I arrived in Busso on Wednesdy night after driving through a MASSIVE thunderstorm.  The next day it hadn’t really cleared and I was beginning to wonder whether I had done something to offend the weather gods, especially after the high seas of Melbourne.  It started to look pretty promising on Friday morning when I went out for my traditional 20/20/20 (20mins of swim/bike/run) and I was feeling strong, bring on race day!  A great thing about being a professional athlete at this event is that you can really get involved in the local community, for me this was talking at St Joseph’s school.  I talked and answered questions (of which there were many!) for 3 different year groups, and it was amazing, definitely reminds me why I love this sport.  Even had a girl come up to me afterwards and say that I’d inspired her to take up sport and be more active – I set a challenge for her that if she entered the kids triathlon in December I will come back and do the Busselton Ironman!  The rest of the day was spent as it usually is, trying to keep the nerves and excitement under control.

Race Day

The swim, right, not my best.  Well actually it wasn’t too bad for me, it just turns out I was swimming against a lot of ex-ITU girls who are AMAZINGLY fast in the water.  I thought that my shark fear may have sped me up a bit but I realised pretty quickly that I was going to be swimming on my own out the back.  It was pretty mentally tough to know that I was last out of the water and to pull myself together to realise that the race wasn’t over.  The bike course was flat and fast, similar to the Tauranga half Ironman in NZ.  On paper this seems so easy but when you’re out there you realise pretty quick that a flat course gives absolutely no recovery that having downhills would give you.  It took me a while to warm up and I passed Michelle Wu coming back into town for the second lap, this gave me a bit of a mental boost and I found the second lap a lot better than the first.

As always the bike seems to go really fast and before I knew it I was heading into T2 to start the run.  At this stage I was still in 5th place and knew that if I wanted to win I was going to have to pull out a seriously fast run.  I was donating half my prize money to a friend of mine back in NZ, who’s family is going through a tough time at the moment, this gave me a lot of motivation during the run.  I could see the next two girls in front of me when I got to the first turn around and they weren’t that close, I knew I had my work cut out for me… I took a swig of coke and just made the committment to run as fast as I could, knowing that potentially I may blow.  I caught Andrea Oracki on the second lap and then quite quickly managed to catch up to Lisa Marangon.  I knew now that I was in third place with one lap to go.  Liz Blatchford was smoking the run so my focus was on getting into 2nd place.  I felt like I was absolutely sprinting the final lap and although I caught up 2mins on second place I ran out of road, finishing about 1min 30s behind in 3rd.

I’ve never finished on the podium as a professional before, but I have seen lots of other pro’s on the podium, and I have to say the shaking up of the champagne was AWESOME!  Although we weren’t allowed to drink any, I have never enjoyed being soaked in champagne so much in my life!  Coming 3rd at Busso has pushed me up to 19th (top 20 yeah!) in the World Rankings and with Cairns Ironman in 4 weeks time I’m hoping that will cement my position on that start line in Kona.   Looking forward to recovering a bit this week, lots of swimming with the tri club here in Perth (Eclipse Tri Club) who are great, good sessions but also see the value in coffee and brekkie after squad, perfect  

wow that was fun!

big smile on the finish line

A BIG thanks to all my supporters, both near and far.  I’m always amazed at how many people are tracking the race online.  My parents were great again, not just on race day but in dealing with a very moody/nervous/quiet daughter leading up to the race.  It is really is all the support I receive that helps in those darker periods during a race.

To my sponsors as well, thanks for your continued support and belief in what I’m trying to achieve:

Kim Peace at www.kimtherapy.com – one of the biggest things I missed in race lead up last week was your fantastic massage, and I’m going to miss it this week too when my body is a bit broken!

ChampionSystem www.champ-sys.com.nz - my race suit is awesome and really stands out, can’t wait to start working on the new suit for Kona!

Horleys Nutrition www.horleys.com – fuelling my protein powder addiction!  Will be chowing down on this to get my muscles good to go for the next build up

ChiRunning www.chirunning.com – I was 12secs off the fastest run time of the day and did a 3min Personal Best, shows what good technique can do

PhysioOne www.physioone.co.nz – great physio in Newmarket, heaps of support both remotely and when I’m in NZ

News Articles:

http://www.sportzhub.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16654&Itemid=1

http://www.witsup.com/blatchford-takes-busso/

http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2013/05/12/blatchford-kahlefeldt-win-pro-race-at-70-3-busselton

Catch you later!

Anna.

So in my last blog I said I had some exciting news to share on the Triathlon front.  Here is a bit of an update as I move into the pointy end of my campaign to get to Kona 2013.

Firstly I’m really stoked that my sponsors from last year: PhysioOne, Champion System and Horleys are continuing to share the journey with me this year.  They’re a great crew and I’m so lucky to keep being able to work with them.

The guys at PhysioOne Newmarket are a great crew to work with.  Becs looks after me with regular physio, especially after Ironman races when everything can be a bit broken!  These guys are making a mark on triathlon, being the official Physio team at both Auckland World Cup events – excited to keep this relationship growing.

By far the best race suit I have raced in.  Not only is it a great suit but I got to work with Nigel Godfry at Champion System NZ to really make my suit unique.  We’re working on version 2 at the moment which will feature at Kona 2013.

Living off this nutrition, it’s great!  The Cross-Fire Protein powder is key to my recovery and I use it after all big sessions – delicious stirred up with greek yoghurt.  Bronwyn at Horleys is my key contact and helps me out with everything, super supportive.

What is really exciting is that some new sponsors have come on board to help me in my professional journey.  A big sponsor has come on board but I can’t announce that until after Cairns, so watch this space!

Love this concept and it has made big differences in my running already.  Loreen heads up ChiRunning NZ and she runs great workshops which I’ve been lucky to be a part of.  I’m excited to see these guys expand into the triathlon arena.

Resolve Physical Therapy is AMAZING.  I just started seeing Kim before Taupo IM and straight away noticed a huge difference in my general wellbeing.  This is because Kim doesn’t just focus on massage but all the other things that contribute to good training and recovery – aligns with my philosophy of Balance.  Big reason why I could get race ready for IM Melb so soon after Taupo.

A shout out to a couple of people who are really helping me out too.  Firstly Steve Farrell for his continued coaching and daily support.  Hilary Wicks who is helping me out with all the accounting side of being a professional triathlete, thanks mate!  The NHTC tri squad who provide so much motivation.  And finally my lovely fiance Hayden and my awesome parents – wouldn’t be possible to do this without you!

So far the journey of being a professional triathlete has been extremely fulfilling and exciting.  The key goal is still to make it to Kona as a professional, it’s very hard and very competitive, but that’s what I love about this sport!  When things are hard to achieve it just makes it that much sweeter when you do.  So yeah the next race is Busselton 70.3, stacked field, should be fun!  After that it is Cairns and hopefully that will cement my position to make the first cut into the Kona squad (top 28 by July 31st).

Catch ya,

Anna.

Well this was my first professional race overseas (I’m quickly running out of ‘firsts’!) and it was pretty cool.  It was great writing on my Australian arrival card, profession: Athlete, reason for trip: Business, oh yeah!  I arrived on Friday and had a day and a half before my race, in hindsight probably not quite long enough but it was so great because I had the chance to catch up with a good friend of mine.  I met Jen about 6 years ago when we did a season in Whistler together and A LOT has changed since then, for both of us.  I was big into tequila drinking and table dancing and now I compete professionally in triathlon (and one beer is enough for me nowadays!).  Jen has a beautiful family now with husband Luke and two gorgeous sons Nash and Sonny – very different life paths.  Luke was amazing, he is a fireman and worked a nightshift on Thursday but still came to pick me up from the airport, take me to St Kilda for race registration and then back to their house in Ringwood.  About 4hrs all up, time I’m sure he would have much preferred to be sleeping.  Once I put my bike together, got the race packs ready and had dinner it was already Saturday, the day before race day.  For those who know me I am EXTREMELY organised and for each race I have a colour-coded schedule of events, I get a lot of hassling about this, but to be honest for a race like Melbourne when I’m only there for 2 days, the race has a moving transition and I’m staying at 2 different locations, it takes so much stress out of the event.  As per schedule, Mum and Dad came to pick me up from Jen’s on Saturday morning… 8.43 I think was the designated time J

I hadn’t seen my Dad since Christmas, and this was the first pro race of mine he had seen, so it was really exciting and cool to have him there.  We made the most of this by pretending he was my coach and I took him all through transition and to the pro briefing later that day – which turned out to be really boring when the draft rules were debated for about 30mins!  I loved it when my mum turns to me and whispers ‘Anna, I’ve never been on a road bike and yet even I understand what these rules are’ – classic!  So… onto the race:

We’d heard at the race briefing that the swim might be 2 laps, instead of 1, due to extreme conditions.  Turning up race morning though it was announced that the swim was actually going to be halved and the race start delayed by about 45mins.  This is the thing about triathlon, and I learnt this from my coach – it’s an outdoor sport, things are not always going to go to plan, it’s how you deal with this situation that counts.  I looked at the positive of this, I’m not the strongest swimmer out there, I will lose less time in the swim now and be able to focus more on my strengths – the bike and run.  The course changed about 4 times while we were waiting down on the beach and guess who took the time to describe the course to me… CRAIG ALEXANDER, I don’t actually think I listened to a word he said, I just was screaming in my head “oh my god Craig Alexander is talking to me”!  He’s such a hero of mine!  I really wish I could have said that to him at the time, but I was too star struck J  So anyways, onto the actual swim, it was BRUTAL!  The swim along the pier was okay, and then once we turned right and headed out to the first buoy it was swimming head-on into 2metre swells.  I swallowed so much water and really really wanted to pull out of the race, I actually decided that once I got to T1 I would pull out.  Once we turned that first buoy though it was really fun surfing down the waves and I was swimming next to Yvonne Van Vlerken (who ended up coming 2^nd) and so started to feel a lot better – and the thought of pulling out went away.

I was 17^th out of the water (thanks Mum and Dad for holding up that whiteboard in transition!) and was a bit disappointed as I didn’t think my swim was too bad considering the conditions.  But I guess being more of a bike/runner I have to get used to not being up the front in the swim, at least in a field like that!  The bike course went on the Eastlink motorway (freeway) for the whole 180km and was such a nice change to the chip seal we had at Taupo.  The first 45km was straight into a headwind, which I actually liked because I’m strongest on hills and when you have a headwind on a flat course it’s the next best thing.  At about 30km I noticed a HUGE bunch up ahead of me, it was massive, like about 100 people in it.  I ended up getting swallowed into the bunch and couldn’t move – boxed in from all sides.  It was a bit scary as there were quite strong gusty cross winds and I kept getting nudged around.  I noticed there were about 5 other pro girls in the bunch and a few of them yelling at officials.  I know it’s not exactly the best scenario having your race so impacted by the age-group men, but I always take the mentality of not getting frustrated by things outside of your control.  I just conserved my energy, hoped that the return leg would improve things with the tail wind (which it did) and focus on my own race.  It was pretty cool seeing that Gina Crawford was next to me at one stage – then she powered off up a hill and I never saw her again!  One of the highlights of the bike course was seeing Jen, Luke, Nash and Sonny on the Eastlink motorway, supporters t-shirts and all!  That definitely helped my motivation on the second lap, it gets pretty lonely out there.

I came into transition feeling really good, the 2^nd lap of the bike was awesome, the big bunches had dissipated and I felt stronger and stronger as the ride progressed.  I had one goal for the run: PATIENCE.  I had ruined my chances of 3^rd place at Taupo due to not running with any patience and completely going into a black hole.  Between Taupo and Melbourne the biggest thing I had worked on was my mentality, knowing that I would go into some dark places but getting out of them as quick as possible.  Also the day before the race I found out that one of my good friends mum had died, this gave me an immense amount of motivation.  Anytime I started to feel a bit sorry for myself, or really exhausted, I would just think “this is only physical pain, this is nothing – emotional pain is so much worse, harden up Anna”.  So I ended up running a much smarter race, and actually took one of Candice’s strategies which was to up the pace with 10km to go and just see how far I could push it to the line.  The marathon was really difficult to know where you were in the field because it was a point-to-point course.  This is where my awesome parents came in.  They had a whiteboard and were driving up the course and giving me splits at each 10km interval – mum on the whiteboard, dad yelling out the split – go TEAM ROSS!  At km 38 the unthinkable happened…  Mum says to me ‘Meredith is looking tired’, and I thought that was really random, why did Mum tell me that, Meredith must be miles ahead if not already finished.  I rounded the corner and there she was, I’m a huge fan of Meredith, she is such a star athlete and one of the most inspirational people I have met – I couldn’t believe I was going to pass her!

Nearing the finish line I saw Jen, Luke and Sonny again and it was amazing.  Sonny is only 2 months old and they had come all the way to St Kilda to watch me finish, I was really humbled.  Like I always seem to after races I have had a bit of time for reflection and what I noticed from this race was that Triathlon has been such a catalyst for people coming together.  My parents caught up with some great family friends who we grew up with – Margaret and Hamish.  Margaret even took a break from work to come down and cheer me on, in her nurse’s uniform and everything!  Jen and Luke were awesome, having me stay on Friday night, driving me around, and then being out on the course and at the finish line – wicked!  As always a huge thanks goes to my parents.  They flew over from Perth to watch this race and were there the entire day, true supporters.  Even after the race when they were probably shattered and just wanted to go to bed, they were massaging my calves when I was in immense pain that night and couldn’t sleep (downside of doing 2 ironmans in 3 weeks).

So like I said there is some interesting stuff going on at the moment, and I’ll update my blog as things eventuate.  I have 2 weeks mandatory break at the moment and then it’s back into training for Busselton 70.3 and IM Cairns.  Will be heading to Aussie early May for 6 weeks of full-time training, how fun!

This race definitely was unfinished business for me, it was no longer going to be my first Ironman (as that was done in Kona last year) but it was my first Ironman at Taupo in an event that was devastingly cancelled last year.  I was feeling ready for this race, having done Auckland as my first professional race was great as it took that pressure of this race a little bit.  The journey to this race was just awesome as we had the ‘mongrel squad’ back together again for those key training sessions and I couldn’t think of a better, or more supportive group, of people to train with.  Steve, Carswell, Hunter, Sillsy, G-force, and Sam I Am, what else can I say but you are true stars and without you the preparation for this event would be so much more arduous.

I arrived on Tuesday of race week with my Mum in tow.  Mum had come all the way over from Perth to basically look after me before the race and she cooked some amazing meals.  I did remember last year though when I put on about 2kg before the race and therefore when Mum asked if I’d like some ‘freshly baked oat and choco chip cookies’ I used all my self-control to say that NO, I did not want some cookies and maybe after the race would be more ideal… I’m learning!  It was so great to spend some relaxed time with Mum and just chill out reading books, doing some light training, and trying to keep the nerves in check.  Friday rolled around really quickly and the rest of my support crew arrived that afternoon, with a hell of a lot of signage, t-shirts, green hawaiian lays and treats!!  Stu, Kristen, Indy, Nat and of course Hayden – you were the ultimate support crew, everywhere where I needed you.  So, onto the race…

The swim was AWESOME!  I found feet straight away and ended up being right  behind 3 people and hence in such a great draft that I actually felt like I’d done nothing by the time I finished the swim and got into T1.  Lake Taupo is such a stunner, the water is so clear and it was basically like swimming in a pool it was so calm on race morning. Kristen (on spotter duty) let me know that I was 4th out of the water and hence my prediction was right that Meredith, Gina and Carrie would be ahead of me – didn’t quite realise at that point how far ahead Meredith was, holy crap she can swim!!  Headed into T2 where I always find it hilarious that you just sit there while they yank the wetsuit off you, kind of getting pulled along the ground in the process.  I asked if they had any sunscreen that I could put on, unfortunately the answer was no so I knew I was going to have some wicked tan lines after 180km on the bike!  Coming out of transition was a total buzz and my support crew was so easy to spot being all in green and in matching t-shirts.  Then it was onto the lonliness of the bike.

What I have noticed in my 2 professional races is that on the bike you are pretty much on your own, as opposed to when you start the swim with thousands.  Heading out toward the long stretch to Reporoa I have to say it felt pretty isolated, however I knew it would feel like this and I had done a bit of study on the local mountain that overlooks Lake Taupo.  This mountain is called Tauhara and actually means isolated and alone in Maori – the mountain therefore kept me company!  As did Scottie T, the wonderful photographer, who would come up occasionally on the back of a motorbike, was great to see him out there and feel like I had some support on that lonely road.  Candice and Janine both passed me on the bike but I kept Erin Baker’s words in my head “10mins lost on the bike can be a 20-30min gain on the run” – so I let them go.  It was so great to start seeing some of the age groupers out there, and when I got a bit lonely I would think about what the rest of my training crew would be doing i.e. “Sillsy will just be coming out of the water now, Steve will be heading into the turnaround”, made it nice to know I was sharing the course out there.  I am always overwhelmed by the support I receive out there on the course, I can’t believe that people who are racing their own race are also cheering me along, one group of about 20 people passed me and I think about 15 of them were yelling ‘Go Anna’ – made me well up a bit I have to say!  I had been looking forward to Steve catching me on the bike, 1) because I would get a quick chat and 2) because I could refocus having someone ahead of me.  Problem was Steve caught up, said stick with us Anna and use us for pacing, however when I looked at my speedo they were doing 45km/h – hell no, I’m dropping off that!  Luckily one of the most humble and talented men in the sport Andrew Howse caught up to me and checked I was keeping my fluids up and the pace they had going was a lot more achievable.  Howse even came back to me with about 20km to go and said “I’m smashed, ride ahead, go for it”, such a great guy.  By this time I was really looking forward to getting on the run and off that godforsaken bike seat!

I got into T2 and noticed that Carrie was having issues and also heard that Candice had just left transition, awesome I had caught her up on that second lap!  I headed off for the run, felt really good and saw Candice ahead of me.  Now this is where I should have been patient and realised that I had 42km to catch up to her and pass, but patience is not a virtue of mine so I raced off to catch her and did so I think within the first 5km, whoops, would pay for that later!  I came to realise what a gutsy competitor Candice is during this run.  I caught and passed her and thought “wahooo, i’m going to come 3rd” but no, Candice stayed with me, right on my shoulder and then actually put in a burst coming back into town.  I stopped for a bit of a ‘break’ at one of the aid stations and then went back to about a 2min gap again… hmmm square one.  Onto the second lap, again should have been patient but no I upped the pace until I caught her again, thinking this time for sure she would drop off.  Wrong again, she stuck with me and we ran side-by-side for the next few kilometers, this was killing me!  Coming back into town Candice put in another burst and this one got me, the rubber band stretched, stretched then snapped – gutted.  Now I went into a dark, dark hole.  Physically I felt okay, a bit tired, but mentally I was gone-burger.  It was actually quite scary, usually I am very positive but the thoughts coming into my head were so negative: “I don’t deserve to be a professional”, “I obviously don’t have the calibre to be racing at this level”, “I don’t want to do this anymore” etc.  I felt a bit bad for my support crew who were so encouraging and all I could say was ‘I feel like crap’!  In the end I got out of it with a bit of help from some coke and a lot of help from my crew.  I actually even picked up the pace in the last 8km and got the deficit to Candice back to just under 2mins, then I ran out of road.  The finish line was EPIC!  People always say that obviously I didn’t go hard enough if I could cartwheel on the finish line, but to be honest the buzz you get from running down the finish chute and seeing your friends and family there is unbelievable – and trust me as soon as I got into the recovery tent I cramped and sat down in a state of zombie for the next couple of hours!!!  In all honesty I had the goal of coming 3rd but I worked my arse off out there and a quote from Steve Prefontaine comes to mind “I’d rather run a gutsy race, pushing all the way, and lose, than run a conservative race only for a win” - Candice is an awesome competitor and without her there I don’t think I would have pushed myself so hard.

So another Ironman down (one more in 2 weeks!) and I am still learning so much.  At the prizegiving, before the pro’s came on stage, Mike O’Reilly talked about how the Pro’s were such an inspiration to the age-groupers – to be honest I have to say I see it the other way around.  There were some amazing stories during the day and although Bevan’s and Meredith’s performances were outstanding, it is these stories that truly inspire me and give me that motivation to push myself each and every day.  I’ll share a few of these stories:

•  Jo Reid – her first Ironman, a guy in front of her on the bike threw a canister behind him and it got stuck in her spokes.  She crashed and mangeled herself and her bike, an ambulance stops to take her and she replies with “I don’t need an ambulance I need a mechanic!”.  Bike fixed she keeps riding but then has to spend 15mins in T2 as they stitch her up asking all the time if she really does want to keep going – she does and finishes.
• Garth Barfoot – makes the swim cut-off, makes the bike cut-off, heads out onto the 3rd lap of the run while most people have already finished, he has every chance of finishing before midnight.  Cramps stop the goal, his response though “I’ll be back in 2014″!
• Jo Tacon – had the all-encompassing goal of qualifing for Kona, this would mean top 2 in her age group.  I saw Jo on the run and realised that she was in trouble and that she would not reach her goal.  A lot of people at this point would pull out of the race not Jo, she battled through even though she knew that top 2 was not going to happen.  Talking to Jo afterwards she said that to pull out does not respect the course and does not respect her supporters who are out there and who have sacrificed a lot on her journey.
• Tracey Salthouse – I did a training camp with Tracey a few weeks before the race and was really interested to see how she went.  Two reasons for this were that firstly she had become really fearful of the swim and secondly because she had torn her hamstring and the run would be 50/50.  I saw Tracey out there on the run course, she was run/walking, but she made it – true determination.

There are countless other stories I am sure but these are the ones that stuck in my head and helped me to get to the finish line.  A last word of thanks has to go to my Mum.  It’s hard to put into words the amount of support and inspiration that I get from my mum.  When I listened to Meredith’s speech she talked a lot about gratitude, I don’t get to stand up in front of everyone and say thanks (hopefully I will at some point) but this is my way of doing that.  A lot of my inner drive and determination comes from the way in which I was raised, I never see any limits to what I can achieve and I think this is because no limits were every placed on me.  I know that for Mum to come to all my races, especially now that she lives in Perth, is not easy and my parents have to make a lot of sacrifices to make this possible – It is something I hugely appreciate.  Ironman has a funny way of bringing people together, whether that be supporters or athletes, and for whoever thinks this is a selfish sport I think you need to have another look at the faces on that finish line.  Because the tears and smiles and cheers aren’t just coming from those finishing but from those lining the chute, who have been there through the whole journey and take just as much joy in seeing their loved ones reach their ultimate goals.

Next stop – Ironman Melbourne!

Last Saturday I was not in a good headspace.  I met with my coach (Steve Farrell) after training for what we called a ‘counselling session’.  The fear of failure, of putting myself out there and not delivering, was gnawing at me.  The woman’s field was being described as the best field assembled in the World outside of Kona and other than Hilary Wicks (the #1 ranked amateur Ironman) I was the only competitor in their pro debut – I was succumbing to the pressure.  That conversation turned everything around, and was a bit of a prophecy really.  Steve asked what my goals were and I said that coming in the top 10 would be unbelievable and well beyond my expectations.  Steve’s response – I think you could go top 5.  I nodded but in my head were the words “haha there is NO WAY I will ever go top 5 in that field” – thanks for the confidence Steve but let’s be realistic!!

Fast forward to race day… for every race I keep a journal which has things like nutrition plans, lists of things I need in transition, race day schedule etc and also quotes that I read race morning.  The following quotes were what I had written down and probably give an indication of what I was feeling:

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly”

“Defeat is not the worst of failures.  Not having tried is the true failure”

“There’s doubt in trying.  Just do it or stop thinking”

Setting up in transition at 5am was just like any other race, things started to change once I got to the race pontoon.  The pros started earlier than all the age groupers and so there weren’t that many of us on the start pontoon – well compared to Kona where I was one age-grouper amongst thousands, easy to fly under the radar.  With Bevan Docherty on my left and Caroline Steffen on my right I just thought ‘what the hell am I doing here, I’m not ready for this’.  I assume this was written all over my face because at this point Meredith Kessler (multiple IM winner from San Fran who I have used as a bit of a mentor since meeting at Taupo after her IMNZ win in 2012) came up next to me and said ‘This is your city Anna, this is your race, don’t be nervous’ – and that was it… game face on.  The haka that was done while we waited on the start line was awe-inspiring.  I took it as a personal challenge, stared them down and thought ‘I’m ready’.  Before I knew it I was on the start line, not sure who it was up on Princes Wharf that yelled ‘Go Anna Ross’ but thanks – that was awesome!  The swim went a lot better than I thought, I knew that there were some speedy ex-ITU champions in the group, so I just let them go and got into a rhythm and tried to stay on feet for as long as I could.

The bike was so much fun!  I just got new race wheels (thanks Nige from ChampionSystem and Giant Quay Street!) and they make the coolest sound, like a ‘whoosh whoosh whoosh’.  Riding up and over the harbour bridge was amazing and I made sure I took a moment at the top to appreciate the view and experience.  I always find the ride in a half Ironman goes so quickly and before I knew it I was back in transition after passing a few girls, still had no idea where I was placed though.  I was really looking forward to the run.  Firstly because I have some new bright green running shoes that make me feel like Usain Bolt and Secondly because I was running along Tamaki drive – a stretch of road I have been running since I was a kid.  Immediately I saw about 3 girls up the road ahead of me and focused on catching and passing them.  The crowd support was unbelievable, I’ve never had so many people yelling my name, what a buzz racing in my home town!  Special mention to Indy and Dave, Pammie, Pammy Puma, Jess/Knobby/Luzza and the ferry building Fonterra crew, the turnaround group – Kirsty, Judy, Yvanka and Marieke, Becs and Sarah, Olwyn and the Russells, Silke on the hill, Stu, Lachie and Nige, and all of you who were actually racing and still cheering me on (Big Jo, Shane, Kristen, NHTC crew, Amy)!!  Although I may have looked pretty stone-faced, I used all that energy to push me the whole way around the run course.  Coming in to finish on the second lap Hayden let me know that I was in 5^th place and that’s when I started to get a bit emotional.  I actually could not believe it though and right up until about 5m from the finish line I was convinced that a bunch of girls would sprint past me.  Crossing that finish line in 5^th place, in my first pro race, against some of the best triathletes in the world was more than I could’ve ever hoped for – still cannot believe it.

Although I wanted to go straight to the pub for a much anticipated lamb burger, fries and beer with my support crew I had to get escorted upstairs for drug testing.  At first it was such a novelty, but that quickly wore off when it took me almost 2 hrs to get a decent enough sample for testing purposes, and even then it was after sculling 4 powerades, 1 bottle of pump water and 1 bottle of nuun!!!  Then I think the drug tester thought something was seriously wrong until I informed her that I’d had a tray full of roast beetroot the day before the race, haha, quite the experience!  So finally at about 2pm I could go and have my pub lunch with my ever present support crew.  Like I always say, triathlon is not an individual sport and I am extremely thankful to my fiancé Hayden, my mum and dad and my coach Steve.  Hayden puts up with a lot before my races and this one was particularly hard as I went through such a period of self-doubt.  But he’s there race morning, riding with me to transition, taking all my splits and saying just the right things to get me in the zone.  With Hayden’s first race of 2013 coming up soon in Rotorua I can’t wait to be there as the support person for a change.  My mum is one of the most supportive, patient and amazing woman I know.  Not only did she extend her stay in NZ just to watch this race but she also was at the course from 6am right through to the end of the day, on her feet, in the rain/sun/wind supporting me and I think shedding a few tears herself on that finish line.  My dad was still in Perth but woke up at 1am to watch my race online and leading up to the race had done an analysis of every competitor in the pro division, even with commentary on what their strengths were and what I should look out for – amazing!  Steve doesn’t like shout outs much – but he’s been my coach for 4 years and has supported me through a lot.

Just an ending thought.  I come to realise more and more that life is short.  It’s an adventure.  Our time on this planet is limited and that time shouldn’t be wasted.  Taking that leap to follow your passion is not an easy one, but continually I am inspired by those around me and the support I receive that makes this journey possible.  So Thank You.

Next race – Ironman NZ

The World Champs ITU triathlon was held in Auckland the week after Kona and I had entered a team with my bro, Lachie and Kristen – we were themed ‘Baywatch’ which to be honest was fantastic when you have a great Kona tan going on!  The race was heaps of fun and the whole festival weekend was great.  Maddie and Simone absolutely stole the show with top NZ performances in both U19 and U23 categories, awesome to watch.  The rest of my training buddies were racing too in the age group race, it was so much fun to watch – makes a nice change from competing sometimes.

Hayden and I had a joint 30^th party out at Riverhead tavern, it was great, especially the cake!!  Kristen and Nat had made a train cake with our favourite pick n mix on each of the carriages – it was phenomenal.

the EPIC cake – couldn’t even wait for it to be cut

With my first race of the season fast approaching, the Rotorua Half Ironman, it was time to get down to some solid training.  A great training weekend with the crew was a good kick start – love the blue lake as a training venue, especially when it involved copious amounts of choco coated strawberries and cake…hmmm race weight can wait!  Now onto the race report…

I LOVE the Rotorua Half Ironman, I have a lot of history with this race.  I have done it for the last 5 years, one being my first half ironman, one being a win, a couple of team starts and then the race where I fractured my hip bone and had to get carted off in an ambulance.  This year I didn’t just want to win, I wanted to give it absolutely everything, leave everything out on the course.  I think because of this I was really nervous the night before, actually more nervous than I was for Kona which was surprising.  At least I know now I can race on only 4hrs of sleep!  Race morning was a stunner, the last couple of years it has been torrential rain, but looked as though we were looking at no wind and hot hot hot – perfect.  The swim strategy I had was to go out fast and get on toes and try and stay on them for the whole 2km, didn’t really work out as I got on someone’s toes and then they went WAY of course so had to cut back in, swam most of it on my own.  Came out of the water about 3^rd which was still okay and was excited to get on my bike as I’d just had a new bike fit from Brett at Echelon.

Looking serious out of the water!

The bike was awesome, the fit was great and felt like I had a lot more power.  Compared to Kona when I had to hold back on the bike so much it was really good to give it everything and smash through all those hills.  Came off the bike in first place and now just had to worry about the fast running Erin behind me…

First split I got from Hayden was that I was 8mins ahead of Erin and then the next split I got had me at only 6mins… uh oh!  I really pushed hard in the last lap around the lake and clawed back the 2mins to win with an 8min lead, and a course record, yeah!  The new run course was beautiful, even though it hurt a lot going up/down those hills around the green lake.  My support down there was really great.  I had suggested that Hayden’s dad and sister could enter as a team, they did!  They roped in Gary for the swim and after a few months of training managed to finish, and enjoy, the half ironman.  Natalie even had a mean sprint finish that put mine to shame!  Not only was there team Russell but my brother also represented team Ross.  It was actually me versus their team, but when their cyclist Nige turned up with 2 bikes, 1 for warm up, 1 for racing, and a full skinsuit – I knew I was in trouble.  He passed me about 10km into the ride and I never saw him again!  I was also coaching Kristen for the Half Ironman and she did a PB for the race which was just awesome – so cool to have so many people down there, I LOVE this sport!

so much green, going into second lap of run

job done

#1 supporter!

So next up is the IM Auckland 70.3, which is also the Asia-Pacific Champs and there is a stellar line up.  It will be such an awesome experience toeing the line with some of the best in the world.  Also have a great training week planned down in the Coromandel over New Years, can’t wait.  But first, Christmas Day with the family… hmmm it will be food heaven!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I woke up Saturday morning (at 4.20am!) feeling unbelievably excited, I couldn’t wait to get to the race start and soak up the atmosphere. I remembered the advice given at the NZ team morning tea which was that the day would go really fast so take time to enjoy the moment. After body marking, vasoline and sunscreen it was down to check on my bike. It was a very eerie feeling being in darkness amongst thousands of bikes, hearing the waves hitting the pier. Then it was off to meet Hayden, Mum and Dad to say the final goodbyes for what was going to be a long, and at that time, unknown day.

Into the water and bring on the first tears of the day, I couldn’t believe I was already so emotional and we hadn’t even started yet! It was a surreal feeling though floating in the water with 1800 other athletes, looking back and seeing thousands of supporters and just hearing Hawaiian drums and the conch shells being blown. Then before I knew it the gun had gone and we were off. To be honest the swim is the only part of the day I didn’t love. It was an absolute bun fight for the entire 3.8km swim and after getting elbowed in the cheek and punched in the eye I was really looking forward to getting on my bike!! The volunteers in transition were absolutely awesome and I had about 3 people slathering sunscreen on me while another helped with my shoes. The start of the bike course was great, so much support around “hot corner” (the crossroads of Palani and Kuakina where all the supporters gather) and I saw my parents out there in their bright green supporters T-shirts…tried to wave but then thought better of it as I definitely didn’t want to crash out of the race in the first 5km!!

So the bike course on paper looks pretty easy, a little dog leg in town and then out to Hawi and back (well as ‘easy’ as 180km can be I guess!). The problem is though that when you get out onto the lava fields you are greeted with a headwind that then turns around and hits you on the way back, even more verociously. For almost all of the ride I was getting passed, and for anyone that knows me it too SO much self restraint not to up the pace to get back in front. What was going through my head though was some words of advice from Erin Baker (thanks again for that bday pressie Indy!) which were that 10mins slower on the bike will equal 30-60mins faster on the run. So I memorised the people passing me and just repeated the mantra “see you on the run mate”. Nearing the end of the cycle I started to get pretty concerned about my capacity to run a marathon. After cycling into headwinds constantly for the last 2hrs of the bike my legs were seriously aching. This was evidenced when I jumped off the bike in transition and my legs buckled under me… Uh oh!

Into the transition tents again where I got more sunscreen applied, water poured over my head (we were up to 35deg now) and downed my bottle of ensure – the drink given to those with malnutrition, or trying to complete an ironman, haha! By then my legs had recovered and the start of the marathon was SPECTACULAR! There were people screaming everywhere! I got into my pace and headed off to where I knew my parents and Hayden would be supporting, couldn’t wait to see them. Unlike other races where I have a complete game face on and barely acknowledge my supporters as I am so ‘in-the-zone’, this race was different. I had made an agreement with myself that it was my first Ironman, I would never do this for the first time again, and for me it was more important to acknowledge my supporters and enjoy the race than it was to have a ‘smash-it’ mentality. I’m sure there will be many more ironmen to come to have that mentality. Hayden, Mum and Dad played a huge role in getting me to the finish line. They each had crucial things to yell at me:

Hayden: eat, drink, pace yourself
Mum: focus, pacing, strength
Dad: dig it in

Some photos from what I coined “mum and dad hill”:

I had the hugest smile on my face for almost the entire run, so many moments of inspiration, but a few listed below:
- a guy dressed in a bikini playing eye of the tiger on loop while dancing around supporting
- Chrissy Wellington cheering me on by saying “go smiley girl”!
- every aid station being a party zone
- seeing all the fellow kiwis out there
- every timing mat I went over I pictured all the people I knew were tracking online, thanks all of you, it made a huge difference knowing you were supporting from afar!

And then before I knew it I was running down Palani drive for my final mile…started crying again! My last mile was my quickest of the day and it was down to the crowds, the cheers were deafening. I ran down the finishing chute with tears down my face, desperately trying to find my mum to give her a big hug before I crossed the line. Luckily I spotted her and we had a massive hug… A few years ago mum had me promise I would never do one of those crazy Ironmen races, but as she has seen the journey unfold she has definitely been one of my biggest supporters. As I heard my name get called out as an ironman I found the energy to do an impromptu cartwheel, and didn’t even fall flat on my face!!! After heading to the food tent for deep fried donuts, pizza, ice cream and chocolate milk I went off in search of the team of best supporters in the world…

What a day guys and thanks for making it so special…like I’ve said, one of the best of my life and won’t be forgotten for quite a while

“I ulu no ka lala i ke kumu” – the reach of a trees branches depends on its trunk

Xxx

Ironman week here in Kona has been such a great experience, and awesome having Hayden here to share it with, and my parents arrived yesterday and are probably ironman-ed out already after copious motivational videos and quotes I have been showing them, haha! Last night we had the pasta party and heard some really inspiring stories… Like this lady who was a multiple ironman and then got hit by a car out on her bike, ended up she had to get her foot amputated. She then decided she wanted to qualify for Kona, but not as a para-athlete, as an age-grouper, and she made it and is racing in Kona… What a legend! They also had Sister Madonna Buder up on stage, an 82 yr old nun from America who is racing tomorrow, and you know what, if they can do it then I sure as hell can too!

Using my blog as a bit of mass communication i’d also like to thank all of you that have been part of my journey to Ironman and Kona. It has been a tough journey, long, and filled with ups and downs and lots of sacrifice but I am under no illusion that I could have made it here on my own. So if you’re tracking online believe me when I say that I will be picturing each and every one of you and feeling that spirit of support as I take on my biggest personal challenge yet – tomorrow is a day to turn dreams into reality. Special thanks to Hayden and my Mum and Dad who will be here under the scorching sun for the whole day cheering me on, it means a huge amount to me to have you here and you’ll be front of mind as I run into that finish shoot on Ali’i drive.

“Limits like fears are often just an illusion” – Michael Jordan

Then…the big one…the official IM store opened today, oh no! Luckily I only had my backpack so couldn’t buy too much, but photo below does show my cool new visor, watch, race belt, and singlet:

Last night headed out to a fellow kiwis place, sweet location right on the water and had a great catch up with some other kiwi ironmen, looks like we’ll have an epic support crew on race day. Went to lava java for dinner, guy playing the ukulele while the sun went down, very romantic as I sat there with Erin and Roger (who by the way are on their honeymoon!!)…

Getting very very excited about the upcoming race, less than a week to go now and I know this week will go so fast, trying to enjoy every minute I can…Hayden arrives tonight and we’re heading out to a local ale house where it looks like they serve phenomenal nachos, I will take a photo. Hardest part of taper is this ‘eating clean’ business, I.e. no junk food…I’m dreaming about nachos, burgers, lollies like you wouldn’t believe!!!

Signing out from paradise