Bronze at Aus Long Course Champs

Sunday saw the running of the 2009 Oceania and Australian Long Course Triathlon Championships at Huskinson on the NSW Coast. A beautiful spot with a relaxed atmosphere. I had a great race to claim the Bronze medal. Swam strongly through the 3km to exit the water with a group of 5 to put me in the top 7 and had a blitzing transition to start the bike in 3rd. I pushed the pace on my new Giant Trinity over the 82km and whilst some of the positions changed I held 3rd position. Onto the 20km run I still felt strong and whilst building on my lead to hold third I was also closing the gap on 2nd but ran out of road. I'm very excited to come home with a medal and an automatic qualification for the World Championships next October in Perth.

This was a great result after 8th at Geelong 70.3 two weeks ago following 2 wins in the Tasmanian Series at Seven Mile Beach and Beauty Point.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow, didn't the last part of 2008 fly by! A lot has happened for me in the past few months. In December I put my teaching career on hold and am now working part time as the Administration Officer for Triathlon Tasmania and as a Project Manager with t3 Events. Both positions have proved exciting and interesting so far. I am hoping with this move I will have more time for specific training sessions and traveling to events. I am now planning to race at the Geelong 70.3 in early February and then the Australian Long Course Championships 2 weeks later. So needless to say training has been pretty solid and i am about to commence another big block. The 2009 MyState Financial Triathlon Series (Tasmania) is also about to kick off so I'll be spinning around the track down at Seven Mile Beach next weekend. Stay tunned...

Wayne Goldsmith

This weekend the Ulverstone Swim Team conducted a "Swim Camp". Queensland's Wayne Goldsmith lead the camp. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend all the sessions due to other commitments but I did go to the 2 morning swims. It was a very valuable experience. Whilst the sets were not super hard there was enough swimming for a good workout as well as many noteworthy tips. It reminded me about the necessity of "relaxed" training, when I'm relaxed everything seems to flow rather than having to push and push, usually without success. There was also the reminder about mental alertness, training hard so competitions are easy, staying focussed when things get tough and challenging one's self for the love of rising to the occasion. I strive on all of these things and 3 weeks back into training it was a perfect reminder of why I am doing this (for the love of it)  and what I need to do to achieve my goals.

Another busy week

Another busy week saw an increase in training. I managed a 3 hour ride and a 60 minute run along with a few smaller sessions too. We were pretty consistent in the pool, swimming between 3.5 km and 4 km each session. It is amazing after a few Ironman races that 4 km now feels like an easy session! The sun has started to shine and the warmer weather has to mean summer is on the way!! On Sunday I spent some time at the Brooks - run happy- stand at the Burnie 10 and it was great to see so many people out and about getting active and enjoying life - well done to all those who completed the 10 km. Unfortunately I picked up a cold over the weekend so I'm getting back on top of things before increasing the training to another level.

All in a week

The dreaded 1st week back is complete! Back to 5am wake ups for swimming and training again after work. This week was also my husband's 30th Birthday and Dad's 61st so it was pretty busy! The training highlight for the week was swimming 13.43 for 1km in my 3rd swim. I guess i haven't lost too much.... I also started my new role as Triathlon Tasmania's Administration Officer so it really is a busy time. I'm looking forward to increasing my training volume over the next week or two... and I'm starting to plan some races - stay tuned.

Back in training

I have just finished my first day back in training after a very enjoyable 5 week break. The day started at 5am with a 3.5km swim session. It was then off to work for a full day of teaching. After work I ran 10km and went to the gym. Home by 8pm and I'm now not far out of bed! 

Enjoying a break

I've been home for 3 weeks and enjoying some down time. It was great to be able to sleep in for the school holidays and relax. I'm back into the swing of things at work this past week and it was good to be able to do it without being tired from training. I have also enjoyed working out at the gym and catching up with friends. With 1 more week off and I'm going to be ready to get back into it, although I'm not looking forward to those early mornings!!!