Kansas 70.3 June 14 2009

My first 70.3 race. Micko and i were to be staying with yet another fantastic homestay in Kansas city, 45 min away from the race. We started our drive to Kansas from Boulder for some really strange reason thinking it was going to be a 6 hour drive. Kansas is not 6 hours away from Boulder. 12 hours later (including the time zone loss of an hour) we made it in the rust coloured roof dodge caravan.

It turned out the field was a lot more packed than we initially expected. Chrissie Wellington, Pip Taylor, Jo Lawn, Nina Craft among others. The men’s field was just as good with Luke Bell, Tim O’Donell, Paul Matthews, Tim Deboom, Simon Thompson. It was going to be a fun race.

Race day was expected to be stormy and wet and the morning of just supported that. There was lightning and a bit of rain at 4.30am when we were driving out. Luckily though, it looked ok at 5 when we arrived. The park where the event was held was hectic. There was one road in- no road for the pros who were off first and we found ourselves in a 45min traffic Jam. As we were starting to panic a little, i saw a porta loo on the side of the road while we were waiting in traffic- this seemed like a good idea so we didn’t have to wait in lines down in transition, we pulled to the side and switched off the car- bad move. A few minutes later, when we were back in and ready to keep moving the rocked dodge caravan wouldn’t start. Oh well, Leave it. I scribbled on some paper ‘Car wont Start’. We grabbed our stuff and ran to transition. We reached T2 to put our shoes down at 6am. We were scheduled to start at 6.30 and T1 was down by the lake a 20min walk away. We put our shoes down and continued running. Quickly setting up our bikes and putting on our wetsuits we hurried to the start. Just in time.

The swim for me was disappointing. I just have trouble sitting on feet. My swim 2 weeks ago was 26min and i was off by myself. The swim here was 28min while i was trying to draft. I think i’m just going to swim by myself next time. I came out in about 7th or 8th place. I was excited to get onto the bike because i had had some awesome training and the ride was going really well for me- i really wanted to ride! I jumped on the bike and rode strong- one of the top ride times. I laughed when riding along the only road going in and out- our car was right next to an aid station. They had banners around it and bins. I passed quite a few girls including ironman champ Nina Craft. I rode myself into 4th place. Still ahead was Chrissie, Pip and some other girl who finished very well- who were all riding very well together. Unfortunately for me my run is still just coming along and it was inevitable that i would get passed by the stronger runners. That i did and i finished up in 8th. Not bad for such a packed field. I have improved on my last race however and i know the next race will be even better. Chrissie won by miles and Pip was 2nd. The other girl was 3rd and Jo Lawn 4th. Luke Bell won the Men’s race.

The story doesn’t finish there. We collected our stuff after the race and walked to our car hoping it had composed itself and would finally start. Crossing our fingers and after explaining what happened to the people at the aid station we tried....it didn’t start. Shit. A lady came up to us and said some officers were coming to help us- meantime people were still running the course right next to the car- it was the run turnaround, grabbing and throwing cups, gu’s and sponges at the car (kinda- the bins next to it anyway). A few guys came to help and they concluded that it wasn’t the battery- oh oh. One of them was talking to the other and mentioned something about fuel. “it was on empty!” I said. It turns out, the angle that the car was slanted on because of the slight ditch we were parked on the side of, meant the fuel in the tank was on the opposite side to go into the engine. One guy left to get us a jerry and then a few national Weight lifters came to our aid and we pushed the car onto the flat. After refuelling it started and we were off to go get petrol!! We were applauded by everyone at the aid station and our other helpers. What a debarcle.

We assured them we wouldn’t park there again next year. Sorry about the lack of actual race coverage. The car was the interesting bit. Kansas was nothing like we expected. It was so green and full of rolling hills, beautiful actually. A bit different to the brown, dry, flat desert we were told it was going to be.

Next is Buffalo Springs, Texas in 2 weeks time.

Kat

Thursday 11 June 2009

Well we made it to Boulder. 2 weeks later we are off again to Kansas for my big 70.3 Debut. I bought some Zipp 808’s just the other day so i’m excited about giving them a hit. It should help having race wheels. Training in Boulder hasn’t been the best because it has been fricken raining the whole time! Apparently unusual- it hasn’t been that fun riding. Swimming has been going well though as has gym and running pretty good. Because of the altitude though we cant go too hard- we haven’t done the mile repeats yet for example.
Kansas is 8 hours away and we are just in the middle of the drive now. Its dead flat and very boring. It will be interesting to see how we race off training at altitude and having a race under our belt now. Should be fun.

To Boulder!

Well the Half has been run and won. I was estatic to find out i had broken the course record by 25mins! I had a killer bike. The swim was pretty good, concidering i wasn’t sitting on- it was all me. The run was actually a bit of a disaster because i was cramping in my quads the whole time but i trucked on and actually managed a reasonable time on that particular course. I am very happy with how well our training has prepared us. We are off to Boulder now in the big Dodge Caravan we bought for $500! It is rock solid with a V6 engine, very powerful and ensures that we don’t get dropped on the climbs. Unfortunately the first car we bought, a Subaru loyal pretty much blew up on us 4 times, so we decided not to use it last minute and bought this. Money well spent on the dodge. Its also cool because we figured out too that you can drive it without the key! Ha. You just start it up by twisting the key hole. Pretty cool- especially if you tend to loose keys. So we are half way through our trip- staying in a cheap hotel we booked on hotwire in Salt Lake City.

Kat & Mick - Worlds Toughest Half- Auburn Half Ironman, California 31 May 2009


Course Record by 25min - Race #1 accomplished

Well, I’m finally fit and racing again over here in the USA. 5weeks back into it and I’m happy to say the hip is recovered and training seems to be going well. My first race back was Auburn Half Ironman, also known as the ‘Worlds Toughest Half’ with 6000ft of climbing on the bike course. Steve Larson, one of the best triathlete cyclists, managed a 2.36 for the 90k which is saying something. The race definitely lived up to the hype and the bike course was one of the toughest but the most beautiful that i have ever done. The run wasn’t too bad- still with a bit of climbing but after that ride your legs are shot!

The swim went well, all of the women and the relay teams started together 5 min after the men. The good thing about this was that i never really had to sight where to go. I actually had a good swim. I was out in front (except for some relay teams who i tried to stay with but they took off like mad men) this actually was good for me as usually i’m just trying to sit on feet which never really works. I got into a rhythm and came out by myself with a 28min.

Onto the bike and i was prepared- i just got in my granny gear for every climb knowing there was more to come. This paid off as towards the second half there were a lot of men blowing when i was just getting comfortable. It was actually scary at one point, on a skinny road a little ferret thing ran onto the road- they do it all the time here, normally they are quick and cross before you get there but this one was late and saw us so stopped in the middle of the road so we slammed on our brakes, so it couldn’d run into our wheels (i’ve heard horror stories of that happening to people), and the other guy behind me who saw it too, for some reason or another his back tyre popped and he came skidding down the road- i really thought he was going to crash right into me but he managed to hold it up and we were all ok. Anyway- i managed a 2.55 on the course which i was estatic about. I really didn’t think i would be doing much under 3.15.

Onto the run and i was in first place. I hoped that my ride would give me a big enough buffer as to hold off the runners. I felt good for the first 3 miles and then it hit. My legs were cactus and my quads were cramping up. The hills really paid a toll. I really wanted to win this race though because it was a free return flight to anywhere in the US. And when i saw a girl close at the turnaround of the first 10k loop i started to get a bit nervous. She didn’t come around me for the second loop and then with about 2miles to go i saw she was even closer so i just put everything into it to keep her away- she couldn’t take it now after so long! I was hurting pretty bad but i pushed on up the hill to finish 1st !

I ended up finishing with a 1.42 run which was also pretty awesome on this course and a 5.07 overall time which broke the course record by 25mins!!! I learnt then too that the girl behind me wasn’t even in my race- she was doing the duathlon. (there were a number of races being held at the same time). I’m glad she was there though.

Micko did really well too, he was first out of the water and then first off the bike by 15min! He had matched the bike time ridden by Steve Larson which was truely amazing, he was running great too and then finished in second by 6mins only to be told that he had been wrongly told to an extra loop of the run course twice instead of just once- which would have taken off 8mins or more which could have made for a very cool win. Its all Ironman training. Next up is Kansas 70.3 in 2 weeks.
Kat

Before The first race

So Training has been going really well. Mick and I have been in Reno for 5 weeks now smashing out some solid weeks to prepare us for Auburn Half Ironman- The Worlds Toughest. I have been getting steadily fitter, with times for running, swimming and riding up the ‘bergs dropping considerably. Generally its just Mick and I training by ourselves, although we have been swimming with masters and riding occasionally some big weekends with another local, Nenad, and his friends from Yugoslavia.

The USA 2009

Well. I've returned to the USA.

Last year was so awesome i just couldn't pass on the opportunity to go again.

So Micko and i set off to LA. Where we visited Mel and Ryan (Micko's sis and boyfirend). We stayed in Westwood- a very expensive part of town but unfortunately wasn't the best for training. We got some good sun though.

We stayed for a week before we decided it was time to stop holidaing and start training. We were getting restless. So we hired a car and headed off for the mountains. Reno, Nevada.

Once we arrived we wasted no time and got straight into training. The first race on the calender was Wildflower. I never really planned on doing it. And after only a week of training after practically 5mths of only consistant swimming i wasn't prepared to run 13miles. So i did the swim/bike and ended it there.

The race calender looks like this:

Auburn Half Ironman May 31Ironman

70.3 Kansas June 14Ironman 70.3

Buffalo Springs (Texas) June 28

Boulder Peak Triathlon July 12

Boulder 5430 August 9

Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens (Washington) August 16

Ironman Canada August 30

Pacific Grove (Tri-Cal) September 12

Ironman 70.3 Cancun September 20

Scott Tinley's October 4

So I will update as appropriate. For now my hip is ok. it has its good and bad days. I have found an awesome therapist here and it seems to be helping. But training is going awesome.

All i need now are some sponsors and it will be all good. The doller isn't good this year and i haven't come over with much. Work hard and you will be rewarded. Life is a great big challenge.

Back in Aus. Ironman + the Hip

Back in Aus i felt good. The Altitude in Boulder and Rneo definately helps.

1st Overall Sri Chinmoy long course Triathlon, 26 Oct
1st Pro Shepparton Half Ironman, 16 Nov

My first 2 half ironman races in Aus were a wipeout for me. I was in good shape preparing for my first Ironman. Ironman WA.

3rd Pro Busselton Ironman, 7th Dec

It was amazing. I wasn't expecting anything especially concidering that a couple of weeks out my hips were giving out. I had one that was bothering me for several months, and a few weeks out from Ironman my other hip gave out. I was a mess. But i had trained so hard and too long for this i was doing it. I was proud of my 4.58 bike split and my 3.37 run. It was unbelievable for me.

After wards i went to get treatment from more people for more opinions. The verdict: i had a dead glute Min. It was dead. The glute med had been so overworked it had taken over any work of the min. 5 mths of not much running or riding- just swimming- and extensive accupuncture. It seemed to be improving. Finally. 5 mths!

THE USA!! April-September 2008

My first experience training and racing over seas.

I went to Reno, Nevada and i personally think it is one of the best places to train. I love the mountains to ride in, a nice flat trail run and masters to swim with. The weather is always perfect- with a bit of wind which can be annoying but makes you even stronger.

my races were

10th Pro Wildflower Half Ironman, 4 May
3rd Pro Memphis in May Triathlon, 18 May
12th Pro Escape From Alcatraz, 8 June
2nd Pro Oregon Pacific Crest Half Ironman, 29 June
4th Pro Boulder Half Ironman, 10 Aug
11th Pro Chicago International Triathlon, 24 Aug

This was an awesome first season as a pro for me. We also went to Boulder, Colorado. It was awesome. I was injured a few times with various things. All to do with one leg- originating from the hip. agh. we'll get to that later.

Mooloolaba 2008

My first race back was Mooloolaba March 2008. However i cramped again! I decided something needed to be done about this cramping situation and i brought it down to an overactive TFL. That seemed to help.

My New Start - January 2008

After Breaking my arm that night- after i wrote the Japanese Blog i gave up triathlon for a bit.

I just rode. I was selected for a national talent identification team for cycling with the ACT academy of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport. Long story short- i wasn't keen on Track Cycling and the most that i achieved was a 3rd Place U23 in the Time Trial at the Australian National Road Cycling Chapionships- off training on the Velodrome. From there I decided Triathlon really was my sport and i began running again after 6mths from the sport.