Albany adventures

Looks like the bullying worked… Sean finally graced his own blog with a guest appearance! Read his race report below; another day, another win!

Last week’s recap;

Monday Back to swim squad with Stadium Tri Club and despite being easy week, I still found myself having to work pretty hard. Seems everyone in the squads i swim with have taken a step up and I seem to be plateauing dang it! I had to work had and finished with 3.2km which seems to be the distance every session is these days and I’m not even getting out early! Hopefully some 4km+ sessions will be coming back into my life soon.

Tuesday Sue and I decided to join Bulldog’s ride again and unfortunately for me I got dropped after pretty much 5 minutes! Managed to get back on at various stages and finished with a pretty good ride. Tonight I had long run but with the heat and race this weekend, plus a special lady to pick up from the city, Sue and I joined Stadium for a quick 45-minute run in Kings Park with a couple of hills thrown in. After sweating it out a little, I picked up my best friend Leila who is in town for one night only! Hello lady!

All the hottest guys in town were queuing up to join us, but only the most handsome was allowed in.

So fun times ensued, Sean cooked us dinner (well, he chopped some chicken and conveniently disappeared and amazingly by the time he reemerged, dinner was ready) and Mum, Leila, Sean, Oscar and I had a fun catch up.

Wednesday was rest day so I could maximise time hanging out with Leils. We went for breakfast at Bouchard which was pretty yummy, but the atmosphere looking over the city is so nice there and my plans for further convincing Leils to move home were falling to place… muhahahahaha. Night was spent eating salmon and sadly dropping Leila back to the Duxton so she could make her merry way back to Dubai boo hoo. Come back soon please!

Thursday I was starting to really get into easy week! Sue and I rode from my house around Mt Henry and nattered the whole way, it was fun. We stopped off to say hello to a couple of gems dining at Brew Ha (hello Sandy, Rich, Owe, Nera etc!) and had some energy left by the time we dismounted our trusty steeds. Tonight was supposed to be an easyish run with Robyn’s group, but it was sooo grossly hot, Sean and I went to Cottesloe for a swim and fish n chips instead – glorious. Such a fun night!

Friday started off with my favourite session – Deli Chi Chi! And a little swim first, 3.2km (again!) and Anna and Chris made me lead a couple of sets, so not used to that position but they were having fun after Rotto and I was forced to take charge. I don’t think I liked it. Managed to force Bulldog into taking one set which was quite awesome, he got totally lost, ended up in another pool and was found crying for mummy later. Boy doesn’t know how to handle without a set of feet to follow. Funny!

Then i was off for a day of fun, taking a workshop at the Perth Writers’ Festival. It was fantastic and so inspiring to listen to editors, publishers, fellow writers all tell how they made it in publishing. It was at UWA too, which is such an incredible setting and just being there I felt instantly more scholarly. See how pretty it is!

Friday night was spent at the moofies, we saw The Blind Side and it was fantastic. Go see it. Now. Sandra Bullock was kick ass good, quite Erin Brockovich in her characterisation and I loved it.

Saturday Road trip to Albany which was fun, coffees from Brew Ha, fun tunes to singalong to and only one pee stop (quite a triumph for ole peanut bladder – me, not Sean, man is a camel). We had a quick lunch at Venice Cafe on the main strip of Albany (their soup was soo good!) and arrived at the Pelican Holiday Villas which was quite nice (although lady owner was rather rude!). We had a walk down to the beach which was a bit wild and I was praying they wouldn’t convert things into a duathlon (could kiss a win goodbye if that happened!). Night was spent eating pasta, shooting the breeze and watching a chick flick hehe sorry guys the girls were totally in control of the remote.

Sunday was race day. Hurrah! Swim was on even though it still looked a little gnarly. We got to wear our wetsuits though, despite the water feeling pretty warm. I had a good start, rough ocean seems to suit me and I managed to stay in touch with superfish Kylie English which was great. We even caught some of the open girls who had set off 3 mins earlier which was pretty cool. The ride was windy!! And hilly, always a fun combination. Had lots of guys pass me after I’d passed them in the swim and got lots of nice hellos and I feebly tried to keep up with them. Saw Sean looking good with James Lewin and him duelling for front spot and the bike machine Brynt chasing them down like a man possessed. Finally finishing the bike and not too much damage done (think only Rach Smith passed me? Nice one!) I entered the run feeling pretty good. Loretta Wesley passed me straight away but i managed to keep her in sight for a lot longer than usual! The run was 2 laps, out and back, so I could see my opposition chasing me down. I felt pretty awful on the way back on lap 1 and wished i’d had another gel to take, my energy was lagging. But i held on, had a few powerades at each aid station and managed to hold off my training bud, Sue, just by about a minute. She was running so fast! Dang I think she’s foxing me in training! I also won my age group by 6 minutes which was awesome although i know i have a lot more work to do on the bike and run to get under 5 hours at Busso. Thanks for a fantastic race, Albany!

Sunday night…

Dave with his arm candy for the evening, Sue, Kat, me and Sandy!

Monday seeing as it was a public holiday, this can be included in last week! We got together for a ride around Albany to loosen up the legs after a hard race. We rode out to the Gap which was very cool! Pity about the testosterone levels of a couple members of the group (cough, TIM, cough) which split us up riding home but my girl, Sue, waited for me and helped my poor, tired legs get home in one piece. Here’s us at the Gap!

Hehehe David forgot his cycle kit so had to ride in his tri suit and sperm helmet. Funny. Dale was totally jealous of my blonde ponytail too, his has been lacking in shine lately so I gave him some tips. It’s all about the deep conditioning treatment, keep your eyes peeled for C)4u brand it’s amaze.

Now it’s back to business, hard week again and body is feeling it already. Seeing as it’s Thursday, enjoy your weekend!

Lisa xo

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Love is grande, congrats Dave & Sue 25 years!

Hey all,

Firstly, congratulations to Sue and David Laidlaw who celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary tomorrow (wednesday 24th Feb)! We had a very fun Saturday night partying with them, pics later in the post…

Last week felt a lot easier, not sure if this meant I am getting fitter or I was just being a bit slack in my sessions? But i just wasn’t as weary – yay!

Monday was glorious rest day, after a big weekend and a semi meltdown Sunday afternoon, I was a new person on Monday! Especially when Sean took me out to dinner at Balthazar and dessert at the new San Churro in Subiaco (omg, you must try it, delicious).

Tuesday morning it was mystery ride again and Sue took me down to the South Perth Rollers ride. They were a great bunch, very friendly, consistent pace and we really enjoyed it. They even waited up if people got dropped? Wow, this is what a group ride should be! Will definitely go back. Got in about 50km with a solid average about 31kph.

Tuesday pm is always my most dreaded session! Long run. We had 80 minutes to complete today and i was already tired but i met Sue and we conquered it anyway. A big lap around Kings Park followed by extra minutes to Jo Jos cafe to get in our minutes wasn’t as bad as i’d thought it would be. Gu Chomps and good chats made it a lot easier, but still glad to have it done! I think we got in about 15km? Sean cooked dinner tonight as per my instructions and he nailed it!

Wednesday am A fairly nice and easy swim squad with Tanhem squad as they were gearing up for the Rotto swim. I made sure i got in 3km and there was a few hard 100s in there. The guys were flying, they will be so fast on Saturday!

Wednesday pm No training! Movies with Clare and Nathan, saw Valentine’s Day and honestly, it was just “meh”, not as good as i thought it would be and certainly not in the same class as Love Actually. But I am definitely going to see “Dear John” in the near future, looks totally up my alley! Fun night )

Thursday am and pm 53km cycle with Narrows this morning, not too hard although there were a few fast sections. Had a massage in lunch break, so running tonight was just 5km with a few pick ups as per coach Robyn’s instructions. I actually felt quite good doing this and Robyn said my legs would thank me later! Hopefully they do, ungrateful little things that they are ;o)

Friday am was kind of a walk in the park, because the Rotto guys were just there to turn there arms over. We did a swift 2.1km before jumping out for an early breakfast, which was fun as per usual! Even Sean came because we went so early and I dropped him into work. What a fun start to the day!

Saturday am was a big session, we had a 70km ride with a 20 min run off the bike planned. Ended up with 71km (I know, total overachiever, don’t hate) which only 4 of the group finished! Sue, David, YaYa and I did some solid turns and i was pretty stuffed by the end, but still had to do a 20 minute run. And Sean was already at Atomic waiting for us! But somehow we got ourselves together and ran a smidge over 20 minutes before settling in for a well-deserved coffee and muffin at Atomic. The 20 minute run actually felt very comfortable – could i possibly be improving at the ole running? I won’t count my chickens or anything, but I’m hopeful!

Saturday night was where the action was at! I didn’t train Sunday, although i had a planned run as i set off on run and foot was sore, so i feel the need to nurture the plantar fascia band til next run on tuesday. So I’ll finish with some pics from Saturday night, Sue and David’s 25th wedding anniversary party!

See y’all next week after the Albany race! Sean and I are going down with half the Stadium tri club so hopefully we’ll see a few podiums from the gang! Good luck everyone racing and best of luck to all the lovely ladies giving the women’s tri a go this Sunday! Just enjoy it!!

Lisa xo

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Karri Valley, week of hell, Hillarys

Hello all! Long time no speak, i aim to make amends!

Karri Valley Triathlon 2010 has been run and won, thankfully by husbando once again – yahoo! But he can tell y’all about that coz i want some time in the sun!

My first triathlon for the season and i had low expectations. My bike had been terrible in weeks leading up to the race despite putting in a lot of effort. I may have even been reduced to a few self-pitying tears at the end of one particularly painful ride. What was wrong, who was to blame – back, legs, bike, Sean? Turns out – me!

Peoples, if you’re having a harder time than usual on your bike and you don’t know why, learn from my mistakes and check your tyres. Yup, 60 psi is apparently not the best for fast cycling. Dang. But the upside – once Sean pumped them up to 110-120 psi it was like God himself kissed my legs and willed them to be strong and fast (relative to previous strength and speed, i did not morph into Lance Armstrong or the female version of the great man).

So Karri Valley race report – swim was very good, managed to take first out of the water from some pretty handy swimmers before being passed just before transition. Headed out onto the bike in 2nd place and felt ready to take the pain. But amazingly, with pumped tyres this time I actually felt like i conquered the Karri Valley bike course. I still got passed by about 5 or 6 speedy ladies but no matter, i still felt good! The run started off a little hazy but i soon found my legs and felt really comfortable trotting around the trails. Nice big smiles for fellow competitors! Hello! High five! Weeeee!

And then i finished and got really happy because i managed to win my age group, yewwww! Kicking back with everyone after the race at the KV cabins is always lots of fun and party at the bar was fun too (not as much goss as usual, but still fun, guess the crowd is maturing a little).

The past week Sue and I embarked on our first week of 12 programmed weeks leading up to the Half. And did it ever hurt. Monday was rest day and we had dinner at the Laidlaws – vegetarian so Sean thought he might possibly starve, but turns out he survived the ordeal.

Tuesday am we rode with Bulldog’s Floreat group and we kept up! Marvellous pumped up tyres, how i love thee. Ended up with a smoking hot average (33.3kph) and we were happy chappies. Tuesday pm was long run and we went along to Matilda Bay for Stadium’s mob run which was tough. Sue and I had 70 minutes to knock off and we did ok but the 35 min turn around point couldn’t have come soon enough. Lots of chatting helped us get home!

Wednesday am swim squad with the Tanhem guys but i was lacking lustre unfortunately. Kept trying but body was exhausted from previous day’s efforts i think. Rest tonight, hurrah!

Thursday am 60km cycle with the Narrows group which was pretty good. The group is kind of erratic so we’re looking at other groups to hang out with at the mo. Sad because we have lots of good buds on the ride, but too many randoms doing dangerous shizz.

Thursday pm Robyn’s interval running with the ladies. This was a hard session and Robyn added the mental challenge of not telling us the whole session straight up. We started with a 1.5km warm up then drills, then we sunk our teeth into 4 x 800s on 4mins30. I felt quite good and found myself in an unfamiliar position – at the front! Then we had 4 x 200s where my pace didn’t change so i was a bit behind before Robyn revealed the killer – 4 more 800s. Nooooooo!!! I wasn’t prepared and there was  nowhere to hide, i had already laid out my cards in the first round. Fortunately the 3 other ladies i ran with were in the same boat and we begged for mercy. Robyn is a tough woman, but fair (or maybe she just got sick of us carrying on, who knows?) and she let us off one – so 3 x 800s finished the session. Then i went home and collapsed where Sean had started the dinner, i love him.

Friday am This morning led me to question what i knew about the world when Peter declared a 1km time trial on a Friday. Say what?! Friday is for fun, frivolous sessions where we frolick and flounder if we have nothing else! And it’s really all about the coffee at the end. Then i saw Bulldog arrive and this made me laugh, sucker. First session with us and he gets a time trial! But turns out he was my partner-in-crime, revolting against the Friday wrong-doing. We put our fins on and cruised through the 1km.

Friday pm was supposed to be rest but it ended up being party town at Rod’s 40th. Sean had a couple of cocktails and could have been anybody’s, while i had one and still felt a little woozy. Rod knows how to throw a party! Reasonably late night, which i knew had the potential to hurt me for the rest of the weekend. It did.

Saturday am was long ride time. I was going to get in a longer warm up before hand but felt like death when i woke up so headed straight down to Narrows to meet the gang. I left a crumpled Sean in bed, although apparently he did get up which shows nerve of steel! Sue and David were both there and we set off around the river before a small group of us carried on for the Shelley loop. The Shelley loop was brilliant, rolling turns very smoothly and it was a good solid ride. 75km hard in the tank and i was stuffed for the rest of the day. Went along to coach the women’s tri course at Hillarys which was good fun and hopefully imparted some sort of wisdom upon them!

Saturday night was my little cousin’s 11th bday party… soooo cute she just had a couple friends, us and my aunt and uncle out for dinner before they went to some fireworks display at Scarborough. Here is an adorable pic of when the staff switch off some lights, cranked up “Hap-py birthday to ya, happy birthday” and the whole restaurant clapped and sang. Was she a little embarrassed? Yup, we were all in hysterics it was hilarious. Here she is giggling and blushing madly, gorgeous no?

And to prove we were in on the fun, here’s my gorgeous aunt and i…And the Hillary’s race the next morning??? After a massive training week, i knew not to expect much but i still wanted to take my age group out. So I got stuck into the swim and had a fairly good start, although not much spark. Bike was really tough, my legs were screaming but i managed to push through the pain because I knew my mum, stepdad and dog Oscar were there cheering and I couldn’t let them down! I got off the bike in reasonable shape and still leading age group. Run honestly felt ok, but i was weary and it was hot. My time was nearly 2 mins slower than the run section from last year, so obviously my weariness was worse than i though. I also got passed by two 25-29 competitors in the final couple km of the run which was a bummer. I know i would have won if i was tapered, but hey, end goal is the half ironman and it was a training race so i can’t get down about it. There’s still 11 weeks to go! Big week and Sunday afternoon i was pretty much a mess and needed to lie down and sleep. Sean was lovely and very understanding, but sometimes it all gets a bit much and the only thing to do is hit the sack.

Later on Sunday night we went to Moonlight Cinemas with a picnic (i made chocolate mousse! it was a flop, more like chocolate ganache) and watched New York, I love you. Neither of us liked it, it was very kooky, lots of little stories that weren’t connected and didn’t stand up alone. But it was really nice on a hot night to be in the middle of Kings Park with yummy food and my love. And Clare made us cute cupcakes! The Red Fox is a gem.

Happy training and see you all in a week or so! xo

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City of Perth pics

Hello blog friends!!

Sorry i haven’t been around, but the good news is – it’s because i’ve been training my ass off! More on that in the next post… for now check out the race that was and the “excitement machine” who rocks my world. If anyone else was there watching, the second lap of the run was where it was at. Kenji had a sensational race, but when Sean came around on lap 2 and I saw him smiling and looking so comfortable, i knew Kenji would have to pull out something special to beat him. Luckily for us and Team O’Neill, he didn’t and Sean’s experience and strength saw another fantastic win. In pictures…

Congrats to all who competed, it wasn’t as big as last year but just as exciting! Great perfomances. See you all at Hillarys this weekend for round 3! My first Trievents race of the season, i’m pumped! Let’s hope for a three from three for Sean, should be exciting.

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Ode to Oscar

Last week was kinda special because i got to hang out with my main man, the one who was always there before Sean came into my life, waiting with open arms (err legs, err paws?). A little hairer and with breath that could knock you out (kinda goes with the territory i guess), our family dog Oscar is the biggest darling ever. And we got to doggy-sit for him last week while my mum and stepdad were over east. Woohoo! And we had airconditioning, a luxury so very missed in our current home with only an oscillating fan to help wipe the dripping sweat from over over-heated bodies.

So I was up to swimming Monday morning last time we chatted… i got my time wrong too and it was better than i thought! Take 10 seconds off every split – note I was only 1 second behind Sean at the 500m mark, niiiice.

Tuesday morning was a ride with the Floreat guys at 5.30am which turned out to be great due to the big guns not being there (phew!). Managed a chat with Stuweena, my Kimmy, big Kimbo the Kahuna and my boss’s brother which was kind of weird!! I also managed my fastest group ride split over the 53km river loop, 33kph! Wow! It was a lovely calm morning so that helped, but it was also the hottest i’ve ever ridden in – I felt like i was in the desert and couldn’t drink enough.

In the evening we took Oscar to the beach after Sean’s interval session (i declined at 40 degrees – mama don’t do oven running) with Glenny. He was tres adorable apart from stealing our pal from UWA tri club, Nick’s dog’s tennis ball (tres embarrassing, sorry Nick!). Oh and pooping in full view of everyone which i dutifully picked up with doggie bag while Sean and Glenn laugh from the surf.

And then, every dog has his day… the shower to follow.

Wednesday morning, i had to coach the women’s tri group for Lou as she coached my girls sunday. I was bummed to miss out on Tanhem squad though as they did 100 x 50s and it actually looked like a great fun set. Tonight’s yoga again, kicked my booty. Vinyasa overload and i even did bend back push ups which blew my mind and my shoulder muscles.

Thursday morning Sue came with me to the Floreat group again but my legs felt smashed today! Bulldog, Glenn, Fronk and Big Jim were there driving the train and my poor wee legs couldn’t take the pounding. Despite gritting my teeth and thinking positive i was off the back with tail between legs. Lucky for me, Sue waited up (is there anything this woman won’t do for a friend – back off y’all thinking about stealing her she’s all mine and maybe David’s sometimes!) and so did Kimmy but Kimmy soon left for a better offer of breakfast with friend. Sue and I had a lovely chatty ride back (except for strong wind) and had coffee at Little Pantry on Nicholson Road in Subiaco. For all of you disgusted with Perth coffee prices – get thee to Little Pantry. Delicious Italian coffee beans and only $2.50 for a proper sized cup. Yum.

Thursday night I paid Sue back by joining her at Robyn Scott’s interval session. This time she did not wait up and proceeded to kick booty while i tried my best not to be last (I wasn’t, yay!). We brought Oscar down and he warmed up and cooled down with us and made all the ladies swoon coz that’s how he rolls.

That’s the fabulous Sue with Oscar there in case you didn’t know the lady – she’s pretty fabulous right?

Friday morning I was at swimming yay! But i was stuffed, body is starting to get tired with all of this training. I did a 400m time trial and could only manage a 5.36 – embarrassing! I should be doing at least 520 but hey, when you’re stuffed, you do what you can. Sean was ridiculously fast but that’s all i’m sayin’ coz boy needs to update his own stuff! No coffee this morning as we needed to feed Oscar before work.

Friday night we celebrated David’s (Laidlaw) birthday and we made him pizza and fed him pie and ice cream too… he rolled home but we had lots of fun!!

Saturday morning i stupidly waited til 9am to run and nearly died from the heat! I ran around Kings Park and managed close to my goal of 5min30 pace on the hilly run. I did 5.39 (garmin power) for 10km, finishing in 56mins something. I was proud for doing it, but had a red face for about 3 hours following.

We also ventured out to the sticks to get some new frozen yoghurt i was told about at work – Madzoon. This is GOOD stuff! I wish it was closer to us.

That’s proper yoghurt with all the ABC schtuff in it (i’ll do a proper report in Scoop if you’re interested) and it was latte flavoured with brazil nuts, white choc chips and cookie pieces on top. Sean and i shared and fought each other for the last spoonful, it was that good.

Sunday morning it hurt baaaaaad to get up after our good friends Nat and Linc’s engagement party on sat night. But i did it and completed the Stadium hills ride which felt like quite the accomplishment considering it was bloody hot, windy and i was pretty much the slowest hill rider to be. Seriously, i watched ants trotting up Welshpool Road faster than me, it wasn’t pretty. Luckily i redeemed self slightly on Abernethy flat section and rode quite well. I was a grumpy biatch by the time i got home, completely exhausted and needed to lie down while Sean ran and hid.

This past Monday we had a rest day after the big weekend and we also wanted to cook my stepmum dinner which was a good fun.

Tuesday was Australia Day and we started off well, meeting the Loudlaws, the Zundogs, the Prices, Karlos and Ben for a run at City Beach. Sue, Dave and I trotted together and chatted through our hour run while the boys ran off ahead. Big up to Dave Price who ran in reefs because he forgot his thongs and kept up with a fast mob of blokes. Questionable fashion sense Dave (sorry but who wears reefs anymore? get thee to the havaiana store), but admirable dedication.

After this we had a quick swim which was in no uncertain terms – delicious and possibly the best moment of the day. City Beach has such clear water I love it. I like knowing what’s beneath me and whether i can outswim it. Breakfast at Oceanus cafe – dismal. Seriously, those dudes need to learn to like their customers who give them money. I won’t be giving my hard-earned cash to them anytime soon, that’s for sure.

The rest of the day was very social, involved watching the crits in perth, meeting Kimmy’s new love (who is stealing her to New Zealand, omg!), having crayfish with neighbours, watching some more tennis (i heart tennis and especially the Fed) making supercharge me cookies and soaking up public holiday goodness!

Wednesday, we slept in. Lazy i know. Yoga kicked my booty again to make up for it. I can now get my nose to my knees i am that flexible, sorry i am already married, you’re too late.

Thursday morning I got up early to get in some kilometres before the Atomic ride and managed 59km for the day. I was stuffed again which really bugged me as I really want to show off to the old guys i ride with. They used to think i was a total riding beast and i want that back coz who doesn’t like a good old ego stroke. When you’re married to Sean, god of all things exercise, you need to get your kicks where you can. Alas, not this morning I only just held on and Sue said, all jolly-like, “wasn’t it nice and easy this morning?” Not so much. Sigh, where oh where is my cycling mojo? Hope it comes back soon.

Thursday night was intervals at Robyn’s squad and i wasn’t expecting much after the legs dismal performance this morning. But they were ok! I was proud of them, obviously legs are just not into the cycling right now. I ran quite well, despite the heat and humidity and we got in approx 8km with 5.8km being intervals. Sue ran with me tonight due to her racing at Perth this weekend and while i was absolutely smashed, she proclaimed to love taper time. Grrrrrrr… twice in one day!!

Friday morning (this morning!) was back to Tanhem squad for a beast of a swim set – 30 x 100s on 1.30. They don’t do things by halves. I did 20 hard and for the middle 10 put on fins and did kick. But for the 20 hard, i held 1.20-1.22 which was great as i was knackered from previous day and hadn’t done much swimming. Sharing muffins with Graham at Deli Chi Chi was the highlight though, obvi. We had a fun chat as always and the girls were in full force story-telling with Anna, Sue and Katherine all there. Fun times.

Tonight i finally get to hang out with Kimmy after her NZ suitor came to perth the past week! And a guest appearance from Mr Dog himself later on.

Can’t wait to watch Sean race on Sunday, with tough competition it should be unreal. GO SEANY!!!!!! Dave and Sue racing too, so cheer loudly y’all and come say hi, if you can’t see me listen for the big voice, albeit high pitched.

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Holiday extravaganza

So we had a pretty fabulous break this year. I had two weeks off, Sean had one and a half and we had some very fun adventures. Now we’re both fired up for our goals for this year. Sean is going to kick some butt in the remaining adventure racing races in NZ and hopefully Forster as well, while I have signed up for another Half Ironman with the goal of beating last year’s time and going under 5 hours! Let the training begin (ahh, for me anyway – somebody trained even in Coral Bay)!!

Here is our holidays in pics for those of you that are interested in our life outside of training and racing!

NB: Sean was taking the above pic!

The end… see y’all next Monday for the first update of my Half Ironman training and I’ll work on Sean to get some communication happening with y’all too… I’m sure there’s a couple of our thousands of readers that are interested in Sean’s side of the story. What’s with all the echoing? Hello? Is anyone still there?

Come back!!!! Happy 2010 everyone, we’re absolutely positive it’s going to be the best yet!

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Rockingham State Sprint Champs

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a fun and safe festive season. I’m going to try and get two posts up for Rockingham (just a brief few pics and quick report on Sean’s win from my side!) and one quick picture post on our holiday to remind us we are sometimes normal people.

So it looks like the state champ stiiiill hasn’t written a race report… I’ll try and fill the void!

My bud Nadia and I rode down to Rockingham and it was lovely, just my type of ride, lots of chatting, blue sky and perfect temperature and knowing i didn’t have to race! We got there in plenty of time and the conditions looked perfect, no wind, flat ocean although it was promising to be pretty hot on the run.

Now, I didn’t have high hopes for Sean today. He’s been doing long distance stuff for Anaconda and it was only a couple weeks prior that he had his last race. He also had a very sore hamstring that had him do this hilarious skipping/hopping thing trying to keep up with me on a training run. I will put that sweet memory away for safekeeping, Sean eating my dust for a change! So he had a bit of an audience with my cousin Fleur, her fiancee Ricky, mum, my stepdad Paul and the pooch Oscar all down to cheer him on. But could he do any damage with a less than ideal preparation?

The swim didn’t really split things up much, one of our training pals (ha! “our” i say hello at the beginning of a run before him and Sean are but a cloud of dust on the horizon) James Lewin came out of the swim first with the majority of the top guys hot on his heels. Sean was up there and gave us a smile as he headed into transition, only about 10 secs down on James and in good company.

After the first lap of the bike, Sean came through in the lead with Kenji and another (sorry forgotten who!) on his tail. I knew Kenji would be hanging on for dear life as let’s face it, Sean’s quads are about double the size of Kenji’s, so I screamed at Sean to drop him quickly. Coz he listens to me like, all the time (?), he actually did do just that. Brynt seemed a fair way back and being Sean’s main competition on the bike leg (boy can ride!), it was looking good there. Paul Mackay wasn’t anywhere to be seen which was a bit disappointing as he had a great win here last year.

So coming off the bike, I couldn’t believe my eyes – Sean had a huge lead. Where did this bike come from? Obviously Sean was trying to make up for the mt bike leg in Lorne which lost him the race as this was the best I’ve ever seen Sean ride and I was excited. Like scaring small children watching their parents excited. Like losing my voice for three days excited (although husky voices are sooo seksi, right?).

Anyway, Kenji, Brynt, Lajos and James were in hot pursuit of the husband coming off the bike but he had managed to create a 40 second buffer. Coming back past the crowd with only 2km to go, Kenji had made a big dent into Sean’s lead and was only about 10 secs back. Sean’s support crew was screaming at him to hang on and i was worried at this point. Could the dodgy hammie hold up?

This is a happy man who held on for victory! Sean is very determined and surprised me big time by keeping Kenji at bay. After losing out the state sprint champ title the past couple of years, it must have felt good to be back on the winner’s podium. And he did it in style, a very clever race. I am still recovering from the excitement!

I can’t wait to see how Sean races with some good running training under his belt with coach Jon Kappler. Could this be his best season yet? I’m thinking definitely. Look out boys, you’re going to have to train hard to be Sean this year!!

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Lorne and Melbourne, round two

The night before race day we had our lovely friend Megs come down from Melbourne to hang out and help cheer on Sean! Here’s some pics of the night before…

Race day…

Sightseeing, the holiday begins!!

Yes that is a creepy face, Sean was scared.

Next race is Rockingham which Sean is doing an me… undecided. I will probably be taking loads of happy snaps to supplement Sean’s race report!! This weekend is UBER family weekend, with my British cousin and fiancee arriving, Sean’s parents in town and my bestestest friend in the whole world flying in from Dubai with her fiancee. Holler if you’re pumpeddddd!!!!

Have a great Friday and weekend y’all, hope you enjoyed the photo session.

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Lorne & Melbourne in pictures

Hi all!

Hopefully you’ve all had a chance to read Sean’s race report. He was pretty awesome on race day with a lot of improvements evident. It took a fantastic race from Grant Suckling to beat him and I have to say, if anyone beat Sean I am glad it was Grant because he is a top bloke. Just hope he doesn’t do it again o)

So here’s our 5 day holiday (well with a little bit of “work” for Sean!) in pictures, hope you enjoy!

Alright, people be back for round two tomorrow as I’ve run out of time… come back Thursday afternoon for race pics!!!

Lisa xo

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Little downtime

So while Sean is still cranking for Anaconda Lorne (which I’m going along to too! Woo hoo!), there’s been a little downtime happening in the female zone of our house. Here’s a few pics of our anniversary weekend and dinner with some of our lovely friends (some of whom are also in the tri/adventure racing scene!).

Ok there’s a little social postie to keep the blog ticking over and a little somethin’ to look at to prove we’re still having fun!!

Only two weeks today and we fly out to Lorne hurrah! Have a great weekend y’all x

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