Champion Lakes Race Report

After a relatively easy week on the training track and the loan of some race wheels from a friend James Roberts i went in to todays race feeling pretty good. I have been feeling a bit average over the past few weeks trying to train for Anaconda and it feels like my body is just never recovering but today was a good sign. I got to have a sleep in for a change as they started our race at 9:30am and i was very thankful after a long day of helping my folks move house on Saturday.

The Champion Lakes race is unique in that Trievents have introduced a draft legal concept for the Open competitors making it very tactical and different from our usual hit-outs. Those with strong running legs need to have a good bike to be in a good position and those with a strong bike leg need to make some moves and create a gap before the run. Today’s conditions were perfect with no wind but the heat was a factor and proved tough by the end of the run.

I started the swim in a good position but Ben Lyons flew out of the gate and opened up a convincing lead before we even hit the first turning can. I was happy to be swimming alongside James Lewin and feeling very comfortable but i could feel the occasional tap on the feet and knew there were others close behind. At the halfway mark i decided to put in a surge and tried to continue all the way to the finish which managed to break up the field slightly.

James Lewin was by my side as we hit transition 1 and we set out on the bike course knowing that we had to work hard to hold off the likes of other strong runners in Paul Mackay and Lajos Varga. James worked extremely well and we consistently swapped turns at the front to make sure the pace remained as high as possible. After 2 laps i knew we had opened up a convincing lead and now we just had to maintain it with Brynt McSwain helping the chase group behind us. As we started the last lap i tried desperately to drop James but my attempt failed and we both cruised around for the remainder of the lap to ensure we hit the run feeling pretty good.

James had a great run down at Albany so he was always going to be hard to beat and today proved no different. I had a great transition and left with a 10m advantage but it wasn’t long before James had closed the gap and was literally breathing down my neck. We had 5×1km laps to complete and it was at the end of the 3rd lap that i tried a slight surge which proved just enough to creat a gap. I then worked hard for the next 2kms to keep the gap and extend it if possible. To James’ credit he hung in there to finish only 10sec behind and never let me back off the pace at any stage.

Once again it was a great race put on by Trievents and the crowd support was amazing with a few hundred people cheering us on every lap. I was extremely fortunate to have Lisa my biggest supporter (and loudest Cheerer), Sue and my Mum and Dad all down to watch the race. Lisa and Sue had made it part of their long training ride in preparation for the half and still had to ride home in the heat after we were done. I sometimes think she is training harder than me so i better get my act together if i want to do well at Anaconda.

So that race pretty much wraps up another triathlon season for me and probably my most successful one ever. I was fortunate enough to represent Australia at the Long Course World Champs and have since won all 6 triathlons i have entered throughout the remainder of the season. I couldn’t be any happier with the results and now i just have one more target in sight, to win the Anaconda Adventure Race Series!

I have just under 5 weeks now until i depart for New Zealand Anaconda then it’s straight back to Forster the very next weekend for the final race. My paddling is slowly coming along and i just need to make sure my body remains injury free over the remaining weeks. Thankfully i now have the support of a very experienced Sports Occupational Therapist at Langer Chiropractic who is going to sort out all my weaknesses and inefficiencies and make sure i am in top shape over the coming weeks. I have never used an Occupational Therapist before as i usually visit Physios and Chiros but so far it is working and the results are very promising. Stay tuned and i will let you know how it all goes along with the training in the lead up to Anaconda.

Seano

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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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Albany Race Report

It’s always good to get away for a long weekend and Albany was the perfect place with the hot weather up in Perth. You are guaranteed not to get hot weather down in that part of the world but the wind is another story. We set off on the long drive Saturday morning after a quick paddle and arrived at Pelicans resort in Middleton Beach just after 2pm. We stayed with a great crew from Stadium Tri Club in Tiffany &  Brendan, Owen (Spider) and Amy and spent the rest of the afternoon putting our bikes together and going for an easy ride. Annie Brinkworth called that evening and had us all worried that the race may be turned into a Duathlon due to the rough seas.

Sunday morning we all arrived with anticipation to see what the race director had decided and thankfully the swim was still on. There were a few of the usual suspects missing with Lajos, Kenji, Troy and Paul not making the journey down but James Lewin and Brynt McSwain brought their A game and would make for a tough race.

The swim was rough and after getting a fairly good start James quickly flew past and proceeded to swim off into the distance. I struggled around the 1500m course on my lonesome trying to dodge the occassional age group athlete before i was kicked square in the face and almost lost my goggles. A quick adjustment and some backstroke had me back on track and i exited the water about 45seconds down on James. I could just see him in the distance but it seemed to take ages to reel him in on the bike and i finally did so at about the 8km mark.

There was a bit of a climb just after the first turnaround so i used this to attack and establish a slight gap on James. Unfortunately the legs weren’t feeling as good as expected and he quickly wound me back in on the next downhill. I continued to ride hard knowing the Brynt would be chasing us down and couldn’t afford too much cat and mouse at this stage but my next mistake came at the halfway mark of the bike. I missed the turnaround point and continued down the road for 100m before Katrina’s dad (Doug) thankfully pointed me in the right direction. In the meantime James was back in front and i had another 200m gap to close in order to catch him. This time i cought him and waited for the next decent climb before making my final attack. It worked and i managed to hold him off for the next 15km’s back to transition were i entered with a 20sec lead. Brynt had another excellent bike and managed to close a 2min gap, hitting the final run just 10sec behind James.

I hit the run a bit worried that James might be too close and would close the gap after improving his run so much lately. I wasn’t feeling great in the first few kilometres either and my concern was justified when i turned at the 2.5km mark and found James just 50m behind. I tried to pick up the pace but it wasn’t until the 5km mark that i started to feel comfortable and really hit my stride. Thankfully it was enough to hold James off and i crossed the line with a slender 22sec lead to win the race and wrap up the TWA series. Brynt cruised home in 3rd place and i think everyone that finished this race did a great job in such tough conditions. Lisa was absolutely stoked with 1st place in her age group and both Owen and Brendan who were staying with us posted great times for their first ever Olympic Distance race.

Thanks to Albany Tri Club for putting on such a great event on what would be the second best course in WA after Karri Valley. I have just two sprint races left for the season but my focus now turns to serious Anaconda training with just 8 weeks to go until Anaconda New Zealand. I will hopefully see everyone down at Champion Lakes for the draft legal triathlon where i will have my work cut out to beat some of the juniors in their pet event.

Seano

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