Noosa.

After resting it I very quickly learnt I was holding on to false hope, and it was not going to be close to ready. With bigger goals in my sights for next year, it then became an easy decision. Not racing as the only decision, heal up so I am ready to go for next year. I think sometimes when you know you have put in a lot of work, and been anticipating putting that work into good use, I was hoping too much that I could still salvage it, and make all those hours seem more worthwhile, but at the same time that want and eagerness to perform, hides the reality that stares you in the face. Glass half full vs glass half empty, in which case I was trying to see what I wanted to see.

So after a week hanging out swim training in Noosa paradise, and watching my good buddy Joe Maloy take his first Noosa win!
Its now time to kick back, and enjoy that ability to do nothing and relax for a while! Holidays!

But on reflection there were plenty of highs and lows from this season for me, and here is a look at the season of 2015 in summary!

7th at Mooloolaba World Cup to kick start the season! - great start as I was not far back off the podium here! and was so happy to return back to race this race. Cant beat a home race!

Then off to NZ where as good as I had felt hammering the bike in Mooloolaba last week, I felt as bad on the bike the following week. Very disappointing race for me in New Plymouth World Cup.

Then a blinder of a race saw me win my second Bussleton 70.3 Half Ironman! First race on my TT Felt IA bike too, and it made a huge difference on the bike to me riding a TT bike vs a road bike! Noted for next race :) This was a highlight of my year racing with my family friends and little niece and nephews seeing what its all about.

The following week I tried to back up another ITU World Cup, 6 days later in China, and got oh so close to my elusive WC podium, running into 3rd...to just die on the last lap and fall back to 6th. I was actually amazed with the result! Because if anyone out there had felt how my legs felt the whole day I was expecting to come in about 40th! I would say that is single handedly the worst and most absolute cactus I have ever felt pre and during a race, by a long shot! That's was definitely my half Ironman legs, and looong travel's fault.

Then a low low point...
24 hours after touching down in France I had my bike stolen. :(
This caused havoc on my training for 3 weeks and mentally. After being so driven and focused to prepare for my next world cup and keep chasing a podium, the universe played a cruel joke and stole my bike. So my preparation for Huatulco World Cup was a combination of trying to minimise collateral damage on a somewhat ordinary mountain bike! two different road bikes, up to 3 hour rides in my sneakers, a car trip across the country, tears, missed sleep, missed sessions, countless hours on the internet, trying to find a replacement bike, and a big thanks to the girls who lent me something in the mean time!
Then just as crazy, when I was going to pull the pin on the race, it had cost me way to much at this stage....3 weeks later a friend drove past a guy riding my bike in the city beside where I live! the odds of this happening?..1 in a million! and I got my little Felt bike back:)

I took that as my sign as said F#@k it! I will give it a shot anyway, and I will just do the best with what I've got, so I went to Huatulco World Cup.

Huatulco Mexico World Cup - Great swim and I made front pack on the bike!..and the extremely challenging bike course proved too much for my disrupted bike training, and I felt so foreign on my own bike after fluffing about, and having to change bikes so many times in the lead up. I finished 13th in Huatulco. Once again disappointing, and not what I had set out to achieve, but I did my best under challenging circumstances there.

After all this it was time to wipe the slate clean again. A change of scenery and a breath of "fresh air" up at Boulder Colarado for a training block sans O2, aka altitude. Was on the agenda. What an amazing place it was! I loved it up there! and it gave me a chance to "practice my English" again! haha
I did my biggest running week ever up there and used that to bounce into my next races back down at sea level.

New York City Big Lifetime Triathlon was my welcome back to oxygen!..maybe not quite in the middle of the race! but before and after at least. I finished 3rd in the Big Apple with a finishing chute down the beautiful Central Park, and kick started my racing again here.

Then the highlight of my year by a long shot!...

A win at Tizzy ITU World Cup!!!

This meant the absolute world to me, and this, ...is what I had been chasing.

Circumstance had made the last two attempts at this even more challenging, but I was estactic, we had finally succeeded!!

Back in france it was time to switch bikes again, but this time by choice! it was out on the big rig! TT Time! It was so much fun riding my tt bike for a while. I was off to try a new race, the 'Beijing International Triathlon' China time!
IMG put on a superb course through the Garden expo, up to temples, through the city, and who can forget the 600 stairs we ran up! I finished on the podium here again in 3rd!

One last podium in France for myself and my team Saint Raphael gave the team its best ever result finishing second overall to finish the French Grand Prix season! Its was so much fun to share a podium with the team, and this would be my last podium for 2015.

About now is where the hamstring decided to time out, and call it a day.

Once again a season with high highs, and low lows.
But as always you learn again. Some mistakes were made, some mistakes were fixed, some things were just done better than before, others need more work, all in all, aiming to smoothe it all out!

...and of course a massive thanks to everyone that played a part in the 2015 season. Friends, family, coaches, training partners. medical staff, and sponsors,
Scody, Felt, Brooks, Oakley, Zealous, Shotz, Outotec, Cyclemania, ..its never unnoticed or under appreciated!

Flick

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Duathlon World Champs, - A Torn Attempt.

10/27/2015

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One special privilege you don't often get to enjoy is not only racing a world champs...but racing a world champs at home!
This year Adelaide Australia, would be host to the 2015 World Duathlon Champs, and I was super excited to go down and race and try and defend my World Title which I won back in 2012.

Training had been going just as planned, and I was feeling good. I was just coming into start the finishing touches from my base in France, to get me ready to race and take the long trip home!...

It was the day before I was due to fly back home, and my left leg pulled up terribly sore during a running session. The nasty little words of doubt and concern crept into my mind, but with not much time to do anything about it I jumped on a plane and headed for home, pi**ed off and and annoyed my leg was causing me some pain, and I was unable to complete the session, knowing I had no other opportunities to get it back as I was travelling and would need to get over jet lag when I got home. None the less, you learn as an athlete so often, not everything goes perfect, and I let it go, and arrived back home in sunny Perth, still sore, but put it down to travel, and set about doing all the right things to recover quickly for the coming race.

However more concern crept in when I tried to run, and was unable to run at all! A little hobble, and I knew I had more than just your normal muscle soreness. This did not feel good, and I knew I had a tight time frame to fix me up before Worlds...one week.

Straight to physio, if anyone can fix me he can! and dumped him with the tedious task of trying to do the impossible. Get me race ready in one week. Unfortunately the end result was I had just done a small tear in my hamstring, and less than a week to race day...ominous task. I was not one happy camper.

I did my very best to get me to that start line, and maximise the healing I could do in a few very short days, and with no idea if I would even been able to do a jog warm up, it was mentally challenging few days leading into the race, trying to stay positive. I had so desperately wanted a repeat performance of my last Duathlon race, but the cards dealt had now changed dramatically.

Long story short, I made the start line. Big achievement when I could not even jog 4 days prior. I raced the first ten km, and hung on to the 3 leaders just trying my best to do as little as I possibly could on my leg, but from the get go, I was in quite some discomfort, and in the last lap, that only increased. Out on the bike and my leg was not wanting to play ball anymore, and I dropped off the 3 leaders. A huge disappointment for me, but I was struggling. Combining that I then got a flat tire! :( the day was only going backwards. I had to make the hard call to pull the pin on the race.

I do not like to DNF, especially when I had gone in with big expectations, and at a home race, and I hate to disappoint myself and a home crowd, but I had to make a call. To make the start line was an achievement, but to make the finish line was just asking too much, no matter how desperately I had hoped it could happen. But the reality was, I just didn't have the time on my side to fix my leg.

These are the highs and lows of racing though, everyone has them, and I am sure every athlete can identify with them. It sucks...so much, and I cant hide I am bitterly disappointed with the outcome, and changes to my end of season plans, but once in the past it becomes unchangeable I guess, and you have to look forward instead, and move on.

I have also with disappointment, had to pull out of the World Cup in Tongyeong, I had planned for the following week, and so that probably almost wraps up the 2015 season, now I will be eager for more redemption in 2016!

Special thanks to Sloces, Jimmy and Liz who went out of their way and hours!, to help me try and make the race, we did our best! Much appreciated.

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My First World Cup Win!!

8/29/2015

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So I was going to blog chronologically...then this happened! So I am going to skip forward in time to a special event.

Yes I had my first World Cup win! :)

Tiszaujavaros in Hungary is one of the most iconic World Cups on the scene. Its been running for donkeys years, and that's because its just so good! Athletes love it, the town loves it, and they do a great job transforming this tiny little blip on a map into something special. The atmosphere is electric, everything is a stone throws away and they make it into a fun filled festival for all. Hard to believe but this was my 5th time coming back to Tizzy! I had my first ever World cup podium in Tizzy, and this year Tizzy was even more generous to me taking out my first World Cup win!

Tizzy changed its format a few years ago into a different style of racing, individual to any other World Cups. It runs a semi final sprint distance race on the Saturday, and those qualifying race another sprint distance Finals race on the Sunday. For girls there were 2 heats with 14 in each going through to the final, and the 2 best times. I wont go into detail of the semi's, but I obviously qualified and felt pretty good out there day 1. Recovery was going to be key between the two days of racing, to see who could back it up again the following day. So I was straight into a cool down, hydrating, massage, ice baths, and a good feed at "Mamma Rosas", to give myself the best chance the following day.

Finals day! Waking up a little bit tired from the day before, but thats ok. Everyone is going to have a little fatigue under their legs..I hoped! haha. The day was hot. I think it was 37 deg, But I like the heat, I am more than used to the hot sun beating me down in training, so it was nothing new, and I knew I could handle the heat better than others.

Swim course is a dog fight, 3 laps of 250m with only 100m to the first buoy! 30 people merging around a buoy at the same time you can only imagine it's pretty scrappy, and if you managed to 'swim' properly count your lucky stars!
I am not the fastest off the mark in the water and I had come to peace with the fact I was just going to be belted through the swim...I just had to try and keep that gap as small as possible, and at least the lake isn't that deep if I were to sink. :)

Exiting the water just off the second pack I knew every second counted, and I would have to work hard if there was a chance to bridge that gap back up, and I must commend the dedication of a number of girls in my pack who all rode hard and were committed to the chase. Although it doesn't look hard, Tizzy has a number of corners, and dead turns throughout the course that really put some sting in your legs, when constantly accelerating out of every turn. Between us we managed to close down the gap to the leaders around lap 6 of 8 I think through hard work, which would see everyone coming into transition together!

Out of transition quick, and much smoother than the day before, when I collided with 5 bikes! ( that's easily a new record for me! ) and onto a 4 lap run course, now it would come down to the fun part! I tried to push the pace straight away...before the French girls pushed it up again, and that burnt most people off, unfortunately maybe even themselves! By the last lap it would be a fight between 3 for line honours, and I was just so ecstatic and overwhelmed to be graced with that privilege!

You only but hope and dream of those moments in your athletic career, and when they happen you do cherish them. Especially when you have worked for them. So much emotion and sensation can be rolled into the final ten seconds of a race, especially a close finish. Legs and lungs are screaming, focus and concentration can't slip, drive , determination, desperation, fear, excitement, and the thrill of racing all roll into one, in those vital moments until the end when you can see the possibility but aren't quite there yet!...and sometimes maybe there is just a little bit of luck on your side ;)

This race meant a great deal to me, and for that I was just so, so, excited and maybe even more relieved! A lot went into it, from myself and my coach,.. so it was very satisfying to get a lot out of it! :) and to cap it off to share the experience with a friend, Audrey Merle from France, who finished second, and Sara Dossena from Italy came in 3rd.

Wow I still can't believe it! and at Tizzy one of my all time favourites! ....

Sponosrs, coach, family, one for the team! thanks for the leg up :)

Flick

In a world of hurt, in a world of happy

Relief, Happy, Tired...Wow! Just letting it sink in!

Fast pace on the bike in the finals

Chilling with Tammy before the start of our semi #ozzies

Tizzy sure does love Tri!

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New Instalments - Rewinding! Starting with a Bussleton 70.3 Half Ironman win

7/31/2015

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So I'm going to back date to what's been going on over the last few months, starting on a high note with my Bussleton 70.3 Half Ironmnan win.

Busso is one of my favourite races. Why? because this is an iconic place at the beginning of where all things triathlon started for me and lead me to my life today.

Bussleton for us west aussies was always the pinnacle event of our local season. A chance to race, party and celebrate another successful season with training buddies and friends, and an excuse to get away "down south" for the weekend. I always went to Bussleton, racing or not, and nothing but fond memories here...apart from the one time I ended up being thrown in a green wheelie bin...but that's another story!

Busso then merged into a 70.3 Half Ironman race, and made it all the more prestigious to race, Busso has been good to me every time. I finished 2nd on my debut Half Ironman there, narrowly missing a win, which still holds to be the fastest Busso year ever that year! I then came back the following year and won, good memories and high expectations for 2015!

After missing 2 years with injury, this year I was ready to take on and defend my title, I was so excited, plus nervous, with a cracker line up and some of the best in the business racing it was going to be an honest race!

What can I say. It was just one of those days. It all came together, and came together nicely :)

After falling sick ten days out I was nervous about my lead up. Trying to balance maximising recovering time, time in bed, with maintaining key sessions, and what training and feel, I could. The eternal should I?, or shouldn't I do that? battle. I knew it would go one way or the other. I would feel awesome and rested come race day, or I would be sluggish and flat. Lucky for me I managed the balancing act well that week and just got my body recovered enough to perform. A few coughing fits the night before just to share the love with my roomy, I knew if I could keep the respiratory stuff under control, the body was rested and ready to go!

Well the rest is almost a fairy tale race. As an elite athlete racing round the globe, you don't often get the privilege to race a prestigious race at home. Usually the true tests of my hardest racing are never at home, and peak form is often not even close to be able to showcase to friends and family. So to have the opportunity to race high quality on home turf is always just amazing, and the local support makes my win so much more memorable.

Fairy tales....Simple. Race morning I was relaxed and ready to race. I always am relaxed at Busso, I don't know why, maybe because its partly just for fun for me, something a little different, and surrounded by so many people with your best interests at heart, either way I was calm, and just plain ready to race. Few little warm up jumps, and I knew, the legs were feeling good, real good. :)

Busso was soooo cold that morning. A chilly 4 deg. But flat calm and perfect conditions, apart from the freezing cold, made the swim seem so enticing and warm! Never thought i'd say that down there! I started off next to former WA girl, superstar Lizzy Blatchford. She was the best swimmer there and biggest threat to the race , so I was hoping to get away with her from the rest of the field, and stay as close to her as I could. We both had great swim starts and I felt really good in the water, and we did get away, Lizzy pulled ahead coming back into shore. With the freezing temp and Liz throwing on a few extra layers than me I was out of T1 first and out to trial this TT bike business (this was the first time I had ever raced on a TT bike for a half, and the Felt IA was just beautiful!)...Though funnily I never saw myself pass Liz in transition! Then I couldn't even see her up the road, I thought 'My God, she is monstering me on the bike!' Haha, so turns out for the 45 km I was "chasing" , I never realised I had passed her in T1 and she was actually still just behind me, until we got back into town and I heard the cheers. What a doofus! But from then on I could relax a little now I wasn't "chasing". The bike was tough, not the course, the course is flat and fast, but the cold was tough. So hard to get the legs pumping, and keep the hands warm. Times were slow because of this, and I know the other girls were struggling with the cold too. I was riding and thinking to myself "this is going to be so embarrassing, I'm going to have to run with my helmet on! There's no way these frozen hands can get it off!" Happily for my dignity, I did not have to follow through with such a scenario!

Come the end of the bike I was in a good position, exiting together with Liz, we were up on the rest of the field and hit the run together with numb feet. Tree stump running is never fun, but the blizzard of the ride was soon forgotten and the thoughts and realisation, that if I raced smart, I was going to defend my title started creeping in. I felt good and I had a gap now, and was able to enjoy the rest of the race. A memorable victory with some sponsors, family and friends there to help. It's a beautiful feeling and part of these fairy tale races that don't happen all that often. But on this day it did for me.

Thanks Bussleton, you did it again, great race, great organisation, great atmosphere, and if you have never done this race you should, maybe I am biased though ;) A WA swept podium of Myself Liz Blatchford, and Katey Gibb, kept the locals happy too.

And to my sponsors that patiently stood by me through my downtime, while I chomped at the bit on the sideline, I would like to say a big thankyou. I am glad to share this podium with you again.

Scody
Brooks
Zealous
Outotec
Oakley
Cyclemania North Perth
Felt Bicycles
Shotz Nutrition

As well as some key help from the Coaches I guess! ;) Chris Pilone and Kris Gemmel, Brett at Cott sports Physio, Darryn at Peak Podiatry, Bernd at Subi Sports massage, and Wayno for the massage. - The best in the business! :)

A day worth cherishing.

Flick

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2015 is off and Away! Mooloolaba World Cup

3/23/2015

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New season, fresh start, and 2there it is, 2015 has kicked off at Mooloolaba World Cup!

Mooloolaba is one of my favourite races, and I share this view with thousands of other aussies and athletes who come to take part in the annual Mooloolaba triathlon every year. After missing out on racing here the last two years with injury, I was so excited to be back on the start line of this exciting race. Mooloolaba itself is a great little spot on the coast of Queensland, with a beautiful beach, awesome eateries and a chilled out vibe. It's a great enticer to race here, plus the added bonus of being able to race on home turf for a World Cup, makes it one of my favourite races.

The race course itself is also one of my favs, with a surf swim, hilly bike and run, and some hot and humid conditions, the race can make or break many an athlete!

This year was no different, except for a cyclone lingering off the coast as well. This meant some big surf and swell was part of the parcel as well. I guess most athletes warily eyed of the beach break and dumpers and wondered if luck would give them a clean run in and out of the surf, or would mother nature dump a couple of thousand litres on your head and leave you panicking for that vital oxygen you so desperately search for at the end of the swim.

Its a beach start and I was looking forward to the surf. I'm always playing around in the waves and I figured most other people would be more nervous about the rough conditions than I would. But alas, my start was abysmal, and I call myself an ozzie!...I got pummelled and any time I lost in the swim I think happened in the first 250m. I had to work hard to make up some lost ground and tried my best to utilise any surf coming back in. Preying at that stage that I didn't get caught in a dumper as I was just off the main bunch, and new if I got caught up in something bad, that could be the end of my race...Luckily I got through pretty unscathed and had to hit the looong soft sand run to transition fast to get back any lost time.

The bike was tough, but I felt great first lap and managed to bridge back on to the second bunch. But with the leaders a smell ahead I didn't want to rest up just yet, I wanted to keep riding through to see if we could bridge up straight away. Not quite, but with the help of fellow aussie, Ellie Salthouse and kiwi, Rebecca Spence the gap got closed before the end of the ride. Unfortunately for myself I got caught in a bad spot on lap four, when the wheels I was sitting on fell of the bunch through the technical section, unable to get around it straight away, I had to put in a big long surge last lap to get back on the group, which took a fair bit out of my legs right before the run, and saw me positioned very poorly coming into T2.

The foot race was hot and fast, and though working through the field I could not catch on to the leaders. After my poor transition and tired legs I finished up in 7th. The aussie crowd was awesome, it really gave me a lift, thankyou so much, it's always such a privilege for me to race on home turf. Thanks for all the support, and awesome to see fellow aussie Ash Gentle come away with the Bronze medal, to really give the crowd something to cheer about!

I am lucky enough to spend the next few weeks with my coaches in NZ amongst preparing to race at New Plymouth World Cup this weekend. Looking forward to round two.

Flick :)