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2018 recap...Warning long blog!

12/31/2018

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Warning! Long blog! How to condense a year into 1 blog!?? You cant, so here is just some of it!

As the New year rolls around, most people have set their New year resolutions and goals. January 1 seems to evoke all kinds of inspiration! But means little if the other 364 days aren't also as important. But still, it is nice for people to draw a line in the sand and say, ok, Iets change.

I have not set all my new years 'resolutions'. Largely some of my fundamentals stay similar to me every year, and revolve around trying to be a good, kind, empathetic and understanding person, no matter how shitty I may feel! After being on the receiving end of a deflating year, I realised again why I set these generic goals above and foremost before I set my personal goals. Because with these, and if everyone else follows a similar thought process, all other goals become more achievable. You have a positive support team all around you and someone there to pick you up if you stumble. You stay the right side of that line in the sand. I started my year on the right side, but ended my year on the wrong side. So 2019 must have change, once again.

2018 started out to what I believed had huge potential. I finished the 2017 season on a high, made some positive changes, I had good people  working with me and a plan that would give me a good kick start on previous years. Pumped for a solid off season, and the chance to start a year with real confidence.

The only hiccup, was at the end of 2017 I herniated a disc in my back. I had a month break shortly after and assumed it would be all healed come start of the year. No big deal. But I was sooo far off the mark here. These things take ages! Fast forward 15 months and it is only now I feel I'm almost completely on top of it! Long story short this caused a variety of issues all year, and I wasn't able to start any real run/ riding until mid year. 

Silver lining, my coach and I had planned a big swimming block anyway, so come February I packed my bags and headed over to Noosa to swim with coach JR and his squad. Though still feeling like I had a metal rod down my back I managed to log some big aquatic miles to keep me fit for my first few World Cups of the year to race my spaghetti legs!...and these races were nicely soul destroying! After living amphibian life for few months and seeing no real gains in the water in my first few races, patience and moral was really tested!

Anyway I stayed optimistic and we soldier on. From here it was off to Summer base, in St Moritz, Switzerland. A mind blowingly pretty, alpine corner of the world. I had a few very short weeks to eek out as much as I could on spaghetti legs before Duathlon Word Champs. I so much wanted to go back to back for a world title, but I chose to think bigger picture, and focus on swimming, so I knew the legs would be pretty undercooked.



DUATHLON WORLD CHAMPS

Duathlon Worlds. Short and sweet. Race was tough. I felt decidedly average from the get go, having been sick the week prior, and running on some undertrained pins. I did everything I could to give myself every possible opportunity to succeed, but the course didn't allow for the advantage, and my running legs weren't there this time to pull off anything spectacular. I finished 4th, disappointing, but somewhat expected.

After this things started to go south. I got sick again the day after Duathlon, I had not been feeling well, obviously not having kicked the bug from the week prior, my disc was giving me grief, and I'd lost a few weeks of any decent training sick in bed. I'd finished on the podium at Zurich 5150, a few weeks after, but was feeling  disappointed with another poor performance and upset seeing my year starting to slide.


After this race, my coach left me, along with a pile of confidence, and consistency. This was extremely challenging, and the most deflating aspect of my year. I struggled to stay motivated at this point, and was emptying all reserves to keep training and stay positive. I thought I had hit my speed bumps earlier in the year, but reality is mid year I took the  harder punches. 



70.3 WORLD CHAMPS

A little battered, little broken, pissed off, but a little excited, I got myself to the start line of 70.3 World Champs in South Africa. Not in the condition I had wanted or anticipated to be in, but it would deliver a great experience none the less. Having had to shift my original performance goal posts significantly, given my lead in circumstances, I could no longer expect the outcome or race performance I would have hoped for. The biggest challenge was staying positive and keeping my head in the game. Boy oh boy was I suffering out there! Good swim, but poor start positioning choice, cost me the 1st chase pack, but lead the chase 2 with Salty, and exited with some other strong cyclists just behind.

All things considered I actually rode a level above what I felt I deserved, given my scattered prep. But as anticipated, around 60 km my wheels started to fall off. ( metaphorically speaking ) But the biggest problem was actually my neck cramping up, I couldn't hold position. To the point by the time I got 5 km from T2, I physically could no longer lift my head at all to see. I've never experienced such discomfort in a 70.3 before in my life! I have never wanted to get off my bike so bad in a race before! I was in agony! I honestly thought if I didn't get off that bike soon, I would crash anyway or my head would roll off haha. Luckily T2 appeared before me like an oasis in the desert, and I could hit my favourite leg, running. No surprises, I ran my considerably slowest ever half, and took in many more gels than usual to try and milk out every last drop of my withering legs. I finished 14th. A long day!

Performance wise for me it was below my capability. That was not a shock. But given what I had to work with, what I had put in, I don't think I could ask for much more out of my body at the time. For that I am grateful. Plus an amazing opportunity, a new continent for me, and the chance to tick off a bucket list experience of seeing the big wild animals in a game park!

This pretty much wrapped up my year in a nutshell. It won't go down as my favourite year, more to the opposite. But still a chance to appreciate the important bigger things in life. After a few months at home fixing and nutting through some essentials, the body is feeling and working 10 x better, and is better equipped to handle what I will throw at it again in 2019. The hardest part for me will be gaining trust and confidence to share this process again. Got some tools again, chassis is back in business, now to start the building process. :)

​Flick 



Xx


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February 16th, 2018

2/16/2018

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Well it had been a few years since I toed the line in a 70.3 race, and I have to admit I was pretty excited to be back out there racing one, and even more so in such a high-quality field. I had done my best bike prep ever for a half and had put some considerable training together. I was confident I was fit and ready to rumble!
My race got off to a good start, with a solid swim. Based in the Sydney International Regatta Centre, we had sighter buoys in the rowing lanes the whole way. I must have head-butted at least 40% of them. I was sticking on feet, seeing a nice straight line of us, and thinking how ridiculous and somewhat humorous this was as everyone one of us must be head butting every single one. Playing “Follow the leader” I did not want to move too far off to the side. At least I knew we were swimming straight! I exited the water right where I wanted to be, in the main chase with some of the big hitters and had felt pretty comfortable throughout the whole swim.

Onto the bike, it took me all of a few hundred meters to realise it was going to be a challenging day for me. I felt noticeably average. My power was down, and my legs were heavy. Disappointed, as I had been eager to see what I could do after a great training block, but that is just racing. I switched to a different race plan; you have to roll with it.

Exiting with the main pack with Anabelle, Amelia and Lizzy, all great riders, I sat behind and decided to be sensible and let my legs warm into things. This was the most dynamic 70.3 race I have done. I could see Amelia and Bella up ahead trying hard to surge and burn me off a number of times throughout. I had to stay on my A game. I had to put in quite a few hard spikes in this ride, at one point my Garmin fell off on the bumpy road, while trying to fix this one-handed, and keep up, I had to surge back on. Just as I caught back on Lizzy was
just starting to feel the pinch and dropping off, so I had to surge back around her, the girls up the road also saw this and put the hammer down again, so I had quite a lot of spikes and extensive effort to cover all of these. Coming back into town Anabelle called it a day, and it was now just a duo of myself and Amelia.
Once we reached the far turn around we had caught all but Lauren Brandon out front, but now my attention had turned further back, I saw the time Mel had made up and knew we would be caught on the way back. I had wanted to get off the bike with a bit of a lead on Mel. After pushing for a bit I found myself being left out front, so then just prepared for the bike assault Mel would no doubt throw down when she came past. I knew it would be a hard ride back to town.
There it was! I picked up and hung off the back for a little
bit, but a yo-yo effect down the line got me, and I just lost touch around the 75km mark. One too many surges had burnt my already tired legs. And just like that I gave up a 1.30 lead off the bike.


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This is where the real battle began! My most significant threat to the race would no doubt be Mel now when she is on she is a great runner, and you do not become a dual 70.3 World Champ by luck.


Heading out I knew the time deficit but was confident I could still make up that gap. I saw Mel running after the first turn around, and she looked good, doh! I set about chipping away. I passed Amelia and Lauren early on and had put myself up into second. I went out much harder running in this 70.3 than I ever have before, not wanting to leave things too late. I guess my short course mentality got the better of me. I raced harder as opposed to smarter. Around the 9km mark I pulled up on Mel's shoulder and stretched out hoping for a
clean getaway knowing I had run 1.30 into her already, but she hung on. I pushed the pace for the next bit but couldn’t entirely open up a gap, before I settled back a bit concerned of blowing and starting to feel hints already, that I had gone out too hard and closed the gap too quick.

It was a really fun (and not fun) run battle. We hustled for around the next 9km or so with her right on my shoulder. I felt Mel try and pick it up, so responded by trying to edge it up again myself and try to get a gap. No luck. I was feeling the wrath of running the first 11 or 12 km of what I would later see was at 3.30 pace…way to fast and very stupid from my end. It was starting to pinch. There was nothing I could do now though to correct that, but hang tough as long as I could and hope that Mel cracked before me. With a few km’s to go Mel made the final surge, and picked up the pace as my legs were
finally running out of juice. I tried so hard to find one last push to come back at her, but I had carried the burden of taking off too fast in my legs for 10km already, and I had no more left to respond. Mel took line honours running away in the last few kms, for a well-deserved win. I had to settle for second, and by then the finish line could not come soon enough!

It was great to end my season with a Half the whole race was so different to my past half IM’s. There was so much more dynamics going on within the entire race, I felt myself constantly having to cover moves and adapt my race from many angles, and although I got outdone at the end, I enjoyed the tough foot battle with Mel which made it a true test of racing.
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Photo Credit Korupt Vision
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Noosa Triathlon

11/13/2017

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Well as the 2017 season edges closer to a close, I had still had one of my favourite races on the calendar to come. The Noosa Triathlon! Iv'e missed racing Noosa the last two years due to injury and other race commitments so was thrilled to have the opportunity to come and race again at Noosa this year.

​The non drafting format of Noosa excites me as it changes the dynamics of normal ITU racing and brings together some of the best long and short course athletes to dual it out over what is almost 'middle ground'.

​I'm not known for my grace in early morning wake ups or starts, but as far as 4am wake ups go, I was actually more spritely and alert than usual for a race start of this hour.
​Starting off with a beach start, diving into the crystal clear waters of Noosa main beach, I had a clean run in, and quickly found myself on the feet of Ellie Salthouse. Happy with this position as Ellie is a good swimmer, and knowing I would struggle to match the pace of the 2 or 3 lead girls I settled in on her feet for pretty much the entire 1 lap swim. Once out on the bike I knew I had work to do, to start reeling myself back up to the leaders. So it was a pretty easy race plan at that point. Ride hard! haha. Unsure what the time gap was to the lead girls, myself and Ellie got out on the bike together to start chipping away. I could see a few girls up the road and knew I was riding time into them revolution by revolution, until they were caught just before the base of hill. Leading up the 'Noosa Hill' climb I realized I had dropped the girls behind before catching Ash and Gillian on the climb who were sitting in 2nd and 3rd. But I didn't want to ease up as I was feeling good, there was still Natalie leading solo out front, and wanted to keep the gap I had earnt on the hill, By the time I reached the first turn around I could asses it was only myself and Ash keeping the pace, and Natalie still to catch up the road.

​After riding hard back towards town, I realized now, it had most likely come down to a foot race for line honours. As I would be racing one of the fastest girls with two feet on terra firma, the run would be fast. I backed off on the last stretch of the bike, and dismounted resembling a baby deer's first footsteps, after forgetting momentarily I was not actually dismounting my road bike,! I lead out of the run for the first couple of km's before Ash put her foot down in a little surge, and pulled ahead, where ultimately she would stay until the finish line. I ran myself into 2nd with Natalie coming in behind in 3rd.

​Noosa Tri is such an amazing event, with 12,500 competitors. To have the opportunity to race such a huge event at home, in such a beautiful location, with some of the best triathletes in the world on the start line is incredible. To add to that I had a good, hard, but very fun race and battle out there. I'll definitely be back :)

Last stop of the season will be 70.3 Asia Pacific Champs in Western Sydney in 2 weeks.

Thanks to WITSUP and KORUPT for the images :)
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World Duathlon Champ 2017! Double Lucky!

10/17/2017

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August 19th 2017 was a good day, I claimed my second World title. That makes for a pretty good day. :)

​This race was one of my major goals this year, and it was satisfying to pull it off and perform when planned.
​Penticton Canada, was the race destination this year, to hold the first ITU Multisport festival World Champs, which included Duathlon, along with Aquathon, Long Distance Tri, and Cross Triathlon.
​Penticton was not what I expected of BC Canada at all! I had envisioned lush green forest surrounding me, mountain backdrops and wild bears looming not too far away. Penticton however is more the desert of Canada. Still very pretty, but warm and dry with wineries and drier folage, based beside Lake Okanagan to replace my lush forests I had in my head.
​But when it comes to racing this suited me just fine. I am an Aussie after all and hot and dry weather is in my blood!

​I dropped in late to Penticton from my training base in the USA, giving myself just over day to get settled. Friday morning was the bike recon and seeing this course only gave me a confidence boost and a smug smile. It was hard...like really hard! a 6 lap bike course with a huge amount of climbing every lap. I knew then and there that this race would be a battle of attrition and strength. You could only win this race if you were strong and could hold your own. I had not expected the course to be so tough prior to arriving, but the training I had done in the weeks lead up had prepared me exactly for this type of course regardless.

​Race day came and I was feeling good. Not amazing I must admit. But it was go time so it didn't matter anymore whether I was ready or not!
​The girls field was small, but not short on quality. We had some very quality runners in there, past World Champs, and I knew I would have to be smart in this race.
​What most people don't know, is that my running prep had been next to nothing. Unfortunately 5 or 6 weeks out from the race I rolled my ankle and was unable to run. No, very not ideal for a Duathlon World Champs! I couldn't even walk let alone run for a while. I managed a couple of key sessions prior to racing to get me as race ready as I possibly could under the circumstances. I had maintained my fitness other ways, and full kudos has to go to my coach for ensuring I kept my fitness up through this period. Whilst I was dummy spitting about being unable to run and prepare for this race properly. He ensured I still never missed a beat on the fitness front regardless to how unconventional it may have been.
​So yes I was nervous about my run form. I was confident I was fit and strong, but I had honestly no idea how fast I could run or if my running legs would be on fire, or fall in a heap. All I knew is that I would have to be smart.

​The first 10km was hot on the pace. Clocking in a 33.30 first ten km! The pace was being pushed by Sarah Dossena and Emma Pallant. I had expected to see these girls running hard, and one by one we whittled down to a group of 3 by the end of the first 10km. Perfect. A small group was best for this course.
​I had a great transition and was out on the bike first and straight up the first of the long climbs. I was feeling pretty comfortable so kept pushing up the hill, expecting the 2 girls to jump on my wheel. Half way up the climb I still had a gap, and it was only increasing as the hill went up. So I made the decision to attack and go for it! It was a big gamble so early on in a race to go off front solo knowing it would be a 40km TT! A little scary. But under my circumstances and prep, I made the decision to go. Sometimes to win something big you have to do something big. So I committed to a TT effort, and it was the best decision I made that day.
​Everyone would be tired after that bike, you had to be, it was the nature of the bike course, and after building a sizeable gap to 2nd and 3rd I was able to run the second run comfortably without any pressure, and without any risk to the great position I had found myself in. I was happy just to get the job done on the second run and be gentle on my poor run legs that just survived the biggest belting I had given them in a while!

​I am ecstatic to claim my second World Title, and to represent the green and gold on the world stage once again.

​Big congratulations to Margarita Garcia Canellas from Spain, and Emma Pallant from Great Britain for second and third place. Everyone earns their keep on that course.

​Lastly a big thanks to all those that make this possible. Coach Cam, my supportive sponsors, those that help with my physio, massage, gym, local tri community, aussies and all those who cheered on the course. Thanks! Trisutto, my training buddies, friends that keep it real, those who take an interest and for all the well wishes, its all appreciated. Family and of course mum and dad that always ride the highs and lows too.

its a team effort.

​Thanks :)

​Flick xx

​Thanks to Delly Carr and Wagner Araujo for capturing the moments below too!
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Edmonton WTS

8/13/2017

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In all my years of triathlon this was the first time I got to race in Canada! I was super pumped to see somewhere new, and its always been a bucket list spot for me to visit. (and go back for that matter!), though i'm more drawn to the beauty of the outdoors of Canada than the big cities. Aussies who share a similar sense of humour with the Canuks also made the place seem so inviting.

I had mixed emotions heading into this race. I was extremely excited for the opportunity to race at the highest level again, but also not really sure what to expect. After a lot of change and a lot of work to improve my weakness, I really had no idea if it was too soon to expect improvement, if i was going to have my a** handed to me, or be leaps and bounds ahead.
On top of that my run prep had been a bit skewed after my run in with a tree root that left my ankle fat and blue and unable to walk just a few weeks prior. Of course after this there is a trajectory of time that follows of time off, whinging, cursing, healing, and building back up to where you left off. You cant alter time and i needed to buy back more of it, but that was impossible, so the run form would be a bit more unknown race day. I strapped it up and just as long as i could get through unscathed it would be a win on that front.

A smaller than normal field fronted the man made lake in Edmonton for a really cool swim around a little island. Just before the hooter sounded i watched a group of ducks swim very slowly across about a meter in front of us! 35 ppl about to jump on their heads! They cant start us now, these poor things are going to die! I dont know what happened to them cos the hooter went and I was off! I wish them luck! It was a pretty stacked swimmers field that always throws more challenges my way. With my new technique thrashing away i was in touch until around the last 200m. going slughtly offline was costly as fatigue was creeping in and i just fell short before the exit.

Fight or flight kicked in, in T1, as the group headed out of transition..Frantic to get on but a few seconds too slow. So the next 20km was a TT chasing the group ahead. After a tough bike for everyone climbing up a large hill 6 times, losing time on the leaders but holding the chase pack meant the race would be finally won up the road, but a good run would move you up the ranks. My ankle did all I asked of it, gave me a solid run to finish 20th, and success in the 'beat your start number game' ;)
But for now its been back to the daily grind to improve.

Flick

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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

7 Comments

 
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 :)​
7 Comments

WTS Goldcoast - The Harsh Reality

4/20/2016

5 Comments

 
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



5 Comments

Mooloolaba World Cup

3/31/2016

1 Comment

 
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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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