Gina Crawford 11x Ironman 2x Xterra Champion 70.3 Champion Mum

Iron War

2013-06-11T23:50:00.004+12:00

A couple of weeks ago I read the book Iron War detailing the 1989 battle in kona between
Dave Scott and Mark Allen. Little did I know that I would have my own iron war a couple of weeks later. I really loved this book, it was so inspiring and I discovered (although I am nothing the calibre athlete of Dave Scott) that my race attitude is exactly the same as his. Dave Scott would race hard from the beginning, wanted to push himself, see what he could do and what he was capable of, he couldn't stand to be behind for a second whilst Mark Allen would shadow him the whole way, doing no work on the swim or the bike, saving his energy for the dying stages of the race. Two totally different athletes, neither way right or wrong, but both of them 6 times world ironman champions but achieving in very different ways.
I knew this race would probably be the hardest I would face all year. The way I structure my year, my low point is always May, June and July. This has been the case no matter what I do for all of the 5 seasons I have been an athlete. Usually I am in Europe this time of year getting my assed kicked and myself into shape by August. However, me being me I like to race whether I am in good shape or not. I took a good 3 weeks totally off training after Melbourne then eased myself into my training, giving myself 7 weeks till race day. This would have me in good shape in summer conditions (as is the case when I raced in Wanaka) but training in the cooler temps you just don't get the workout, you don't feel exhausted after a hard session and I just knew that although I was fit I was just not race fit (in the shape to deal with the great intensity for 9 hours). It would have been a good call to race the half distance instead but I have a passion for the longer distance stuff, so suck it up I did. My goal just go as hard as I can, do a good mental effort, push myself to my ability on the day.
The last 6 weeks or so had also been a very miserable time for me. I have never had any allergies before but I seem to have an allergy to cold, dry air if that is possible. I have had continual sinus blockage, but runny nose at the same time, sneezing, blocked ears and most worrying I would often wake up in the night unable to breathe and panicking. I have been considerably grumpy because of this and so we were all counting down the days to arrive in cairns as I just knew once I had some consistent humid and warm air I would be great. And that was the case. As soon as we arrived I started to get better and by the Thursday before race day I was perfectly back to normal and feeling a million dollars! I am apprehensive about going home though as I hope the respitory troubles don't start up again.
So to the race. Cairns by the way is a great place to come if you are bringing the kids. Benji has been in heaven here, swimming at least twice a day, visiting all the wildlife sanctuaries. We don't really want to leave. I am always looking for races which are good for Benji too so this was the best one yet in that regards. The course too is stunning (especially the bike) and is challenging too which is what I like!
The swim was in downtown cairns and I was super nervous about swimming with the crocs! But I've lived to tell the tale. There were only 7 of us pro women and we had a 1 min gap between the pro men and 9 mins to the age groupers. This worked well, there was no repeat of ironman Melbourne! All of us women were all very different swim abilities so I think we all probably had a solo swim. For me the swim felt really, really long. When I came around to finish the first of 2 laps I was wondering whether I had it wrong and if it was actually a one lap swim! This is the main problem when you are not quite ironman race fit. The race feels long, definitely the full 9 hours. When you are super fit an ironman can feel like only 2 hours. So I came out in second about 2 minutes behind Liz Blatchford a former itu athlete doing her first ironman. Onto the bike it didn't take me long to catch her, she was going quite slowly when I caught her and I had the feeling she was deliberately waiting for me. She then rode the remaining 150k glued to me the legal distance. She did go in front of me 3 times but each time I felt my speed drop quite a lot that I would pass her back 30 seconds later. Maybe not smart, but I can't stand the feeling of not trying and I am sure the girls behind are trying damn hard to catch us. So she really got an easy ride while I battled away into the strong winds. I really started to struggle in the last 50k, again it just felt long and I was feeling the heat on the bike (coming from the cool Wanaka winter). I started feeling dizzy, saw black and white squares and I couldn't remember my name ( a bit of a worry!) I was wondering why the hell Liz wouldn't go past me and ride her own race as I slowed down a lot, and the girls behind did eat into my lead a lot in this last 50k but she stuck there behind me.
Onto the run and I was slightly worried based on my incoherencies but I just told myself run. I started feeling better after a few km after eating quite a few bananas. Liz was behind me about 100m for the first 20km or so when I hit a bad patch (tight abs as usual). She got a gap but then as I pulled myself together I clawed myself back behind her. The run is tough as it is point to point and then 2 laps up and down esplanade and it was a brisk head wind for all but 2 sections of 4 km. At 21 km I went to get my special needs as was detailed to us but found we were only allowed it when we came back to that same point which was at 30km. This was my downfall. For me it is a fine line and I have my nutrition down to an art. I know exactly what I need to eat and when. I needed my powerbar gels! I tried to pick up the gels from the Aid stations but kept missing them and I refused to stop. So although I ran along with Liz until 32 km or so this is where I bonked. I could feel it happen and I got annoyed with Liz and broke my no talking policy. We were running into the head wind and Liz was refusing to go ahead, when I tried to make her she would deliberately slow down. I got annoyed as I had sheltered her on the bike for 150k and I thought the least she could do was run into the bloody head wind for a couple of km. I lost it mentally I yelled at her to do some work and race her own race and so she did, she left me in her dust! I never gave up the chase but finished many minutes behind her. The better athlete won. But sometimes you have to be happy with second. I raced my own race, hard, and I know I had no more to give in order to take a victory.
I have been thinking the last few days, am I a stupid racer? With more and more itu athletes coming into the sport do I need to change the way I race? Do I need to just sit there do no work and then sprint at the end? Is that the way our sport is heading? The sport is continually evolving and changes depending on the type of athletes competing with success at the time. Is ironman going to become like itu (in my opinion a predictable, boring race where the best runner wins and the swim and bike seem a joke). I personally hope not. It was super pleasing at the same race to see Luke Mckenzie race his heart out, biking 20 minutes faster than the other men and then holding on for the win on the run, finishing in style. And that gives me hope. For me, ironman is a personal journey. I like to give it my all, push myself to my limit the whole race, never take the easy road. It is the way I was raised and the message I want to give to Benji. I do think this is the real spirit of the race of ironman, it is why I enjoy it so much and why my heros are the Dave Scotts and Chrissie Wellingons of the sport. Yes I will not always win or even come closed, but when I do, I want to know that it was because of my efforts alone, that is the reward for me. When it comes off, like it did at challenge Wanaka for me this year, it is so exciting! Of course there is no right way to race. Liz raced a great race within the rules and was outstanding for winning her first attempt at an ironman. I am sure I will race her again very soon, and I will be putting a plan in place to make just riding behind me for 150k absolutely unbearable!
Got to say a massive thanks again to my sponsors. KSwiss, Powerbar (totally showed that I can't race without this nutrition!), my new bike combination of Ceepo, sram and Rolf prima was superb!, Rudy Project, Blueseventy and keywin.

Meet my new bike

2013-04-29T14:17:00.000+12:00

I have a new bike, my new 700c Ceepo Katana http://www.ceepo.com/portfolio/2013-the-all-new-cp-katana/ . I know I said I would never move from a 650c bike, but there were good reasons to do so. I've been riding a 650c Ceepo since 2008 and I really loved the switch from the 700c. I felt much more comfortable and in control especially going down hill, and after having a few crashes on my bike in 2007 I felt much more confident. So why would I make the change back to a 700c bike? Well I must admit I was very, very reluctant to do so, no one likes change do they? Especially not me. But things have really changed in the last 5 or so years. Very few people ride 650c bikes and so companies rightly so put most of their efforts into improving the 700c bikes and accessories, into making them lighter, more aerodynamic and faster for the majority of the market. So while the 700c equipment has improved in the last 5 years little has changed for 650c. So in changing to a 700c bike, not only is my 700c frame going to be lighter and more aerodynamic, but my Rolf Prima wheels are also faster and more aerodynamic and then it also opens up a whole world of tyre possibilities. I only ever had 2 choices in that department before but now I have many and apparently by making wise decisions I can save minutes off my time.
I have been thinking these last few weeks that cycling is very much like equestrian. A partnership between you and your bike, as equestrian is a partnership between the rider and the horse. Whether it be show jumping or horse racing who do you congratulate at the end of the race, the rider or the horse?. Well you have to congratulate both. Unlike running which I love for it's purity (just put on a pair of well fitting KSwiss shoes and then show off your engine) cycling is very different. All these years I have been training the rider, trying to get myself as fit and strong and as fast as I could but I have not being paying nearly enough attention to my horse. It takes a very good bike fit, and then attention to all your equipment, not just the frame and the wheels but the tyres, the aerobars, the drink bottles, the helmet, where you put everything on your bike to keep it as aerodynamic as possible. I really don't like this to be honest, that's why I like running, but to keep being competitive and making improvement at this level it needs to be done. I have great respect to those top notch cyclists in our sport, even more perhaps for the ones that are not good runners and perhaps don't have the best engines, as it shows that not only have they put in the training yards on the bike but they are particular about their setup and equipment and getting the most out of themselves.
So I was tentative about my first ride on this new 700c bike. I thought I would find it awkward and that I would be falling off going down the hill, but it was a surprise. I felt completely in control, comfortable and in tune with my bike, not awkward at all, I can go down hill just as confidently as before. Obviously my bike handling skills have improved these last few years! The bike itself feels light, responsive and for some reason I feel it is easier to push the pedals around.
So here she is the Ceepo Katana. I am riding the Rolf Prima TDF6SL on the back and TDF4SL on the front. These wheels have a rim width that is much wider than what I used to ride, and wind shaped side walls. More aerodynamic and faster, just what I want and need. http://www.rolfprima.com/products-TdF6SL.php

For training I will be riding the Rolf Prima Echelon http://www.rolfprima.com/products-Echelon.php Check out my new Rudy Project helmet and sunglasses! No one should miss me riding around Wanaka!

And to learn more about the 2013 Ceepo Katana check out this youtube clip.

Exciting race plans!

2013-04-19T20:59:00.001+12:00

We have been in our new house for a week now and we are in love. It is so good having our own space again, and being in a fully insulated house for the first time in our lives is as good as we thought it would be. The house is so warm and with no heating used yet. We have a lot of work to do though with unpacking and landscaping (which I will not partake in!, that's Brett's domain). It is hard finding time to get it all done with a very active toddler and with me returning to training this week. I think we will have enough work to keep ourselves busy until Christmas. It was certainly a lot easier packing a year ago when Benji was only around 9 months of age!
Finally I have put together my race schedule for the rest of the year and what an exciting one it is. We have decided to stay put and race on this side of the world for a couple of reasons. Firstly we have become so lucky in that we have some great quality events in Australia, the Pacific and Asia now and so I can actually put together enough races so that I do not have to travel to Europe or America. I am looking forward to supporting these events in our region. Also with us only just moving into our new house, the appeal of long distance travel in a few months time just is not there. We just want to stay as much as possible at home and then not travel so far as I want Benji to become settled in his home, and if we do travel to stay in one spot for longer periods. So this will mean that I will have to travel to a couple of races by myself. I am not sure how I will handle this; I have never, ever been apart from Benji for more than a few hours at a time and I find that hard enough, but I will just have to suck it up. I know he will get on fine without me for a few days with his Dad.
So after having a good 3 weeks off training I will begin training again in the build up to Ironman Cairns in June. In 2008 Brett and I did quite a bit of training in Cairns in our buildup to Kona and I am excited to be going back there for a second time, this time with Benji. I was definitely inspired when I saw the race footage on tv last year; it looks like it will be a spectacular race and I knew it was a race I just needed to do.
Then from late July Benji, Brett and I will base ourselves in Noosa (a place I have trained many times before) in our buildup towards Kona. I will travel across from there to Samoa for a new race. I am very excited about this one. I will race in the half ironman http://www.samoahalfironman.com/ event and also some of the swim series. I think this event is absolutely perfect for those Kiwis who will be training for Kona through the NZ winter. So easy to nip across to Samoa to take part in the half ironman and the swim series. Great preparation for the non wetsuit swim in Kona, and a similar climate to Kona too. Brett and I traveled to Samoa for a holiday back in 2003 long before I became involved with triathlon. It is still in our memories as being one of our most favourite holidays and I am excited to be going back there; this time to take part in one of my biggest passions, triathlon!
Then it will be back to Noosa and then to Yeppoon to race the Ironman 70.3 8 days later. I have also been to Yeppoon before (Brett and I did a training road trip back in 2008 Brisbane to Cairns). Again I am looking forward to going back for a second time (kind of a trend here so far!).
Then back to Noosa and again I will have to travel by myself to the next race as we decided it is just too far for Benji to travel for such a short trip. I will take part in Metaman Bintan (1 hour ferry ride from Singapore) in Indonesia. http://www.metamanbintan.com/ A non wetsuit swim, a challenging bike course and a loop run course set on a beautiful resort. It will be my second time to the region having competed at the Singapore Ironman 70.3 in 2008. The race also boasts one of the biggest prize purses outside of Kona.
And then of course we will be racing in Hawaii again October 12th. But right now my mind is fully on getting myself in fitness for Cairns. I have had a great 3 weeks break since Melbourne and am just getting back into things now. I often think how am I going to be able to be in race fitness for an ironman in such a short space of time? But with experience I have learnt that for me it is very good to have a decent break mentally and physically and it never takes as long as I think it will to get back into shape. My biggest challenge will be training for a hot race in a cooling Wanaka climate, but if you think Wanaka is spectacular in winter you need to see it in Autumn with all the colours!! Just the most beautiful place to train at this time of year.

3rd iron distance race in 9 weeks!

2013-03-27T12:21:00.000+13:00

Ironman Melbourne, my third iron distance race of the year, third in 9 weeks with 6 weeks between Wanaka and Taupo and then 3 weeks between Taupo and Melbourne. Why would I do such a thing? Well I entered Melbourne as a back up to Taupo in case anything went wrong. After my race at Taupo I contemplated giving Melbourne a miss but I decided against it. With my racing in 2013 I have made big improvements on the bike, 2 wins and a second but I have been disappointed with my running. I love to run fast, I love to chase people down and last year I was running well all my runs sub 3 hr or just above but in 2013 I just could not run freely, suffering from the tightness in the back and diaphragm. At first I put this down to my new bike setup, but then I came to realise it was nothing to do with that. It has been the fact we have been living rough for these past 6 months waiting for our new house to be finished. We have been living in caravan or on blow up mattress or even resorting to sleeping on the floor. Brett who does no training has it much worse than me, he is having to see a physio every few days for his back. So my entire goal for this race was to get on top of this tightness and to run freely. I didn't want to lose my confidence with my running and just leave it with 2 marathon times of between 3.10 and 3.15 (very slow for me). So the last 3 weeks I have been doing all sorts of stretches 3 times a day, trigger point on my back, and I have changed my running style. It was a case of 2 steps forward everyday and then 1 step backwards after sleeping on the blow up bed, but I felt a marked difference and I was excited to have one more shot at a marathon. I knew having done iron distance races in quick succession before that the bike would be much more of a struggle for me. You would think it would be the run, and I am sure that for most people it would be, but for me personally I find it very difficult backing up the bike but seem to have little troubles with backing up a marathon. I felt in training quite a distinct loss of power on the bike, but my head space was that I would just do my best I could on the swim and the bike and leave it out there on the run course.
I had several hurdles in the 3 weeks between Taupo and Melbourne. I seemed to recover ok from the race but then in the second week both Benji and I caught a cold. Then a few days before the race I got stung by 2 wasps which probably seems not so bad, but the ironic thing is that sitting here 3 days post race I am struggling more with these wasp stings than I am with having done yet another ironman. They are still giving me grief.
The third hurdle was the weather. There was a lot of wind on race day and it was decided to shorten the swim. This was disappointing but the organisers made the right decision. The swim (based on peoples splits) was more like 1600-1700m instead of 3.8km which made a huge difference for the results. The weak swimmers must have been rubbing their hands together with glee, and certainly the end results favoured these strong bike/runners weak swimmers. The thing with shortening the swim is the weak swimmers lose most of their time in the second half of the swim, they then come out of the swim quite exhausted and it takes the sting out of their legs on the bike for a few hours.That is just the way the cookie crumbles though, no one can control the weather. I was wondering if I would ever get my perfect race. A 3.8k swim, a bike reduced to 90k and a full marathon? But I'm not sure that there is any weather condition that would enable that to arise?
Anyway the main problem for the professional women was that the gap back to the age groupers instead of being the normal 15 minutes was reduced to 5 min. This was a disaster as it totally wrecked the integrity of the pro women's race. But again I can understand the reasoning, they wanted the safety people on boards to be in the water for the least possible amount of time due to the conditions.
So to the race. The swim was a beach start, in rough conditions, lots of waves and lots of swell. I am no surf swimmer. I ran into the waves and fell over and saw everyone running away from me, typical! The rest of the swim went ok but coming into the shore I got washed down the beach with the swell and had to run up the beach an extra 100m or so. I saw the girls I had been just ahead of coming out in front of me as they made a much better job of navigation on the way back.
Onto my bike and it was quite windy, I believe a head wind for the first 45k with some cross winds also. It didn't take long at all for the masses of age groupers to start passing me. And this is where I got very upset. The rule is 12m, but there were peletons of cyclists wheel to wheel. I didn't feel like I was part of the race. I felt like I was out on a training ride and had ridden onto the course of a cycling race (which actually does quite often happen to me). I could not focus, I got myself into such a negative, upset mood. I didn't want to keep going if the rest of the race was going to be like that. Every time I got passed I tried to back off to be 12m but before I could do so 2 or 3 other men had popped into my gap. Then I saw 3 men fall off their bikes in front of me, they were so close. I then proceeded to ride in the gutter as I just didn't want to fall off as I don't want a broken bone, I can't look after an active toddler with a broken bone. I felt like I was going so slow and wanted to quit not just the race but triathlon all together. At around 60k the race got a lot better as a lot of these men slowed down and I passed them and then certainly the last 90k was much better, much more like my own race, I could focus a lot better, I stopped being upset about the situation and just focused on getting to the end and onto the run which I did but a long way back.
The draft busters were doing their best but it is hard for them to cope when there are so many breaking the rules, where do they start? As I was passing the last penalty tent at about 135k I saw quite a few in there. It then suddenly occurred to me that the 4 min penalty system is not much of a deterrent at all. If you have a break you can then cycle again at much increased speeds. It's the same as swim training. If you for example are doing 4 by 200m reps even with just a few seconds in between you can swim at a much greater speed than if you did 800m straight. I then hatched a plan in my head which I think is a good one, I actually think I might put it to the head referees and get their thoughts. Here it is. No penalty tents on the bike. You get your yellow or red cards on the bike of course but everyone serves their penalties at the 41km mark of the run (1km from the end). That means you get no nice rest on the bike to refresh those bike legs, you do the race like everyone else and then at 1km to go you can stand there and watch your competitors go by and then you can hobble to the end in shame. Everyone that has done an ironman knows that once you reach the end and stop your legs are buggered you can hardly walk. That last km after having stopped for 4 min would be excruciating. I personally think this would stop people from blatantly drafting. If they had to stop 1km from the end on the run I think they would think twice about what they were doing on the bike.
Anyway back to the race. I enjoyed the run, it is a point to point run, nice and flat so you can get into a good rhythm, the crowds in Melbourne do a great job of encouraging you the whole way, it is one of my favourite runs on the circuit. I felt good apart from having very sore quads due to two ironman races in close proximity. But I don't think quads are very important in running? I think they are mostly bike muscles. I felt good but I didn't want to push too hard and do anything too silly too early. I did the first km in 4min then I did 3.30 for my second 2km. I was at 11 min after 3k but I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard. Then we got to the road which has a steep camber until the 18.5k mark. My foot was getting quite sore from running at such a strange angle and I was just so looking forward to getting to 18.5k so we could run on some flat surface. I passed a few girls but I didn't know what position I was as everyone kept telling me different things. At about 20k I passed another 2 girls Carrie Lester and Amanda Stevens and I still felt good. I was at 1.28 for 21km. My goal had been to run comfortable for about 25k and then push really, really hard for the last part. I passed Meredith at about the 25k mark and then I think I was in 5th. I then had a really, really bad patch from about 25k until about 32k. There was my race plan out the window. I lost my posture and got the tight back and diaphragm. I had to reduce my speed markedly. I got re passed by Amanda Stevens and I had to just run at a jog until I came right which luckily I did. I then re passed her and tried to have the best last 10k I could and I felt good. I couldn't reach Natasha Badmann (again what an outstanding athlete at 46 years of age!!!) though and finished a few minutes behind in 5th, same position as last year. I did a 3.05 (third fastest) run split so I was very happy as if I had not had that bad patch I would have been very close to the 3 hr mark, and it is pleasing that my running is back on track. Of course I would have much preferred to have had this sorted for Ironman New Zealand and have been able to put together one really good race with a good swim, bike and run, but at least now I know what I need to do in order to run well, and once we move into our new house in a proper bed I will be a new woman. Congrats to the podium finishers Corinne Abraham, Yvonne Van Vlerken and Caroline Steffen.
So right now I am going to have a 3 week break. I do not yet know my next race plans. One major positive from this race is I am well and truly qualified for Kona. Third on the rankings with over 7000 points. So I don't have to worry about that like I did last year.

Ironman New Zealand

2013-03-05T21:38:00.001+13:00

This blog can double as a post Ironman New Zealand race report, or a pre Ironman Melbourne update; please take your pick! On the weekend I raced my 6^th Ironman New Zealand. After the past years of very unlucky bad weather we had an absolute stunning day, perfect race conditions. This was my 23^rd Ironman finish and of those 23 races I have taken 11 victories, nearly a 50% record, however with 6 ironman New Zealand finishes I have had just the one race win. It is the race I find the hardest to get right. I really, really want to win this race again one year. It is heartbreak race for me, each year my heart is broken a little more but I just can’t give up on it. I more than likely will be back in 2014 to have another crack!

The race started with perfect swimming conditions. Lovely and flat. Before the start I unfortunately ended up with vaseline all over my goggles and realised this after handing in my swim bag and saying my goodbyes to Brett. I tried to clean it off but I just could not see anything through them. Just before the start I asked one of the guys where the start line was, he said between the green buoys, I said what green buoys I couldn’t see any, took my glasses off and yes they were there just meters away. I contemplated going without my goggles but decided against it, probably a mistake. I contemplated ditching them halfway through the race, but that is against the rules to discard items and especially not in the pristine Lake Taupo. So anyway it was just a miserable experience, I could see the buoys only when I was meters from them and I just couldn’t put my head down and go for it as I didn’t want to leave my one swimming companion, he was VERY important, he was my eyes and without him I would have been completely lost and would have swum in the completely wrong direction. The pace felt slow in the first half but then he picked up the pace in the second half and I was happy and I was as overjoyed to reach the end of this beautifully calm swim as I was to have reached the end of the horribly hilly swim of Challenge Wanaka. When I came out I saw my time around 51 minutes which is pretty good for me, but then as I ran the hill to transition I got word that I was 4 minutes back from Meredith!! Oh my gosh I thought. I knew I would be chasing but not by that margin. Meredith was on fire. She came out in 47mins 4^th overall. An absolutely phenomenal swim.

So onto my bike I knew I had a lot of work to do. Meredith is a super duper biker too. In fact she is one of the best swim bikers in the world so how to make up that margin? Unbelievably as I got onto my bike I realised my sunglasses too were covered with vaseline and I couldn’t see anything! I thought there is no way I am going to bike 5 hours like that so I had to bike mostly without my beloved Oakleys and only put them on in the super sunny patches to give my eyes a break.

In transition on race morning I discovered my gears were not working very well. Being me I wanted to just leave them be, the she’ll be right attitude but Brett insisted I take my bike to the mechanics in transition who were so, so fabulous. They fixed my bike and the SRAM were working absolutely perfectly in the race. The bike must have been bumped in transition overnight as the mechanic said it was wound completely out, which Brett insists was not the case (he works on my bike for me), but anyway I have a lot to thank this lovely man for as the Ceepo was in perfect working order once the race started. THANK YOU!!

Anyway back to the bike ride. I felt good and by 45k at the first turn around I had the gap halved to 1min 50sec. Later on it was down to around 45sec. In fact I could just see Meredith in the distance but that was the closest I got. She either picked up the pace or I fell away a lot. At 90k she was back up to 2min, at 135k around 5min and at the end of the bike ride it was 9min!! I didn’t feel bad or weak, my nutrition was great and I always felt in control. I was completely alone, it was a time trial just like in Wanaka, and I ended up with the same split in fact. A 5.08. But it is clear to say that Wanaka is a much tougher course and absolutely everyone I know does a lot faster in Taupo, so it is also clear that I just didn’t have as good a bike ride as I did in Wanaka. I think I know why. My endurance just wasn’t there. I have always gone into Taupo feeling a little overdone, so this time I allowed myself a lot of recovery, and I think I just didn’t do enough long bike work in-between and my fitness didn’t carry through 6 weeks. The most important thing to me was to turn up to the start line without illness or injury (as has been experienced in my Taupo build-up before). I did achieve this but I think I just didn’t have the bike endurance which then also carried though onto the run. It is a very fine line to getting this right and it takes these trials to work out exactly what works for you, how much you can do without pushing yourself over the cliff. After the first 90k I was on a 2.28 and I believed I could get a 5 hr bike split, but I ended up with the 5.08 a bit disappointed. I think my training would have been perfect for doing a great half Ironman, but just not enough for the full distance. However, that is still my fastest bike split at Taupo by far. Usually I’m over the 5.15 mark. And that is despite me doing a complete solo effort when in previous years there has always been company at some point or other. So I think my bike has definitely improved over 90k but there is still a lot of work to do to get that full 180k improvement. I think my second 90k was at the same pace as I usually do. So anyway I am headed in the right direction. In Kona Meredith was at the front of the race up there with the likes of Cave, Ellis, and Steffen (until she very unfortunately got knocked off her bike and suffered concussion). So biking 4minutes slower than someone like Meredith is a huge step forward for me. I still have big improvements to make but I have to be pleased that I am heading in the right direction.

Onto the run and I was 9 minutes back. I felt I could make that up. I started out well but after the first 3k which were relatively flat the hills started and I lost my rhythm. I also had a lot of difficulties with tightness in the hips, abdominals, diaphragm and back and I had to give a very controlled effort to keep my posture or I would spectacularly blow up. So I had to run along at what felt like little more than a jog and I certainly wasn’t making up much time. The last 14k loop I started to make up quite a bit of time but it was far too late. By the end I was just over 3 minutes behind, but not enough to challenge for the victory. Meredith raced well in all 3 disciplines and was truly deserving of her second victory here. Candice ran her way up into 3^rd, another great result for her.

So now we are less than 3 weeks to Ironman Melbourne!! A few days after IMNZ I am now feeling quite good. Muscles are feeling fine already and my blisters are healing up nicely. I am already excited about having another shot so soon and excited as I know I will be able to give it absolutely everything. There are only a couple of times a year when I will give it absolutely everything. I race usually about 6 ironman a year and if I raced everything like a mad women I just would not make it through the season. However when I know there is a good break coming up post race as is the case in Melboune (or in Kona) I know I will be able to open my body to the absolutely maximum of pain and this is what I intend on doing in Melbourne. Who knows what kind of form I will be in with 3 ironman races in just over 2 months but I want to really give it everything and open myself to the pain that I couldn’t quite do during the run in Taupo. Bring it on!!

Ironman New Zealand Build up

2013-02-20T19:54:00.003+13:00

We have been here in Wanaka for about 6 weeks enjoying the best summer ever. I can not remember a summer where it has been so consistently good, 30 degrees nearly every day and no rain. I’m not sure if it’s just Central Otago or if the whole county is having a great summer but we are able to sit outside at night without being wrapped up like mummies for the first time I can ever remember. We have been keeping an eye on the build of our house which is well under way now and will be finished in April. Bring it on! We have been without a home for about a year now and we absolutely can not wait to get in, we have great hopes that it will be completed ahead of schedule! It was always our dream to live in Wanaka but we never thought it would become a reality. However we took advantage of a dip in the market during the middle of last year and purchased our section and now are building our ideal home which is small but cosy, built for the sun and solar powered. No more electricity bills for us!! It is such fun seeing your home being built before your eyes and Wanaka not only will be a perfect place for me to train but will be a great place for Benji to grow up.

I have been busy getting Benji settled into the community. I go with him to play group twice a week and a music group too and the community is very friendly and family orientated. I am feeling very sad to leave actually for the next month, it certainly feels like home for us already. I have two Ironman races planned in March (IM New Zealand and Melbourne) and in between we will be hanging in Christchurch. We have been staying in our little 1970s caravan in a perfect location right near the Clutha River. We have had no luxuries. No power, no running water, no internet, just our little family and a radio. It has been great fun for Benji and for us too but we are looking forward to having our own section with fences so we can have a break for even a couple of minutes from keeping our eyes permanently fixed on Benji in case he runs off to the river or in front of a car. It is hard work!

So in between this I have been training for Ironman New Zealand which now unbelievably is just over a week away. I have done things a little differently this time round. I have always got straight back into training post Wanaka and then have done some very big weeks in the build up to Taupo (apart from last year of course 6-7mth post baby). I have always felt a little over cooked and tired when it came to racing in Taupo. After my great year in 2012 where I felt completely unprepared at every Ironman I took part in but then surprised myself by putting in a good result I came to realise that for me it is far better to be undercooked than overcooked when it comes to racing. So therefore this time I took a good week off training and then have allowed plenty of recovery during my build up. One of the joys of coaching yourself is you can continually experiment and work out exactly what works for you!

Being in Wanaka I have been able to do plenty of open water swimming, something I’ve never been that keen on but in Wanaka I just love it. I am very much enjoying being away from a 25m pool with all the tumble turns and swim training feels much more like my bike and run sessions.

Biking in Wanaka is just fabulous, lots of rolling terrain which I love and then my favourite long ride is to head over the Crown Range to Arrow Town and back. Some really steep climbing! Very challenging and there is some nice road surface too! Some actual tar seal sections which is a novelty for a Kiwi.

My running the last few weeks has been the most promising. With my change in bike setup in December and using some different muscles in my bum which maybe I had never used before?? I was struggling with tight butt muscles which were very much affecting my running. I was running really well last year, but I knew the change in setup would take a while for my body to adjust to and I would have to be patient. There is no point in me taking 10mins off my bike time only to run 10min slower, however the goal is to be biking 10min faster and then run the same (or faster preferably!) by October. Before Wanaka I was struggling a lot with the running off the bike, 6 days before the race I even had to resort to walking!! and was not happy about it, and I was doing trigger point on my butt 3 times a day to try and loosen those glutes and so I was pretty impressed with what I was able to achieve on race day in Wanaka. But now I am feeling much more like I was last year, lighter on my feet and not heavy and tight and so I hope that I can have a great run in Taupo and hold it together. The run course in Taupo is fabulous too with heaps of crowd support which definitely helps!

Race day will be fun. I am looking forward to racing Meredith again. She is a stellar competitor, one of the best in the world in my opinion and I am really looking forward to testing myself against her again this year. She absolutely blew the field apart last year, and did a splendid race. She is also a really good cyclist as is Carrie Lester so I am looking forward to seeing if I can foot it with them on the bike on this flat course which never has suited me in the past but is similar to Kona (apart from the cold and the lack of wind) but similar in terrain. It’s the type of course that I really need to nail if I am going to excel in Kona in the future.

Good luck to everyone that is racing IMNZ this year, I hope your training has all gone to plan. We’re gong to have great weather this year I just know it, and I can’t wait to get up to Taupo!!

5th title at Challenge Wanaka

2013-01-19T21:27:00.000+13:00

Yes this report is up super duper fast. This is because we will be moving back to the caravan soon without a lot of internet access. It has been so good being put up at the Alpine Resort in Wanaka. Benji has his own room for the first time since May 2012!!! We are starting to feel like a normal family, but then back to the caravan. The building of our new house is coming along nicely here in Wanaka and in April we will be able to move in and be normal again for a while at least!!
This was a very emotional victory for me. On Sunday night I came down with a stomach bug and I was thinking oh no if this is as bad as the one post Challenge Henley, pre Kona (where I couldn't eat for 5 days and became so weak) then there is no way I can possibly race. Luckily I bounced back a lot quicker (probably because I wasn't recovering from an ironman and adjusting to 12 hr time difference jetlag). I was bad on Monday, on Tuesday I did some light training but not able to eat anything but bananas, on Wednesday I had a great day training and felt a lot happier. I never was able to recover my appetite fully pre race and lost quite a bit of weight over the week, but I was so, so happy that I would be racing my favourite race. I felt daunted with the idea of doing an iron distance race. I felt under prepared, but the upside, much more rested than any other race that I have ever done!
I knew I would probably suffer a bit of weakness towards the end of the race, and for this reason I wanted to have a good lead going onto the run. I didn't want to be running with anyone else. However I had the slowest swim ever. Around 1 hr!! I have never done over 56 min for a swim before even in Kona non wetsuit, but everyone had slow times I believe? It was so choppy the choppiest I have ever swum in. I certainly felt sorry for the weaker swimmers in the age groups. It was quite a strange swim in that I felt completely lost. I was with Keegan Williams but because of the chop we would only ever see each other at the turn buoy and then I wouldn't see him again for another 600m or so to the next buoy. I was happy to reach the end and happy to jump on the little Ceepo.
Jo Lawn and Kate Bevilaqua were right behind me coming out of the swim. At the end of 18k (turn around) I was about 2.5min up on Jo and around 4 min up on Kate. The bike was windy and with the new double lap hillier than the previous years. We had some wicked tail winds and some relentless head winds. At the second turn around I saw I had extended my lead on all. I felt fantastic until 160k where I had to grovel back to the start. I broke my bike course record. Did 5.08 and the fastest male I believe did a 4.52. Not too shabby at all!!
Onto the run and I believe I had about 17 mins up on Jo Lawn who was in second. I was happy as I could run comfortably and not push myself too hard which was important as I thought the run would be a real struggle for me. The last 15k was a struggle I felt very weak but I got to the end and the finish was truly emotional with such great crowd support and I have to confess I had a little cry (I hate people that do that! And now I'm one of them!), I broke my course record despite having that much slower than normal swim and I had a 20min gap to 2nd Candice Hammond who caught Jo right at the end and they pretty much had a sprint finish to the end, my worst nightmare!!! I felt very sorry for them, it must be horrible to sprint at the end of a marathon particularly for the person who gets pipped. Congrats to everyone that finished, this is truly a very, tough race, for me I think the toughest I've done outside Kona.

So it's time to rest and recover and re-group for Ironman New Zealand in March Thanks so much to my sponsors KSwiss, Ceepo, Powerbar, SRAM, BlueSeventy, Rolf Prima, Keywin, Oakley. 2 wins to begin 2013. I'm totally stoked!

Great start to 2013.

2013-01-07T18:41:00.000+13:00

On the weekend I raced the Port of Tauranga Half Ironman (which also doubled as the NZ half Ironman championships). As I said in my last email it was the perfect opportunity for me to test out my new bike position and the changes made a month ago with David Bowden (speedtheory.co.nz). The changes felt good in training and I was really excited to see how my bike ride would pan out. I really only wanted to come to Tauranga to race on the flat bike course if I believed I was strong enough to stay ahead of any packs forming on the bike. In races such as Ironman NZ and Ironman Melbourne early last year (before my bike strength started to improve) I was pretty upset with not being able to race my own race by being caught by so many people and continuously having to stop pedalling and moving back the required distance whilst someone else jumped in my gap. So this time I was aiming to stay ahead of this and be able to dictate my own race. And it all went to plan.

I came out of the swim in first place with Jo Lawn just behind me. I had a decent swim but my navigation skills were not up to scratch with one point me having to stop and ask a volunteer to point me the direction of the next buoy as I just really couldn’t see it. Anyway Jo and I had a decent lead on the rest of the women. Once onto the bike (after a pretty good T1 by my standards I must add!!) I set to work and immediately felt very good. I did make one booboo by going straight past a turn and then having to make a u-turn and back track. Silly me! I was really happy I was able to have a good, hard time trial which will hopefully help me build my strength well for my next Ironman races. At about 60k the first pack caught me (and the only that caught me fortunately, yay!!). But luckily they were really going much faster than me and I was able to keep going my own pace without dropping any speed as they cycled away. That may sound strange as you might think that if you are caught of course this must be by faster people, but you will be surprised by how often I get caught up by people who then slow right down once they pass you. I finished the bike in just under 2 hr 21 meaning I had the fastest bike split by around 2 minutes on the next fastest. I was very chuffed with that. The first time I have won a flat race on the bike!!

Onto the run and I saw I had about 2 min on Jo Lawn who was next and then a further few minutes back to Candice Hammond in 3^rd. I ran comfortably, I didn’t want to really push myself too hard if I didn’t have to with Challenge Wanaka just 2 weeks away. If I was to be challenged then I think and hope that I could have notched it up a gear. The highlight was seeing Benji and Brett out on the course and then being able to carry Benji over the finish line. Finishing in 4 hr 15 mins, with Candice in 2^nd and Jo in 3^rd. We will all battle it out again in 2 weeks in Wanaka along with several other lovely ladies.

It was a great weekend away. The weather was stunning all weekend, perfect for Benji to enjoy himself at the beach. I’ve got to say thanks to the race organisers for giving me a late entry and for putting us up at the Atlas Apartments just down the road from the race start. Thanks also of course to my sponsors, KSwiss, Ceepo, Powerbar, Rolf Prima, SRAM, BlueSeventy, Keywin. A great start for us in 2013. This result gives me confidence for Challenge Wanaka that I am fit and ready, but more so gives me confidence for Ironman New Zealand in March that I can now race well on a flat bike course.

End of 2012 update

2012-12-12T07:27:00.001+13:00

After racing at Kona I decided to take a good month off training. I thought about going back to race Ironman Western Australia in Busselton as we love racing there but in the end I decided that it will be a busy start to 2013 and I really need to have a break to refresh and start over. So it was a solid month away from any type of training with only walking and playing with Benji for exercise. I loved it. I have now been training for 4 weeks; I started out feeling very unfit but am starting to regain my fitness and strength. I decided to race at the House of Travel triathlon at Pegasus just North of Christchurch where we are currently staying thanks to the generosity of my parents. This was a race like no other I have done before. It was 350m swim, 10.5k bike, 2.5k run and then repeat the whole thing. At first I couldn’t get my head around how short the distances were. It hardly seemed worth doing a swim only 350m long! The down side for me of course was that there were going to be 5 rather than the normal 2 transitions. I’m notoriously slow compared to long course girls so I knew I just would get my arse kicked by the short course girls, but I decided this was the best way for me to try and regain some speed and fitness as up until that point I had done nothing intense in training, plus you just can’t do a session like that effectively in training by yourself (well I can’t). So I’m very glad I did decide to compete as it was a very well run event incorporating many different events for differing ages and abilities and Pegasus turned out to be the perfect place for a sprint triathlon. A lovely man made lake, tar seal roads (have never seen those before in ChCh) and a track around the lake measuring 2.5k. Perfect!

So to the race. I was competing in the elite cup which also had the format of a head start of 4.5min for the women and the first 3 over the line (male or female) picking up bonuses as well as the $6000 prize money equally divided between male and female. The favourite of course was short course star Nicky Samuels and I was under no illusion that I would be keeping up with her, my strength being the last 1 hr of a 9 hr plus race. I didn’t feel very speedy in training and my aim just to get a good hard workout to try and gain some fitness.

The first swim was in wetsuit with a beach start. I came out in 3^rd behind Nicky and Penny Hayes a swimmer turned triathlete. I was pretty happy but first transition here we go again. Can’t get wetsuit off, can’t get helmet on, click it up but done up wrong and can’t undo it, finally get it undone and back done up properly and then typical Gina mounting of the bike. Having looked at the results I lost 25secs at the first transition to the other girls and was now in 6^th place. I came onto the bike with Julia Grant and as it was a drafting race we worked together and by the end of the first lap of 5.2k I was in second position. It was a technical course with many turns and I kept forgetting to change down gear going into a corner. I would say having a time trial bike (with the gears at the end of the aerobars) was probably a hindrance on this type of course. By the end of the second lap I saw I was gaining on Nicky and I could see her just up the road, but then oh no transition again.

So now onto the run losing a bit more time in transition I had to run 2.5k as fast as I could. It was a shock having done no fast running and I’ve got to say I’ve never been a sprinter I will run 2.5k pretty much the same speed that I would run 10k or 21k. I caught a bit more time up on Nicky and managed to get away from the other girls behind me, then transition again.

This time it was a transition I’ve never done before. Take off shoes, put on cap and goggles and back into the swim. I thought I would find it really cold without wetsuit, but I liked it and I enjoyed this part of the race. Probably too much, I seemed to forget it was a race and that I should be swimming as fast as I could go. I lost quite a chunk of time to Nicky here and in the next transition swim to bike again my worst type quite a bit more time. And also 2 men went by me. Gosh it didn’t take them long to catch me!

Back onto the bike again for the second 10.5k. I was alone and couldn’t see anyone ahead and I lost focus (yes I lost focus in the shortest race ever!) I reverted to Ironman bike speed and lost a bit of time and when I got off my bike a couple more men were right behind carrying up Julia Grant back up to me as well.

Onto the last run and I just put in my best effort to try and take second. I didn’t feel good at all in these runs. I didn’t feel like I have been feeling in my running this year. I have a lot of work to do in this area to get back to where I was but I was surprised that in my both my runs I was the fastest runner. In the end I finished 1min behind Nicky and Julia was 20sec behind me. I was pretty happy with a really fun race and a really good workout.

The next day I travelled up to Cambridge for the day to have a bike fit done with David Bowden a real cycle nut! I have much neglected this area, most probably because I don’t like to make changes too close out from a race, and when you race like me, you are always too close to a race. Also the last bike fit I did had kind of put me off from having another one for quite a few years. That bike fit consisted of me sitting on the bike, having a photo taken and then being taken into an office where he proceeded to show me a photo of a male pro athlete who had recently had a bike fit done in USA. He showed me that I looked very much like I was in a similar position to this man so therefore I was all good to go. We were done in less than 10min. I was a bit shocked at this idea of a bike fit so I have never been back to anyone since, seeing it as an incredible waste of money.

Anyway David has been very good to me over the years giving me tips on equipment decisions and analysis of data. He is very passionate about cycling and he is a wealth of knowledge and I trusted that he would be the person to help me and he is. I only regret that I haven’t done this years ago.

The exciting part is that there are a lot of things I can do to make improvement in my biking. Apparently even though I am a foot shorter than him, and also on a 650c bike my head is actually further up in the air than his! I need to get onto some more appropriate aerobars which will be narrower and they are on their way to me right at this moment. And I also need to work hard on a new way of sitting on them which will get me a lot more aero. It will take dedication and discipline to change old habits. Anyway there is a lot for me to work on which I am excited about. Hopefully I can get my new aerobars before Christmas and I can get my new red and black Ceepo with my new red and black Rolf Prima wheels built up before the year is out!! Pictures to come!

I have decided that I would like an opportunity to race again before Challenge Wanaka especially as I will be in a new position and on new equipment and I don’t like the idea of going into an Iron distance race like that without testing it out first. Plus I feel like I need another super hard workout (like I just can’t do by myself in training). And so the Crawfords are going back to Tauranga for the Tauranga Half Ironman. I actually assumed this race was Jan 12^th (1 week prior to Wanaka) but discovered it was actually Jan 5^th today, so really it fits in perfectly. Merry Christmas to everyone who actually made it to the end of this long and probably very boring blog!!

7th in the World at Ironman

2012-10-23T09:03:00.003+13:00

Finally I have had a chance to sit down and think about my 7^th place finish at the World Champs last weekend. To me 2012 was a year to get back into the sport with little expectations and I have well and truly exceeded any expectations that I might have had. Our philosophy has been to travel the world while Benji is young and we are able to do so and race as much as possible in order to fund this and to make a profit. I didn’t put much emphasis on the World Champs and was happy to qualify for it, my main ambitions being to succeed and make a profit from our European season and once I well and truly exceeded my expectations with my 3 last races being wins I started to think maybe just maybe I could sneak into the top 10. Do I wonder what I could have done if I had not raced an iron distance race 4 weeks before?? A little. I get questioned about this a lot usually by athletes in full time work who maybe don’t know what it is like to have such insecure income living from race to race. I have a family to support so there was no way I could put all my eggs into the World Champs basket and I don’t regret anything at all. Who knows if I hadn’t of raced that iron distance a month ago I may not have been any faster anyway and to make up the income that I won from Challenge Henley I would have had to race myself into 4^th position, a good 7 minutes or so ahead of me. But this race has given me a new found confidence. I have never thought of myself as a very good athlete, I guess because I stumbled upon this sport by chance, but after this race and the previous 3 races I have started to believe in myself and I now believe that if I rearrange my race schedule in 2013 that I have every chance to get into that top 5 or maybe even onto the podium.

After Challenge Henley I had a bit of misfortune as I had swallowed quite a bit of the Thames River during the swim and the evening after the race I got very, very sick. We had to travel to Hawaii and then adapt to the 12 hr time difference, Brett and Benji then also picked up my bug but not to the same degree thank goodness and I was finally able to start eating something about 3 days later. I took a whole week off training but once I began to train again I just did not feel great at all, I felt flat and tired. I don’t think this was the result of the iron distance race but rather the jetlag, the sickness and the fact none of us were sleeping well (no air con and noisy). Anyway the work had been done by then so I just tried to get lots of rest (as much as you can when you are a Mum of a toddler anyway!) and trained 4 days in a row then had a day off and followed that pattern to the race. I was excited to be racing and part of a World Championship event. I didn’t feel stressed at all, all the racing meant I had my routines down to an art and knew exactly what to do. Bring it on!!!

So to the race report. I was super, super excited about this race as WTC had gone to great effort to make this race fair and I liked that. Firstly the women had a separate start from the males, like in Melbourne but instead of 2 minutes gap 5 minutes and then 25 minutes to the Age Groups instead of 13 minutes. YAY!!! Then they changed the drafting zone. Usually this is 10m which is totally subjective (how does anyone know 10m from 9 m or 11m??) They had also done research which stated that sit at 10m you still save 36 watts. So it was decided that the rule would be the reflectors which line the side of the road. This was about 12 m apart which apparently would only save one 5 watts. A lot fairer!! Anyway I liked this as at last there was something concrete for everyone to follow. They made it clear that this would be very well enforced and that penalties would be given without warning as it is clear to everyone when the rule is being broken. They stuck to their word too and I think there were a few who obviously pushed this limit and got themselves a penalty.

So onto the swim. There was a nice clean start with only 30 or so women. I am not a good sprinter and after a few hundred metres I realised I was in the second pack, and I could see the first pack of 3 women just ahead. The pace in my group started to feel a bit pedestrian and I didn’t want that at all as there are fast runners behind me that are slower swimmers and I knew they would be working damn hard to bring the gap down so I needed to be working hard the entire swim. So I set myself the task of leaving my group and bridge up to the 3 girls ahead. I achieved this just before the turn around and swam the rest of the way with them. I was super happy with myself when I came out in such a good position. But then I made the stupidest mistake of the day. I had taken my Blue70 swim skin down to my waist and picked up my T1 bag. I then opened my bag and put on my shoes and then the volunteer said “What about your swim suit?” I had forgotten to take it off it must have been so comfortable? So then I tried to get it over my shoes, nope can’t do that. I took my shoes off, took off my suit, put my shoes on. Guess what? The 3 girls were gone and some others were ahead of me now too. I had lost about 1 minute and the ability to pace off some super cyclists. Even if I had been able to stay with them for only 50k or so I would have saved a lot of energy and a lot more than just the 1 minute I lost in transition. I put it behind me and focussed on catching their group. At the first turn around in town I could see them. Meredith Kessler, Amy Marsh, Mary Beth Ellis, Leanda Cave, Amanda Stevens. Caroline Steffen went by me going much faster and she managed to catch up to this group. I could see the group just ahead and was slowly making time into them, at one point I could see the motorbikes just ahead of me. But once we got past the airport and the headwind started to take effect I just had no chance on a group of girls so strong and they quickly pulled away from me. I settled back into a comfortable pace. The bike ride here in Kona has always been a struggle for me as it is boring and hot and I hate being hot on the bike. I had put a great deal of thought into how I could improve things for myself to keep myself cool and how to keep my head in the game particularly in that last 60k. I am pleased to say it worked very well. I got myself through the bike ride without too many challenges despite having no one around me and seeing very few athletes go by me or me go by them which is mentally tough, but I kept my mind active. It felt like a bit of head wind in both directions but not too bad and there were no cross winds to contend with. A week or so before I had been very lucky to pick up SRAM as a sponsor and had all new group set which felt super smooth and responsive, and my Ceepo and Rolf Prima wheels did a super job as usual. Also since I was in the top 10 throughout the bike ride there was a motor bike that was coming and giving everyone splits perhaps every 30km. I have never had this before. I liked it a lot as it gave me motivation and something to keep focussed on. I came off the bike in 9^th position but Sonjia Tajsich was just behind me I saw coming out of T2.

Onto the run I didn’t feel that fresh feeling like I did in Henley or in Salzburg. The feeling when you can just run forever and it is so easy but I just kept plugging away. I ran past Heather Wurtele and Michelle Vesterby by about 3 miles and was in 7^th. Then I ran past Amy Marsh at about 7 miles about the same time that Sonjia ran by me, so I was still in 7^th. I tried to up my pace but I really didn’t have anything in my legs. Sonjia later went on to be the fastest runner and the only women under 3 hr. Well done Sonjia!! Now I know what speed I need to run at in order to go sub 3 in Kona. Running up the biggest hill at Palani I felt my head was going to explode but once on the Queen K there was some breeze which felt so much better. I felt OK. By the second turn around at 30k I had caught a little back up to Sonjia and she was only about 30-40sec in front of me. My aim here was to run 30k solid and comfortable and then give it everything for the last 12k, but once I turned around I really didn’t have a lot and could not change pace. Sonjia obviously had the same plan and she ran through 2 girls to get herself into 4^th position. I just kept my same pace till the end and was overjoyed to finish in 7^th position my second top 10 finish here in Kona. I ran a 3.06 which isn’t bad as apart from Sonjia with a 2.59, the next fastest was Leanda and Caitlin Snow with 3.03 and then a couple of 3.05 Kelly Williamson and Mirinda Carfrae. All these girls are well known for their running so I have got to be happy with where I am, and I know that I can do a lot better too which is exciting.

So the winner was Leanda Cave taking out her second world champs in a month with a very strong race in all disciplines. Very well deserved. Leanda had a tough start to the year with injury and illness but totally turned her year around with great mental fortitude. Second was Caroline Steffen who has won pretty much every race she has entered this year and perhaps the highlight that stunning victory in Melbourne an 8.30!! Third was Mirinda Carfrae who had a strong bike ride but not her usual sub 3hr run. Still she has never been off the podium in Kona. 4^th was Sonjia Tajsich who I have raced 5 times this year, she is always consistent and now stands out as the fastest runner in the heat of Kona! 5^th was Mary Beth Ellis who has won 5 out of the 7 ironman races she has done! In 6^th was Natasha Badmann now my absolute idol. She is apparently 46 years old although she doesn’t look it at all. She is 6 times World champion and she has not slowed down one bit, if anything her splits are even faster!! WOW! Then myself in 7^th. 8^th was American Sweetheart Linsey Corbin with another solid race to go with her Ironman Austria victory this year, 9^th super runner Caitlin Snow who always runs around so happy, I love seeing her on the race course, she runs so fast but makes it look so enjoyable and easy! And rounding out the top 10 was Amy Marsh making four USA girls in the top 10!

Benji had a ball in Hawaii going to White Sands Beach everyday sometimes twice per day and we all ate lots of mangos and avocados. We will miss the Hawaiian lifestyle that is for sure. I’d like to say thanks to my sponsors for making my year in 2012! KSwiss, Powerbar, Ceepo, SRAM, Rolf Prima, BlueSeventy, Oakley, Keywin. And a big thanks to SPARC and TRI NZ. About 2 weeks before the big dance I found out that I was to receive some funding for racing the Ironman World Championships. This was a huge surprise and a big help to me and it also made me feel like I was racing for NZ so not just for myself, a big incentive to give my very, very best for NZ!

So that is the end of my year. I contemplated racing again but no I am going to have a well deserved break, probably a whole month off and then build my training back slowly as it will be a busy start to 2013 and I want to be mentally and physically refreshed. I have raced 6 iron distance races this year and 6 half iron distance races. I have had 4 wins, one second and one third, one sub 9 hr iron distance race, and I have greatly improved my running this year with finally running a sub 3 hr for my marathon (a huge goal of mine achieved). I will now spend some time thinking about exactly what I wish to achieve in 2013 and how to go about it. Thanks for reading, Gina.

Win at Challenge Henley

2012-09-17T20:54:00.000+12:00

I had a great race yesterday at Challenge Henley, picking up my 10th iron distance title. I have been doing a few big weeks in preparation for Kona and trained through this race using it as preparation, so I really had no expectations for race day but I surprisingly felt fantastic and had a perfect day.
The swim took place in the Thames river, out and back. The water temperature was 16 degrees which wasn't bad at all and I had a good swim. I was just about 100 m behind a pack of men but I just couldn't bridge to them, I spent all the race by myself trying to bridge the gap but to no avail. I came out 1st women but not quite with the gap on the others that I wanted (2 min ahead of Yvette Grice past champion and 3 mins ahead of Bella Bayliss).
The bike was 3 laps of two out and back sections enabling plenty of opportunities to compare yourself against your opposition. 2100m of climbing in total but gradual not steep climbs. I went hard in the first 60k to try and get myself a good buffer. This worked and at around 45k I had a 9min lead on Bella and 12 min on Yvette. I then backed off the pace for the second two laps. And by the end had about 20min lead over Bella and about 40min over Yvette. The last 10k or so of bike was down hill meaning you had a good chance to refresh the legs for the run.
The run was 4 laps meaning great spectator support and you were never alone on the course. I felt very good. Not sore like in Walchsee but fresh. I really held back a lot as the hard work had been done and I couldn't see how the others could catch me and I wanted to be smart and have the best recovery possible for Kona. At the half way point I was 1.26 and I started thinking that it would be possible for me to finally run under 3 hr and then I was torn. Part of me wanted to really pick up the pace and go hard and finally achieve this goal and the other part was no, back off and save those legs for Kona. In the end I just decided that the sub 3 hr time would have to wait I would see the race out and not push myself any harder than was necessary. However as I came down the finish shoot and looked at my watch it said 2.58. I was ecstatic!! I finished in around 9.08 (a course record by about 40 mins), 32 mins ahead of 2nd place.
So now the journey is on to Kona. I will have no pressure there I will be under the radar and can just go about my business of trying to have my best race and meet my goal of making it into the top 10. If I can race like I have in my last 3 races then this is a distinct possibility but I will have to race like I have in comfotable, cool conditions, in the heat. For me I have a few areas that need attention and thought. First I need to have a swim focus as I really need to come out in the first group of women to have a chance (and what better place than Kona to have a swim focus with the sea and the free pool). Next I need to not be scared in the wind and stay down in my aero bars when I have been too scared to do this before (I will be practicing the back part of the course to improve on this), thirdly I need to mentally push past the pain barrier and this really is something that can only be experienced on race day itself, and lastly I need to adapt to the hot and windy weather!! I am ready to give it my absolute all and give it everything, no holding back I think it will be my last ironman for the year!
Here is a link to my post race finish video from Challenge Henley

Two half iron distance wins in 1 week

2012-09-03T06:17:00.000+12:00

Well last week I was blogging about my first half ironman victory ever at Ironman Salzburg 70.3 and now unbelievably I have another half iron distance title!! Also in Austria at Challenge Walchsee. In fact this was my third race in Austria this year (more than any other country).
We have had a fabulous time in this little town Walchsee. The Challenge race really looked after us and put us up for 5 nights in the best ever hotel Walcherseehof which was literally 100m or so from transition! Can't get easier than that for racing. Even drug testing was the door opposite to our room! So anyway we have had a really good time in this little place with a wonderful lake and surrounded by mountains.
I really wasn't sure how I would go in this race. Earlier this year I tried back to back half iron distance races and the second was very hard and I struggled to hold my posture on the run and lost valuable time and finished in 6th place. This time was not easier but I concentrated so hard on trying to hold my posture together and although it was tough, I did it! During the week I couldn't really have a break after my last race, I had to keep the long bike ride in there, the long run and I also did a track work out and a very hard bike ride (and of course swimming too). I knew the race would be hard but hopefully the benefits will be seen later down the track as I get stronger from each race.
Mary Beth Ellis was a late minute entry to the race and I was a bit intimidated to be racing someone so good. She has won every race this year that she has done I think. Wins at the Ironman New York and Ironman Texas being the main ones. Anyway I was determined to just focus on myself and do the best job I could. Erika Csomor another really great athlete was also racing and many of the other European girls I have raced before and I knew Eva Wutti after her crash last week would be very determined to do well this week in her home country.
I had quite a good swim. The first 800m for some reason I had very cold arms and I just could not stroke properly. The lake wasn't that cold, around 17 degrees so I am not sure why my arms found it so cold, but after the 800m I came right and felt good and started passing and catching groups ahead. I came out 2nd about 50sec behind Mary Beth.
Onto the bike I tried to push as hard as I could. It was around 13 degrees to start and I had quite cold legs. At about 10k a group of men came by me and also Eva Wutti. The group was annoying as they were too close together and they were determined to just get ahead of me and then slow down. I found it annoying and just wanted them to pass me and keep going faster away from me, not slow down as soon as they passed. I didn't like having to keep slowing down as my main aim was to get a very good hard cycling work out. So after about 5k of annoyance I backed off and let them all go so I could just have time by myself. I then had a good time by myself until 50k. After 40k I looked at my clock and I was just over 1 hr. I couldn't believe it, I have never biked so fast in my life even in an Olympic distance tri. At 50k another annoying pack came past and it was the same problem, so then there was another annoying 5k of this, when we did the big climb for the second time I tried really hard to get away from them, but it wasn't a steady climb but instead had little plateau sections where people would get breaks, so I couldn't get away. Then it was a down hill and to my relief the male pack were gone. So then it was just me and Mary Beth together and the rest of the bike was good. It was a long bike because there were road works this year and they had to change the course. My clock said 93.5k and I did 2.24. I was very happy as my goal was to get under 2.30. I was however a good 4 min or so back behind Eva Wutti.
So onto the run and I ran out of transition with Mary Beth Ellis. She is a great runner who has come from short course up the distance so I was worried that she would blast away from me, I tried as hard as I could and to my surprise I ran away from her. I didn't feel like I did last week. Last week I had my best ever run and I felt like I could run forever, it was so easy to go fast without really trying. This week was a struggle. My hamstrings were very sore. The run was 4 laps and I caught Eva at around 11k. Then I was in the lead and just held on to my running form the best I could, it was just starting to go in the last k so I was happy when it ended. In the end I had a 1.04 margin over May Beth and also surprisingly broke the course record.

Very, very happy. Again I want to say a huge thank you to my sponsors KSwiss, Powerbar, Ceepo, Rolf Prima, BlueSeventy, Keywin, Oakley!!!! Next up for me is Challenge Henley which is a full iron distance in 2 weeks time. I will be training hard these next 2 weeks getting in some miles for Kona (well a big week for me is 22 hrs over the usual 18 or so). I will not taper for Henley I want it to be my big training day for Kona and then I can rest up. I know people think it is strange that I am doing a full distance race 4 weeks before Kona but 2012 was all about getting out there and back into racing. It is hard to come back after a baby, you lose sponsors (I am very lucky for the ones that have stood by me) and you have to prove yourself all over again for a second time. After a year off in 2011 I simply need to earn the prize money to pay for our travel costs to Europe and make a profit for our little family. I believe if I do Henley sensibly then I can meet my goal of a top 10 in Kona. And then in 2013 I can really concentrate on the Kona race. That is the plan anyway!!

My first half ironman win at Ironman Salzburg 70.3

2012-08-28T06:45:00.003+12:00

Finally I have my first half ironman win! It took a while but I guess I haven't raced many half ironman
races outside of this year. This year I have really come to enjoy the distance.
This race was a last minute decision after we all came down with the flu and couldn't race Ironman Germany 70.3, and also the lack of training for a week meant I didn't feel comfortable racing an iron distance race (Challenge Vichy). So we came down to a part of Germany where we had been before and love which is only about an hour from this race at Zell am See in the state or province of Salzburg, Austria.

I had a really good 2 weeks of training since being in Bad Reichenhall and could really feel myself getting fitter. But as this is really the crucial time for the build up for Kona I certainly didn't do any taper for this race and I have kept up the miles and am doing some tough workouts. So I really didn't know if I would be very fresh for the race but I saw it as an ideal hard workout that will help me in my build up for Kona. Sonja Tajsich would be racing. I had raced her 3 times this year already and she had beaten me every time. I was looking forward to testing myself against her again and hoped that I could stay ahead of her this time (she has an amazing run leg and is a very consistent athlete).
So as to the race. There has been a bit of a heat wave in these parts of Europe and we have had lovely weather all week of 30-35 degrees so race day was a bit of a shock, a cold, rainy day. At the start of the swim it looked like the rain was over with after a big down pour over night but it started raining during the bike leg. The swim leg was good. The marshals were excellent as they usually are in Europe in keeping everyone in line and having a nice, clean, fair start and I had a good swim. Onto the bike and I knew the course was going to be very technical and dangerous in the wet. We had started driving the course the day before but Benji had a tantrum after 20k and we had to abandon that plan, but what I did see I knew I would just have to be super cautious in the wet. But I hadn't gone even 1k before I saw the first person fall off his bike, just in front of me going too fast over a wet, wooden bridge. I stopped and rode around him and called for help to the volunteers 200m or so up the road. Then about 5k later Eva Wutti came past me. She wasn't going much faster than me and she was with another 2 men, I sat about 20m behind not wanting to be involved in any crash as they were taking greater risks than me. And it was only about 1km later that she fell off going around a corner. It was horrible seeing these people come off. Again I called for help for her and I hope she is OK. So from that point I was even more cautious, there were several wooden bridges and it was like going over ice, I would un click my foot from pedal (I guess in preparation of falling as I wasn't at all confident) and go over slowly but would feel my tires slipping and sliding and then we would come to a town called Kaprun and there were slippery cobble stones with lots of cornering. So I just went very cautiously and lost a lot of time but I kept telling myself ride to the conditions and sometimes the tortoise wins the race. Luckily not the whole course was like that just half. So this is how my race went. Ride like a grandma for 10k, ride hard for 30k, ride like a grandma for 15k, ride hard for 30k, grandma for last 5k. Not many people passed me and it was good not having many people around me so less chance of accidents. In the last 10k it was a struggle as I got very, very cold and shivery and I was very glad to get off my bike.
Off my bike and I tried very hard to have a fast transition as in my last half ironman with Sonja Tajsich I was a minute slower than her in T2 and she ended up beating me by 15sec. So I did try to be fast but I simply could not feel my hands and I really struggled to pull on my socks so I think it was slow again but nothing more I could do. I could not feel my feet and was so looking forward to start running so I could warm up! I ran the first k in just over 3 min!! A couple of days before the race I had done a good set of 400m at the track and I think my body just remembered the speed as I just couldn't feel anything. I felt really good on the run and there were several turning points so I could see Sonja, she was gaining on me but only by a few seconds each turn around section, I hoped it would not be enough. I tried to keep the pace up, it was a little difficult on one section of the course as there were deep puddles covering the whole path and I would be trying to jump and leap over them as didn't want to get my feet even wetter for blisters but in the last of the 3 laps it was too crowded on the course and I had to just run through them. I felt good the whole way and did my fastest run ever a 1.22 flat and stayed in front of Sonja by 43 seconds. It was a great feeling to win my first half ironman!! This year was the first year Ironman Salzburg was held and I was surprised how organised everything was and the race seemed to go without any hitches. Also there was great crowd support despite the weather! It was a great race to be a part of and the only thing I would say they must do next year is cover those wooden bridges.
I have recovered very well thanks to the cold conditions and next up is another half distance race this weekend: Challenge Walchsee which is less than an hour from Bad Reichenhall!! Can't get much easier than that.

http://sport-journalist.com/

Thanks so much to my sponsors! KSwiss for my favourite run shoes KRuuz which gave me my PB run. Powerbar: I had perfect nutrition on race day with no issues at all! Ceepo and Rolf Prima for keeping me upright on this super slippery and technical course, and blueseventy for my wetsuit for getting me out on my bike in front.

It's been a while. Hawaii Qualifying, sickness and changing plans

2012-08-15T04:34:00.000+12:00

Well it has been a while since my last blog. A lot has been happening but just not so much time for blogging these days; never enough hours in a day. Firstly I reached my goal of qualifying for Hawaii making the cut off of top 25 women to go through end of July. I was in 10th spot so I was safe!! I am looking forward to going back to the Big Island with a different mindset and giving it all I have got. Also I have got to admit I wanted so much this Hawaii spot as I know that Benji is going to love Kona!! He loves mangos and he loves swimming so it will be a good match for him!
We also traveled back to NZ, but only for 2 weeks. Might sound like a strange decision to only go home (to a place so far) for 2 weeks but we booked our trip last year to end in July but then we wanted to do some more racing and travelling and because they were cheap tickets we couldn't change them and needed to book a whole new trip. It will be our last trip for a while I think. We decided to do lots of travelling this year while Benji is so young but then will race closer to home in coming years as he will need to settle down and his needs will come first. If I have to go anywhere long distance in future I may have to go it alone (that is if I ever manage to wean Benji!!).
So anyway we went home for 2 weeks which was great for Benji to catch up with his grandparents and his Aunt and have a belated one year birthday celebration and for us to catch up with our dogs and go for lots of runs with them. Benji also loved catching up with his dogs. We have been lucky having Brett's Mum taking care of them while we have been travelling.
We then traveled back to Germany via a 2 day stop over in Canada. I was really looking forward to exploring Canada (if only for 2 days) but unfortunately it was not to be. Brett and I both got quite sick with the flu and pretty much had to spend the whole time in our hotel room. It has taken me over a week to recover, probably because of the jet lag and only 2 -4 hr sleep per night as Benji really suffered from jetlag this time. I have been lucky and have not been sick for over 3 years but not lucky this time. My main concern was Benji catching it too as he has never been sick in his 13 months. We thought we were in the clear as 6 days later he was still fine but then he went down fast with it. He had a very high temp for 1.5 days and slept nearly the entire time and then he is back to normal!! I think breastfeeding clearly has it's advantages!
So from this unexpected sickness I had to make some changes of plans. I was supposed to race Ironman Germany 70.3 which is the European championships but that clearly could not happen. And then this coming weekend I am supposed to be racing Challenge Vichy, an iron distance race in France. But with no training for a week and only starting to train again today (Tuesday before the race) I just feel that there is no way I can physically or more importantly mentally be up for the Challenge. Plus as I apparently have a "abnormal" heart I have to take these sicknesses seriously and not train and definitely not compete if I am not well. So it is a race that I really want to do, but I just won't do it. So we quickly made changes of plans. I had already planned to be racing Challenge Walchsee in Austria on September 2nd (half iron distance) so it seemed a logical choice to also do the Ironman Salzburg 70.3 the week before that on August 26th. (It's actually no way near Salzburg though). So we have gone back to our favourite part of Germany where I did my best block of training back in May. It's a place called Bad Reichenhall in Berchtesgarten region. It is stunningly beautiful with lots of mountains and stunning lakes and lots of tough climbs. I will try to take some pictures if I have some time. It is about 1 hour from both of the races.
So I was back into training today and felt surprisingly good actually, not unfit at all as I expected but fresh and energetic. So I try very hard to turn this into positive experience!!

2nd iron distance race in 2 weeks!!!

2012-07-11T06:01:00.001+12:00

Well I completed my goal, I finished two iron distance races in 2 weeks. Why would I do this:?? Well I had good reasons. First was financial. It is expensive to come to Europe for this trip. About $15 000 NZD for 2 months with the flights, car, accommodation etc so I had to give myself every opportunity to make a profit from the trip, which I did. But secondly it was to work on my mental side, something very important if I am to improve in the sport of ironman. In the past I have had a few DNF finishes, something I am not proud of, and it was mental weakness, not feeling good in race and not liking to being beaten. I know I need to work on this, just like we all train our bodies, I need to train my mind. So how to do it? Put myself in hard situations and make myself keep going when I want to quit. So what better way than to do a second iron distance race 2 weeks after the first against top competition all fresh and wanting to perform well.
The physical side of the challenge I knew I could cope with. I always bounce back very quickly from an ironman, but I did feel quite sore and heavy in my quads on the bike in the lead up to Challenge Roth post IM France, a bit unusual and most likely because the France bike course was just that much tougher than a usual ironman race, but I felt fine swimming and fine running.
So onto the race. The swim I didn't feel very good, especially on the first sprint, I had nothing. I think this was more the fact there was no warm up allowed. You get let in 5 mins before and then you swim to the start line about 50m and then wait to start. Once the horrible start was over with though I had fun as it is in a canal and there are spectators the whole length and you can see and hear them, so it was much more interesting than a normal swim. I came out in 50mins and Rachel Joyce and Lucie Reed were about 3 mins ahead.
Onto my Ceepo bike and I didn't feel great. I didn't feel bad but just not powerful and my quads were quite sore right from the beginning. It was very mentally tough as I was being passed and could not keep up with people I know I usually keep up with. I found myself wishing I wasn't doing the race and that I didn't want to keep going because it was such a long way. Perfect, exactly the situation I wanted to be in. Luckily Brett had taped on a photo of Benji for me on my bike and also I had written some special words on my wrist and I kept going. Despite feeling quite negative every time we reached the Solar climb this picked me up as you climb with crowds on either side yelling at you and it is so much fun, but it wan't until 140k where I totally came right and my race started. I took a caffeine Powergel and and boom I perked up, felt focused and happy and that is where my race started. My bike time was just under 5.05. I wanted to go sub 5 hr but it was windy which added I think at least 10 mins onto the times. I have never been in Europe with even a puff of wind so it was quite strange just this one day it was windy. It was not windy by New Zealand standards, but not usual for the Challenge Roth race I think.
Onto the run and I was in 7th position. I was positive in my mind that I would catch some girls in front and I did. I caught Lucie at 9km and then I saw at the first turn around girls about 4 and 6 mins in front of me, Rachel was 15 mins at least ahead. I then at the next turn point at around 30k saw there was only about 2 mins to 3rd and very close to 4th and 5th. Unfortunately I had had to stop at toilet twice so I could have been even closer. At about 36km I caught 2 girls and moved to 4th but 3rd still about 2 mins in front. I had my watch and as I neared the end (which was amazing running around the town of Roth with all the crowds, so special) I saw I was so close to completing a big goal of mine to run sub 3hr marathon. I tried so hard in the last k to pick up pace but in the end I was 5 seconds over the 3 hour mark!!! If I hadn't have stopped to go to the damn toilet! But I did see I was under the 9 hour mark for my race for the 3rd time!!! So I am so happy with that. And I know now that I can definitely, definitely run so much faster on fresh legs.
Congratulations to Rachel Joyce for her win, 8 hr 44 on a windy day!! Thanks again so much to my sponsors KSwiss, Ceepo, Powerbar, Rolf Prima and Blueseventy. And also thanks so much to the Challenge Roth race and Gunter and Doris for our great accommodation this week!!!
I have recovered well, my legs have healed and I will do another ironman in another 2 weeks. Just kidding. I will now take a break and enjoy some down time with Brett and Benji who will be turning the big 1 year in 2 days time!!! Can't believe my little boy is going to be 1 so soon!!

Ironman France Race Photos

2012-07-04T02:46:00.002+12:00

Thanks to David Oziem from Triblogs www.triblogs.com I now have a few photos to share of my race at Ironman France!!

2nd at Ironman France

2012-06-25T20:43:00.003+12:00

Swim start area

Yesterday I raced in Ironman France a race I have wanted to do for a long time. I first attempted this in 2009, trained on the course but got sick with the flu before the race and then couldn't even start. So I was back in 2012 for the race on what I would say could be the toughest course on the circuit. A sea swim, a bike ride which climbs from sea level up to 1100m and then has technical down hill in the heat of course and then a flat run up and down a promenade with no shade at all in 30 degree plus temp. I like challenges so I was up for it.
I felt fine to start the day and couldn't wait to get started, then 25 mins before the start I unexpectedly felt sick and then immediately threw up. I felt immediately better after that luckily but it just meant I had to start an ironman with no food in my belly and with the loss of all my hydration, I thought I could be in for a long, tough day!
I had a good swim and came out first female with about a 4 minute lead on my main competitor Tine Deckers who had won the race twice and was the course record holder. I aimed to go very hard in the first part of the bike to try and keep ahead of her until the down hill where I knew she would catch me as European athletes are outstanding cyclists and go down hill at amazing tempo. At first I put about a minute into her on first climb but then I started to feel weak just as I started the second long climb of about 22km. I usually like to climb out of saddle pushing my limits but I just didn't have the energy and had to climb in saddle at not the speed I wanted to go. I think this was just because I started the race with an empty belly and it caught up with me. I did still manage to stay ahead of Tine until around the 110k mark, I then stayed with her on a flat section but once we reached the 35k decent she was off and I had no chance. I felt I did a pretty good job by my standards on the decent but she managed to take out 5 mins on me on this decent!! Incredible!

Top of bike course at Gourdon

What was a little disappointing in the bike ride was the cyclists on the road who were not part of the race. The roads were closed and I would have thought this would mean to cyclists too but there were literally hundreds of cyclists cycling the course even though there are plenty of other roads to cycle. What was the problem though was many of these people tried to race you as you caught them. You would catch them then they would speed up and sit on your tail up the hill. Many of them cycled next to you trying to chat and give advice. I had to tell them rudely to leave me alone, I don't talk in a race and the officials could disqualify me thinking I knew these people and that they were pacing me. The worst part was these people were actually taking stuff from the aid stations!! I hoped that they had enough supplies for the "back of the packers" who had paid a lot of money to do the race and rightly deserved to have a drink and food at the aid stations. And it made the technical sections difficult too trying to pass people on hair bends who wouldn't stop to pull over. I had thought I would have a bit of an advantage being out the front with not many people around me to be able to have a clear road for the downhill sections but this was not to be. It made it hard to concentrate on my race and I have never, ever in my life seen this happen anywhere in the world. Anyway enough of the rant I was just a bit surprised with what was going on!! Anyway I finished with a 5.20 bike split which was second fastest of the day behind Tine who did a 5.10.
I came off the bike about 5 mins behind Tine. I set my mind to try and catch her but I started having diarrhea issues. I found a toilet at the end of the first lap, but with a four lap course there was no chance of me getting to the toilet after that with me only spying 3 portaloos on the course. And of course there are no bushes to be had on the promenade of Nice. So that gave me two options, go in the gutter Paula Radcliffe style or in my pants. I opted for the latter. It was not a pleasant marathon, my mind set was just to try and get as much fluid in as possible and get some bananas to try and settle my stomach. In the end I ran a 3.07 which I was pretty amazed with considering and also I managed a 9.26, a very good time on such a tough course, last year a win was 9.35. Tine was amazing on all disciplines and did a 9.16!! Wow!!!! Behind me was Kristin Moeller in 3rd who is 2 time ironman champ and amazing runner.
So it was a great result and thanks to my sponsors. KSwiss, Ceepo, Powerbar, Rolf Prima, Blue70 for all the equipment to enable me to give a great race and good result.
So now we head back to Germany!!

3rd half iron distance event in 3 weeks!

2012-06-11T07:30:00.001+12:00

Today I raced Challenge Kraichgau half iron distance event which also doubled as the European triathlon union (ETU) Championships for half ironman. So like the other 2 half ironman events the field was top notch, but all the better to really test and improve myself. It was going to be a tough ask to back up from my race 1 week ago in Switzerland and also the 2 weeks before that in Austria whilst still maintaining my sessions crucial to prepare for Ironman France and Challenge Roth which means I still have to do my long endurance sessions midweek.
My reasoning for this perhaps crazy schedule is simply to gain strength on the bike. After my ironmans early this year (Wanaka and Melbourne) my bike was letting me down. It wasn't my endurance I felt better than ever in that regard but simply my strength biking about 1kph too slow to be truly competitive (although I did still win Challenge Wanaka due to my swim and run). So I have been working on gym work focusing on my weaknesses of core, hips and hamstrings and then the best way I can think of to increase my bike strength is to race and then maintain training, and this has I believe been a success, I am now holding my own on the bike!! And I hope this will help me in my ironman goals for the rest of the year.
So as to this weeks race. The swim start was the worst part of the race and the only thing I would really change about this race, as it is a great course, great support, great organisation but unfortunately no separate pro start. They had wave starts of about 500 people. What happened is that people started drifting and then pretty much swimming before the start. I don't want to cheat like this, I believe it is wrong so I hung back, then once we were off I was stuck behind men too slow for me. I couldn't sprint properly which was disappointing. Plus these age group men were quite nasty pulling me down and swimming on me, I realise this is what age group women have to contend with every race but I have become accustomed to having it easy with a separate start. After the first turn buoy a lot of these men slowed down A LOT so the rest of the swim I just zoomed past hoards of them but I was thinking this is not good that I am so far behind and I thought I must be well back in the pro women's field. When I came out I heard 2 mins back, but I was not sure how many in front. It turns out I was actually in 2nd but during the bike I believed myself to be in 5th.
Onto the bike I felt quite rubbish for the first part, understandable I guess with racing a half just one week before. I kept on and as the bike progressed I felt much, much better. I biked well and didn't get caught by any other girls until 70k. At that point Julia Gajer and Delphine came past me and I was surprised as I thought they were already way ahead of me and as I came out with Julia in Austria and knew Delphine to be a good ITU athlete I was quite pleased that it took them so long to catch me. We stayed together the last 20k. I would pass them going up the hill but they would pass me going down, quite frustrating; I needed some longer climbs to get away from them, but the course was rolling and not like the longer climbs at Swiss half ironman although about the same amount of climbing overall.
Into T2 and I saw the Danish girl Camilla who had won the Challenge Barcelona race so convincingly by blasting everyone on the swim and bike was also just behind me and then also Yvonne Van Vlerken. T2 was my real down fall. I am not sure how the other girls put their shoes and socks on so quickly but they do, and I was bummed after the race to find out that I was 36 sec slower in T2 than Sonja Tajsich who eventually ended up beating me by just 6 seconds and also slower than everyone else.
So onto the run I found out I was actually now in 6th position with another Danish ITU Olympic athlete 5 min or so in front the others Julia, Delphine, Camilla and Yvonne all just ahead having all passed me in transition. I ran just behind Yvonne not feeling that great on the run. I knew Yvonne having DNF in both Austria and Switzerland and being the defending champion of the race would be determined and she is a fast athlete. I couldn't run how I wanted to but she was having an off day too. I passed her after about 3 k and Camilla was just in front and I was catching her. The run was 3 laps of 7k. The first was not feeling very good, then I sort of came alright for about 1k then absolutely lost it for the next 7k or so and had to run very, very slowly as I struggled with that painful abdominal muscle that has so bothered me in the past. I know it is all to do with posture and that has been what I have been working on so hard with my running, maintaining posture, but it is when muscles get tight that there are problems, and with the race just a week before and the amount of training I just wasn't loose enough muscle wise before the race. I tried very hard to focus on my shoulders and loosening them to maintain upright posture, but the pain didn't improve until I remembered to tuck in my pelvis then it immediately improved just like that. Damn I should have remembered this, that my hips get too tight and then change my pelvis position putting strain on the abdominal. Anyway the last lap was much, much better but by this point it was too late. Camilla had gotten much ahead, Yvonne had passed me but I passed her back, and then Sonja came past too. Sonja was 7th last year at Hawaii Ironman World Champs and a very, very good runner. I hung with her the rest of the race upping my pace, she saw I was still there at 1500m to go and held me off as I had no fire in my legs to speed up.
So she bet me by 6 sec and I finished in 6th, but there are many positives I can take away from this race. My swim and biking has both improved in these 4 weeks. My run is also good when more rested. When you think you are running like a grandma and you are disappointed with your running and you find out you still manage a 1.25 half marathon run split it is a positive. And when you manage a half ironman time which would have won you the race last year also a good thing, and again sub 4.30 a time I was never able to achieve pre pregnancy. The competition was hot and it is pushing me to a new level. I am feeling fitter than ever before and excited as I know that when I am able to stop breast feeding (hopefully in the next 3- 6 months) I can make an even bigger step up.

So Ironman France is now 2 weeks away. I have 2 long bike rides to go this week and then I can rest up. In the points standings for Hawaii I am sitting in 19th with 4 races (5 races to count) at 4575 points. This would have been around enough to put me through last year I believe, but with the increase in races I believe I will need close to 6000 to be safe to qualify by the end of July. First 25 go though end of July and then the last 5 spots are decided end of August. As there are 3 automatic qualifiers ahead of me I am effectively in 16th position and need to stay in that top 25.

Podium Ironman Switzerland 70.3

2012-06-04T18:10:00.003+12:00

Since Ironman 70.3 Austria I have had very good training in a place called Bad Reichenhall, Germanhy. I have been doing heavy training for ironman and am training through these half iron distance races using them as hard training days. It seems to be working as I feel my body getting fitter and stronger and my recovery is swifter. Again the field at this race was stacked with Caroline Steffen, Nicola Spirig (who is an ITU athlete who often bikes her way solo up to the next pack and who just took out the ITU Championship in Madrid against a strong field), Yvonne Van Vlerken, Erika Csomor, Anja Beranek (who just pipped me 2 weeks ago in Austria) and many other strong European girls. For me the goal was to get a good training day and get myself into top 6 and get a pay day for the effort.
My swim I was much happier with than 2 weeks ago. I believe I came out in 6th but apart from one girl miles ahead of the rest the others were just a few seconds in front, unfortunately my transition let me down again. So glad I don't do short distance racing as I just hate the mad rush in transition. So by the time I got on my bike the other girls were no where to be seen. Within meters of being on my bike the bumpy road knocked off the top of my aero drink bottle meaning that my drink spilt out everywhere meaning I would have to get more drink at each aid station to get enough because of spillage (I tried to stuff rubbish down the top to limit it as much as I could). I also lost my gel flask and it was very lucky this happened at this race and not 2 weeks ago as at Austria 70.3 there were no gels on the bike aid stations, but Swiss 70.3 yay there are powergels at the aid stations so no problem, just meant I had to keep slowing down to get them.
The bike course was a good one, about 900m of climbing over a half distance which is a fair amount and I much prefer climbing courses. I felt good on the bike, so much more comfortable and more relaxed than at the beginning of the year and my bike times are improving each time, on the right track!! I passed a few pro men but only caught 2 pro women. The course was wet and a bit slippery on the first lap so I took the descents a bit cautiously but it was nice to see that men didn't come past me on the descents like they used to. Second lap was difficult with so many people on the course and I felt it slowed me down somewhat but all the girls would have been in the same boat. The most frustrating was the last 10k on the flat with these men not passing quick enough and blocking the road, and as there were streams of people coming in the other direction I couldn't go over the centre line. So I decided I'm sick of being the good girl, always polite and I started yelling at people to hurry up and get out of my way. I would get past about 7 of them and then they would come back past and slow me down again. It was very frustrating and in the last 5 k I just decided to forget about it and just take it easy as it was far too dangerous with the amount of head on traffic.
I ended up with a 2.25 which I was stoked with as previous years results showed that a 2.30 was a good time. Caroline, Nicola and Anja all did 2.20, but considering how much Caroline biked faster than me in Melbourne this is a good improvement for me and my time compared to the other girls was good and no one else came past me.
Onto the run in 4th place I felt pretty heavy for the first 6 k. Then Brett told me to drop my bottle of drink I was carrying as he said it was stuffing up my run. I did and immediately felt better. In the first 5k I only made up 30 sec to Anja to be 5 min behind and again in the next 5k another 30sec, then all of a sudden 5k later I was down to just 2 min. I caught her with 1500m to go and made it into 3rd place. I was stoked and my run felt like I could keep going all day. I did a 4.19 making it another PB for the year by about 8 min.
I have another half distance at Challenge Kraichgau next week and again I will train through it with Ironman France at the end of this month. Can't wait to race the ironman distance again! Thanks heaps to my sponsors for their support. KSwiss, Powerbar, Ceepo, Rolf Prima and Blueseventy!!!
The best part of the day for me was being on the stage at the awards show and looking across to Benji who was waving at me and laughing wondering what his silly Mummy was doing prancing around on the stage!!

Ironman Austria 70.3

2012-05-21T05:56:00.000+12:00

Today I competed at the Ironman Austria 70.3 for the third time. Every time I compete here it is the first race I do in my trip and hence is hard because of jet lag (10 hours difference and even harder when you have a baby who needs to adapt) and today was no different. And so it was another 7th place finish in Austria for me, but this race was always only meant as a hard hit out and I never expected too much of myself here. I have bigger ambitions for the next couple of half distance races I am doing as I will be nicely settled in Europe by then. And of course my biggest ambitions are for the full distance races Ironman France and Roth, the distance I am best suited to.
So here is my race report. Swim we dive off pontoon and we swim in two lakes with quite a long run in between. It was nice to have a separate women start 2 min after the pro men. I dived in and felt like rubbish in the swim, felt tired and did not have my best swim and came out in about 6th place which is not normal for me. My transition was very bad made lots of mistakes, couldn't for the life of me get my wetsuit over my feet! Took me quite a while, need to keep practicing this.
It was a relief to get onto the bike and then my race could really start. I felt much better on the bike. I have been working hard at some gym work which has solved my back problem that bugged me in Ironman NZ and Ironman Melbourne. I was going very well was keeping up with the likes of Caroline Steffen at the beginning who completely blasted me in Melbourne. I caught 3 of the girls going up the first climb but they came past me about 20k or so later on the flat along with the amazing Natasha Badmann and Erika Csomor. They got slightly ahead of me but I could still see them and passed again the same 3 girls going up the second climb as before and could see Erika just ahead, then we went into the last 30k mainly downhill and everyone got away from me. I have never been the greatest at down hill but this wasn't particularly technical but I just wasn't as fast going down hill I don't know why. So they all got a big gap on me and I got passed by Sonja Tajisch as well. But all in all I did a big improvement on my bike than in previous years, about 8 min faster than in the previous two years, but this year the competition was just that much hotter.
Onto the run after another appalling transition not being able to find my bag and taking ages to put on my shoes as the ground was so wet and I didn't want to have blisters that would affect my later races so I tried to dry them as best as I could before putting on my shoes. I felt quite good on the run but a little bit more puffed than usual. I was holding just under 4 min km for the whole run, I had no idea what was going on, what place I was and who was in front and by how much, there was no places to see competition in front of me. I kept my pace as best as I could. At the end I made a huge mistake. Part of the run is to go around a 400m track and then run through a stadium around and back through stadium and then back onto 400m track. I had studied the run course map a lot as I found it confusing. It showed on the map to do this at the start of both loops and then head straight to the finish which is what I did, but what I should have done was do this 3 times and then back onto track and into finish. Also on the ground they had painted direction arrows for 1st lap, 2nd lap and finish and I followed these and I think they should have said 1st, 2nd and 3rd and then finish in separate chute. I finished and walked around for a while and then was told I should have done the 400m track again so I had to do it again and then finish for the second time. So my end time of 1.25 includes walking around for at least 1 minute and then heading back out onto the course. So if I had of done it as I should have I think I would have been just under the 1.24 mark as I was holding under the 4min per k throughout the run. Also I just got pipped for 6th and got into 7th and I have no idea if I would have got 6th if I had done this properly as the course was busy with people doing their first laps. So the end was quite disappointing for me as even now I go back to the map of the run and I still think it shows what I did but obviously no one else had issues with this so completely my mistake.
So all in all it was a great training day. My legs feel not sore at all, no blisters and I feel like I could put together a very good marathon run which is ultimately what I am after. So next up for me is Ironman Switzerland 70.3 in 2 weeks time. I will be racing most of the same girls again so it will be a good test and motivation for me to improve.
Benji was an absolute awesome baby on our long trip over. We were worried as he is not one to sit still but he was very, very good but he has found the jet lag quite difficult waking up at midnight and not wanting to return to sleep and screaming and screaming. We have been worried we would be kicked out of hotel!! After a few days he improved but then we drove 6 hours to the race start and despite making multiple stops we could not keep him awake in the car and so we were back to square one with him being wide awake at night but now he is doing a lot better which is great!! Also he has just begun the last few weeks to walk and is getting slightly better each day. It is so amazing to see your son learning to walk! So next update in 2 weeks after Swiss 70.3!

Off to Europe

2012-05-11T16:07:00.002+12:00

Just a quick update as finding time to write a blog these days is getting hard. My block of training has been going really well with my attention to gym work and core exercises really making a difference. I am excited to have quite a few races coming up so I can see where I am at and test myself against the best girls in Europe. We are leaving in 2 days and then I will be doing 5 races, 3 half distance races and 2 full distance. The half distance races will be used as hard training days but I am actually looking forward to really getting out there and testing myself over that distance. The first race for me will be Ironman Austria 70.3 on May 20th. I have raced in St Poelten twice before and it has always been a little difficult with it being the first race and with the jetlag, but I'm looking forward to getting back there and giving it my all. I hope to update after each race.

Hitting the Gym

2012-04-16T09:49:00.000+12:00

As I stated in my last blog I have been a little hindered in recent weeks/months with a back bum issue from lifting heavy Benji all the time from the floor incorrectly. After a good week or so off training after Melbourne I expected this to clear up by itself but it didn't. Well rest from training, it's not like I get a rest from lifting baby!! So I decided to go and get a massage. Luckily the massage therapist I went to is really on to it. He soon worked out my body wasn't really functioning as it should and so luckily he gave me a few exercises to do. It turns out that this niggle which I feel around my tail bone area is due to having weak abs, glutes that aren't firing how they should and more surprisingly a weak upper back and me not using my shoulder blades properly. This man must have been thinking to himself "how can this be an elite athlete?" as I was struggling to lift up opposite arm and leg while on all fours without wobbling all over the place! So definitely these weak abs are as a result of pregnancy and having a c section where your abs are sliced across. I used to be really strong in this area and I did do ab workouts (after 12 weeks after childbirth as they recommend for c sections) but unless you know exactly what to look out for when you do these exercises there is no point to them. So now I am focused on these areas and I am spending several hours per week doing these "gym" workouts. Not actually at the gym but as we are leaving for our travels in a few weeks we need a portable type gym. So lifting of water containers etc has been invented to help out. So it is a slow progress but I have made a big step up these last few days. I am feeling a huge improvement and now can bend down to pick things up confidently knowing my posture is much improved and I'm not going to get a niggling pain in my tail bone every time I do so.
Swimming had been the biggest issue but that is feeling much better now (I can kick!!!) as I feel my shoulder blades working when I swim which must be taking pressure off areas lower down. And now I feel completely different on my bike. Brett found a photo from 2009 and we compared with a photo from my recent races and you can really see the difference. In 2009 you could see my shoulder blades working holding my body up whereas in recent races you can see I'm sort of just slumped over with shoulder blades not engaged. It is quite stark the contrast.
Anyway this is my main focus at the moment and I think it will help me in future races. As an athlete I have come to learn that if you have any niggles it is because your body is not functioning how it should be, and more often than not the part of the body not functioning isn't the painful area, so it is a bit of a mystery to get it solved. So I knew something wasn't functioning properly but it is really hard to work this out by yourself, and it really helps to have someone who knows what they are doing taking a look. It can sometimes be hard to find that person though as quite often medical professionals only look at taking pain away from the painful area rather than looking at why that area got painful in the first place and what other part of the body is not functioning properly. Now thanks to my massage therapist I am aware what has been going wrong and exactly how to do certain exercises so they are effective and so in the long term lifting, swimming and biking in the aero position no longer bother me.
In Benji news: He is 9 months and for the last few months he has been cruising (walking around furniture) and of course crawling everywhere getting himself into tricky dangerous situations! I think it won't be long until he can let go of the furniture and then he will well and truly be off everywhere!!

Ironman Asia Pacific Championships (Melbourne)

2012-03-28T15:12:00.001+13:00

We have just returned from a whirlwind trip to Melbourne, where the traveling with baby and bike was most definitely harder than the race itself thanks to a 3 hour delay on the way there and a cancelled flight on the way home! I am super stoked with my performance in Melbourne. In the weeks between Taupo and Melbourne I was not at all certain if I was actually going to be able to compete in Melbourne at all. I have done some damage to my lower back/bum not as a result of training so much but of continual bending and lifting of heavy on the move baby with incorrect posture. It was bothering me a little as I raced in Taupo but after the race was affecting my training, not running (felt great) but mostly swimming and biking in the aero position. So with the taper for Taupo, then only racing a half ironman, then doing 1 solid week of training and then 2 weeks of what felt like pretty much nothing (no swimming, biking without being in aero position (and having to change my bike position raising my handlebars at late notice) and running as per normal) I really felt pretty ill prepared for the race and was uncertain what damage would be done in the swim and then affect the rest of my race. So on race morning I felt extremely, extremely nervous could hardly get any breakfast down. Usually I know I can get through the race just fine and I can think back to my last long training day and that gives me confidence. This time I just felt really under prepared and going up against the best girls in the world in an extremely tough field. I was determined though to finish the race and my goal to get in the top 8 and earn some prize money and some valuable points towards Kona.
We started the race in the dark. A lot of people weren't too happy with this but I found this super exciting. We also for the first time had a separate female start 2 mins after the pro men but only 13 minutes in front of the age groupers (just not enough in my opinion). I had a good clean start and was lucky to have the SUP in front of me to lead me to the turn buoy as not easy to see in the dark. At that first turn buoy we started catching the pro men (about 1k into the race). This was quite a surprise I didn't expect any pro men to be so slow at swimming. From then on it was just an endless passing of men for the rest of the race. One thing I learnt was that when men get onto your hip they slow you down (well I think they did pick up the pace) but the only way I could get rid of some of them was by swimming off course so they wouldn't follow me then I could sprint away from them. It was quite annoying really. Anyway I was happy that my back and bum didn't hurt and that after doing hardly any swimming I had a really good swim. I felt really really good in my new blue70 westsuit and in the end was 2nd out of the water about 1 min back from the speedy Rachel Joyce, a really good improvement from Taupo 3 weeks a go.
However, I didn't have a great transition and I lost the girls that came out behind me getting my shoes on. I worked super hard to try and catch them in the first 30k or so. I could see them just in front and every time we went up a hill I gained on them just a little. 2 pro men went past me and they didn't get that much further ahead so I knew I was biking quite well. But once these pro men caught up to that group of girls ahead they were able to pick up the pace and then I really lost sight of them. That is what I need to work on, having the power to pick up the pace. I found it quite cold on the bike but just before the turn around we got to the tunnel and it was nice and warm in there, I was happy to turn around and then go back into the tunnel (best part of the bike course). Carrie Lester had past me just before the turn around and she was biking really well. I tried to stay with her but couldn't. At the turn around I saw that I had gained a minute or so on Mirinda Carfrae, but she caught me with a bunch of guys and Belinda Granger at around 70k. I sat legally behind this group for a while. I found the pace slow quite a bit after a few minutes and found it quite annoying but just as we reached the turn around at 90k they all picked up the pace in the technical bits and I lost them (GRRR) so there you go again I need to increase my power on the bike so I can pace change like that. A bit further up the road I caught back up with Belinda Granger and the ride went quite nicely until 25k from the end. At that point a guy went past me and said the train was about to arrive, and it certainly did! A bloody huge pack of men and one pro girl blatantly drafting 2 or 3 abreast and not 12 m apart but more like 1-2 m apart. I was pissed!! And so was Belinda. Just so you know how the rules are supposed to work. The rule in Melbourne is 12 m from back wheel to front wheel. So every time someone passes me I back off the pace in order to drop back the 12 m required. But then the next person comes past and goes in my gap (this illegal). If I am staying 12 m apart then they can not come in my gap they need to keep going past the next person, but they don't do this they blatantly don't follow the rules. The groups coming past me at the start of the race were basically pace setting so keeping the required distance or there abouts. I don't mind this, but from this group onwards they were blatantly cheating, and as each comes past me I have to stop pedaling and fall back and fall back. It slows me down and it makes me super angry. I said to one guy "this is a joke this drafting" and he said don't worry about it join in. Well that is what is going wrong in this sport. People like this with a totally different mindset to myself. No thanks I won't join in. I didn't want to see it either. So I let them get away from me. I don't believe in cheating and I believe that if you want to get anywhere in this sport you need to put in the hard yards, taking the easy way out will NOT help you in the long run. The draft busters were doing a pretty good job doing the best they could, but they have a hard task when there is this mentality within many of the competitors. In the end I did a 5.09 which I was happy with. I did a good solid honest effort. Of course I still have work to do on my bike but I will get back up to where I was I am determined I will and then I will not have to watch peletons racing an ironman no longer!
I came off the bike 10th women and I was super excited because my running has come along in leaps and bounds. I love to chase people down and I was confident I could catch many of the girls in front. We first had a 1k out to a turn around and back which was good to see how far to those in front. In front I saw Mirinda, Belinda, Carrie Lester and the girl that drafts (the rest were already past this point so at least 8 min ahead). Behind me I only saw the fast running Jess Jacobs who was looking dangerous (and she past me in Taupo so I knew I had to run my best ever run to hold her off). The run after this point was point to point, 40k from Frankston to St Kilda. I thought this would be mentally tough but I just loved it. I had my watch on and I looked at it every k. I was holding 4-4.15 per km at the beginning and I just kept passing all the men from the peleton, each time I passed one group I focused on the group in front. First of all I passed the girl who drafts which I was very happy about. Totally fresh legs and she still can't out run me. Then I passed Belinda and then at around 20k I passed Carrie Lester and Michelle Vesterby which put me into 6th position. I then caught Bek Keat at 8k to go and was in 5th. Jo Lawn was the next and the gap was just 3-4 min but in the end I ran out of road and finished in 5th with my fastest ever marathon of 3.03 and a 9.11. My big goal of the year is to get a marathon of sub 3hr so this is a big step up towards this. My new KSwiss KRuuz 1.5 were so comfy, light and fast. I only got them a week or so ago and usually I would break in a pair of shoes weeks and weeks in advance but I ran a few runs in them and they just felt like a glove, they seemed to be made for me and I just had to take the risk and run in them, and it was the right decision. Also I have just recently joined the PowerBar team and their products worked superbly for me. No low patches all day for me and most importantly no time wasting toilet stops!! Yay thank you Powerbar.
The race in Melbourne was a great race to be a part of. It had a huge quality pro field and was easily the best field outside of the world champs I have ever been a part of. The race was well organised and the aid stations especially on the run were fab especially as we got to drink water from bottles meaning I got in a good amount of water as usually I can hardly get anything down from cups. I would definitely recommend this race if you want something quite different, a cycle on a closed motorway (so nice and smooth) and a point to point marathon.
In first place was Caroline Steffen who was amazing pretty much biking with the top pro men the whole way (4.35 for bike) and then backed it up with a 3.01 marathon for 8.34!!! Then was Rachel Joyce, Mirinda Carfrae and Kiwi Jo Lawn.
Thanks so much to my major sponsors KSwiss, Powerbar, Ceepo, Rolf Prima, Blue70. I am super excited about the rest of this year and improving and improving!

(Half) Ironman New Zealand

2012-03-06T20:17:00.003+13:00

For those of you that don't already know; Ironman New Zealand was shortened to a half ironman due to a severe storm which created havoc over the North Island of New Zealand on Saturday March 3rd (race day). At first it looked like the swim would just be cancelled but a duathlon would still proceed, and then the bike was also looking unlikely and I wondered whether I would be competing in my first ever marathon! However it was decided that Ironman New Zealand would be cancelled and instead a half ironman would be held on the Sunday. The race directors did an amazing job to make sure this happened, they must have worked their butts off to make sure this happened and that people would be able to race a triathlon in a safe environment. It could have been easy for them to say sorry weather made the event impossible, but they didn't and I am eternally grateful for their passion and determination to make sure we left Taupo with a triathlon under our belts. Also the volunteers in Taupo are absolutely amazing for coming back the next day and making sure the half ironman all went completely smoothly. I really, really feel for all the first timers out there who trained crazy hours all year for this race and then had the disappointment of not being able to compete, but given the circumstances at least we got to do something and hopefully those first timers will have the energy and enthusiasm to train again for another iron distance race, I really hope so.
So a half ironman really doesn't suit me but I was just over the moon that I wasn't going to go home without doing some sort of race. They announced the change at 4pm on the day before the race was due to take place and then we had to go back and collect our bikes (so they wouldn't be blown away! imagine the insurance bill on that!). Then I started wondering what on earth I should be doing to prepare for a half ironman, having never taken one seriously before, never rested or tapered for one before. I didn't know if I should keep carbo loading (do people carbo load for half ironmans?) and I didn't know what training I should do on the Saturday. On the Saturday I was absolutely bursting out my skin to get racing. I had rested a lot all week and felt really lazy and bored. In the end I did a half hour run and a half hour swim session and stopped eating so much, just didn't feel like it. We had another meeting at 5.30pm the day before the actual race and they told us it would still be really windy (20 knots which I worked out would be around 40kph winds) and cold and I hoped like hell all night long that the swim would not be cancelled.
So swim. I have been working super hard on my swim since Wanaka and it has come along in leaps and bounds. I am holding fast times over and over for a long time but I just can't get my sprint down to what it was. I used to be able to go under 1.10 for 100m, now I am able to do about a 1.14 (but it was about a 1.18 around Challenge Wanaka so still it has improved). My Mum thinks this will improve once I stop breast feeding and become more streamlined again!! Anyway so I had a slow start again and had to work my way back up. I could see Jo Lawn about 50m ahead of me just before the halfway point and by the end I had worked my way to just a few metres behind her, so not bad as I usually always come out with Jo, but unfortunately Meredith Kessler was about 90sec clear of us, not good as she is a super biker, and I knew she had run a 1.18 half marathon in the weeks before, so I knew she was in super running form too.
Onto the bike and the first part went really well. I was keeping up with Jo Lawn. I enjoy racing with Jo at Ironman NZ because it really gives me great motivation to stay with her as she is a super cyclist, and she is a honest and fair racer, she keeps legal distance behind and shares the lead with me, and doesn't jump on the wheel illegally of men who go by. So I kept with her for about 40k or so until just before the turn around. At that point I was in front trying to top up my aero drink bottle, but making a real hash of it. Belinda Harper then went by like a flash seeing her opportunity to get away from me (she had been just behind us since the beginning of the ride). I picked up my pace in pursuit but we then went by an aid station and I had to get some water to mix with my concentrate drink. Jo and Belinda didn't take any fluid and so rode away from me. I guess I shouldn't have bothered with the water but if I didn't and just rode to the next aid station 15k away it would have come back to bite me later in the day. So I tried and tried to get back up to Jo (she had lost Belinda too) but I just couldn't bridge the gap. At the turn around I saw that Kate Bevilaqua was still about 2 min behind me same as the last out and back section at around 15k so she hadn't gained on me. But then at about 60k, so just 15k later she caught up to me on the back of a big group of age group men so she was able to really pick up her pace. These age group men had started 10min behind us so the chances of me being able to up my pace that much was unlikely, I did try to stay 7m off the back but they rode away from me going up a hill. Damn it. This used to happen to me at the start of my ironman career and I hated it. However I worked damn hard on my bike and made sure these packs of age group men didn't catch me and I will do that again, it will just take a bit of time to regain my bike strength (maybe not for another 4 months when breastfeeding is behind me), but believe me it will happen!!
Onto the run I was therefore in 5th place well back from Meredith who was putting on a phenomenal and well deserving performance, but only a few minutes behind Belinda, Jo and Kate. I didn't feel that great in the first 5k but once I got to the turn around on lap 1 I felt much better. I saw that Jessica Jacobs was just behind me. Damn as she is the runner who runs 2.53 for ironman marathons. She passed me at 7 or 8k but I picked up my pace and stuck close to her. It was good to have someone to watch and I tried my hardest to stay with her. In the end the aid stations were my downfall yet again as I tried to find a powergel and she ran straight through (does nobody else eat or drink in these races???). She didn't end up getting that much more in front of me though. I never gave up my pursuit. I passed Belinda but couldn't get closer to Kate and Jo, in the end we all ran very similar times. Jess a 1.22 and Kate, Jo and I 1.23. For me a 1.23 is a PB by a huge way. I usually can't run that much faster than a 1.30 at a half. In fact just 3 months ago I was immensely proud of running a 1.28 at the Taupo Half and now I am 5 min faster!!
So it was very mixed feelings. I was very happy with my run and my mental attitude of never giving up. But I was very upset to finish 5th when I really wanted a podium. I know that a half ironman is not my strength, it's not what I train for and had it been an ironman I am sure I would have met my goal, but that is just the way the cookie crumbled and really I was lucky to have any race at all. I also have to remember that I originally had 2012 as a year simply to get back into the sport and that I really didn't intend to be very serious until after July when Benji turned one and I no longer had to breastfeed. However I seem to have forgotten this and have put much higher expectations on myself. I have 4 months left of breastfeeding and then I will have a whole heap more energy to put into my training and I will get my non busty body back!!
So now I am straight back into my training for Ironman Melbourne in less than 3 weeks. The upside of this half ironman business is that I will now be able to give it a decent crack. There is a phenomenal field, and it seems like I will be attending the world champs, but I am ready to take on the big wigs and give it my best shot!!

Let's get some sleep please!!

2012-02-17T11:00:00.001+13:00

Well after 4 months of never getting any more than 3 hours of sleep at one time (and sometimes as little as 1 hour at a time) we have finally been able to train the little boy to get back to sleep by himself! Well at least we think we have. When we had a baby we were told the first 3 months would be the hardest, not the case at all! Benji was a good sleeper until 3 months often sleeping up to 12 hours at night and then all of a sudden things changed and he started waking every few hours. We were told this was a growth spurt and for me to keep feeding him whenever he woke, but it just never ended, he seemed to be always hungry at night and then wouldn't feed properly during the day and solids never made a difference, he's not a big fan yet anyway, much prefers his milk and will still only take a very little amount of food at 7 months. So we began having him sleep in bed with us, which was OK most of the time, but then some nights he would kick and toss and turn and keep me awake nearly all night. So this continued and I persevered hoping he would get out of the habit by himself but knowing that if I could just ignore him for one night he would be hungry in the morning and then more likely than not he would get into a normal habit of feeding in the day and not at night! But every time we tried to do this we couldn't bear hearing him cry, and he wouldn't give up either, screaming for at least an hour one time before we finally gave in.
Anyway by the time he hit 7 months a few days ago I finally reached the end of my tether. So tired and sleep deprived I said I can't take this anymore there must be something wrong with my milk (from all the exercise) lets get him some formula to try. So we tried that. We were able to give him 100ml of formula in 1.5 hr and it was a horrible experience. I then topped him up and put him to bed, but alas he was awake 2 hr later. So at least then I knew it is nothing wrong with my milk and that it is a bad habit he is in and that we had to train him out of it (I no longer can cope with being a human pacifier). And thank goodness we never have to give him formula again as I can tell you I have never smelt anything as bad as puked up formula. Plus anyone that has met Benji will be able to tell you he is a big boy and not at all going hungry. He weighs in at 9.5kg at 7months even though he hardly eats any solids and survives pretty much on my milk alone.
So the next night we had to follow through with our new plan. Benji awoke around 3 hr after going to bed as usual and instead of coming into our bed for the rest of the night and feeding every 1 to 2 hr he had his Dad reassuring him then putting him back in his own bed without a feed. He screamed for about an hour, then got to sleep and then woke again 3 hr or so later and screamed for about 30min. The next night was the same process but this time he was asleep in about 45 min and the second wake up just 15min. Then the next night 30min screaming and then next only about 5 min and then last night nothing at all, he slept a full 12 hours!! Of course we were still waking up to check he was still alive! And now that he has done it once we hope gradually that we will be able to relax enough to get a nice long sleep ourselves! I think we do deserve it!
Best of all though is the difference in Benji throughout the day. He seems a lot more happy with himself, more independent, less clingy and he gives such a big smile when you get to greet him in the morning! It is delightful to see. And he is now drinking properly during the day and taking a little bit more solids, also good to see.
So unfortunately for me this lack of sleep has finally caught up with me. I have my first cold in nearly 3 years. Not a bad record really but not great timing. I am having a couple of days relaxing without any training, plenty of rest and heaps of garlic and vitamin C. It seems to be working I'm feeling much better already and I think the enforced wee break will probably do more good than harm, and maybe if I get some nice long sleeps in the next few weeks I will feel on fire come race day!!