Hey A Team!
Wow this month’s been full on, packed with exciting domestic
season racing, new race locations, consistent hard work in the training athlete
office & of course a bit of adventure squished inbetween!
Kicking off this months racing and my 2018 triathlon season with
the Oceania Cup in Glenelg, the pristine seaside town of Adelaide, in South
Australia! I couldn't think of a prettier place to start my years racing, with perfect
blue skies & warm weather, crystal clear blue water with our accommodation
right on the beach front making for some epic sunsets, plus coastal runs &
rides!!
We competed on the Saturday afternoon for the Elite women Oceania
Cup over the sprint distance and then backed up Sunday morning for the Oceania
Championships Mixed Team Relay Event, which is run over the fast super sprint
format of 300m swim, 6km ride and 1.6km run.
Saturdays racing was very hot, not just the competition but the
weather too! With us Elite women the last race of the day at 2.45pm, incentive
to run quick for the ice bath waiting at the end! I loved getting back in the
ocean racing from a beach run start into the 750m swim, just like old times in
Surf Life Saving, having actually raced down here in Glenelg at the 2012 World
Surf Life Saving Championshusp! Taking on the choppy conditions to try and out swim
the BIG fish that South Australia is so well known for... ekkk!
Exiting the water ahead & with a gap on the
field I took my oppourtunity and (literally) ran with it (well rode haha) Head
down, butt up as I took on the 6 lap course with a few tricky & tight
sections! With the wind up there was no protection out there solo & it took
its toll over the 18km as I hit it hard to try & race away, but just didn't
have it this time around to hold off the large & strong chasing pack behind
which caught with only 2km to go!! This pack held some quick quality competition,
so we dismounted & headed out into one hot & flat footrace!!!
A pack of 6 soon emerged and we entered a solid run
battle, including the likes of Andrea Hewitt, Charlotte Mcshane, Gillian Backhouse,
Nicole van der Kay & myself! I stuck for the first 2.5km but dropped off
for the bell lap & didn't have the legs to stick it out for an exciting
sprint finish which saw NZ legend Andrea take the win over fellow Aussie Char mate
McShane on the line!
Straight to the ice bath, recovery work & a nice afternoon
ocean swim to get the body ready for tomorrow's super sprint Oceania Mixed Team
Relay championship title event! Plus a little pizza to help refuel...
Sunday was an early start, kicking off at 7.30am for the new
& very exciting triathlon team event, seeing the Aussies take on the
Kiwi's! I was proud to be kicking off our number 1 Aussie team to start the
relay from the gun, as each member competes in the mini triathlon before
tagging the next, always running girl-boy- girl- boy to the finish!
The relay sure didn't disappoint with a strong NZ team coming
back over the remaining 3 legs with Brandon, Charlotte Mcshane & Ryan Bailey
giving it to them but in the end it wasn't enough to hold off the Kiwi's from
taking the gold! Watch out, next time it's ours guys! Jokes aside, its always
great racing against our friendly rivals from over the ditch!
Straight home, family dinner & back to 5am swim squad Monday
morning! No rest for the wicked, active recovery and resetting the body quickly
so I can get tapping away again with some real quality training & racing
later in the week! With my favourite FriYay night cycle Crit racing at Hart at
the Manly Warringah cycling club, taking on the boys in B grade! Followed by
the very special and memorable Richie Walker Aquathon on Saturday down in
Cronulla!
This event is one I'll always support when I can, an annual race
in memory of Richie Walker, a son & talented Triathlete lost far too soon
& a very active reminder to get your heart health checked, no mater how
fit, healthy or young you pass yourself off to be!! The event is such great
awareness & support for Australia's heart foundation!!
I was pleased
to have a strong hit out here after a busy weeks training to take the Aussie
Aquathon Open win over the 1km bayside ocean swim & 5km true hilly cross
country run! A perfect opportunity to practice what I've been working so hard
on at training under pressure in racing!! Thankyou to Richie's parents for
having me back and a chance to give back! Congratulations to training partner
Nathan Breen for taking out the Men’s field.
Straight back into another hard weeks "work" in the
athlete office while balancing all my favourite things and people into my week,
which believe me - can be quite the art!! People often ask how I fit so much
into a day, but I feel like if you enjoy something enough you find the time to
make it work & fit with you for the week or the day! That said, a 4:30am
start each day does help to give me more time than most, my 21 grams local
& favourite coffee is a great creature comfort along with the old lunch
time “nanna” nap and a very full diary calendar to keep track and organised
with my time! I do love my double ride days where I get to ride my bike & my
four legged child, Cherokee my quarter horse!
My third weekend of February saw me heading very far south to
our island friend of Tasmania to contest and hopefully back up my win last year
for the Oceania Elite Sprint Championship title! This was my fifth trip down to
Devonport, one of my calendar favourites!! Devonport has always been kind to
me, it's familiar & I love the town hot spots, the tough course & race
it proves each year!
Devonport didn’t disappoint this year either, with a stronger field
than has previously heading south it was great to have some quality racing over
the 750m chilly Tasman Sea ocean swim, a tough 20km ride with 4 laps up North
street hill (some of you that have been reading my blog the last few years would
remember this one from the 3 years previous, this year the race was a sprint
-20km ride, not Olympic- 40km ride, so we only battled half the amount, it
almost seemed easy haha) and onto the 5km flat & fast run along the ocean
swept streets!
Team NSW & HPT have stayed the past 5 times at the same homely
B&B – Dannebrog & it really makes a big difference returning to a place
that’s familiar, you get to really know the town, where to swim, ride &
run, where the best cafés are, where to book dinner & find coffee, along
with getting to know all the local characters, it’s a part of the travel involved
with racing that I love!!
Arriving mid afternoon on Thursday meant I had time to settle in pre-race,
get my prep work done and relax, mum & I even snuck in for a movie
afternoon off the feet! Racing early Saturday morning for a refreshing change,
with us Elite women kicking it off at 7.30am sharp, with the sun barely peeking
through, it was cold & chilly both in the water (17.5 degrees) and out! Lining
up for another beach start, running into the water, unfortunately no surf
making its way into Devonport Bluff (on the very odd chance) but still, I’ll
happily take an ocean swim any day!
Making our way around the course, I could feel a tapping on the
feet at about halfway & wasn’t surprised to see it was fellow NSW training &
racing buddy Nat VC on my feet as we exited the water with a small gap on the
chasing field behind! We got straight onto the bike, hustling to make work of
this small lead we had, both of us on the same page which was great! It was
heads down bums up for the first 5km to hammer it and extend the lead out to
around 35 seconds, being a course that doubles back on itself we could see our
lead extending, reward for our effort and efficient pulling of turns together,
by 10km we had about 50 seconds and the lead extended out to 1:20 by the end of
the 20km ride! Although a tough course with the hill & strong winds
regardless it was great to have Nat their to share the work, after riding the 40km
cycle leg solo the previous 2 years in a breakaway off the front.
Running into transition with the support on course & cheers
form my number 1 supporter Supa Jeffcoat who had been cheering absolutely everyone
on from the start, as she ALWAYS says to me before I race ,whatever the event- “have
fun & race safe” - that’s all she’s after! 😊
Heading out onto the run leg with a solid gap over the field it
was looking to be down to a footrace between us 2 having taken the race away
from the other strong & quick ladies in the field! I was really pleased
with how my legs felt heading out and was comfortable to settle into a rhythm
and just slightly get the edge over Nat in lap 1 but equally knowing Nat would
be hot on my heels till the end so I had to push it all the way to the finish!!
With a definite smile creeping onto my face with about 1km to go as I realised I
was going to get to take the tape, earn myself a second Oceania Elite Championship
Title & have the chance to celebrate the win with Mum & Mick my coach with
them waiting across the finish line!
Certainly a pretty special moment for any athlete
& one I loved being able to soak up and enjoy as I ran towards the finish with
a few high fives and plenty of course cheers on route!
With Nat following closely behind and Charlotte McShane rounding out the
podium it was one of those awesome days, smiling away on the podium & “cheers”-ing
to the girls with a nice bottle of Tasmania’s Sparkling wine (which Mum helped
me enjoy a glass of later) It was straight to athlete business as usual with
press/ media work before anti-doping control testing, taken away into a downstairs
locker room waiting to pass a sample, the real athlete life right their with the
celebration party of 1 going off… not!!
Mum & I pre planned to stay the night of the race in Tassie
still so we could finally make our way down to Cradle Mountain! One of the state
& Australia’s well known natural beauties & a bucket list sight I’ve
been wanting to get down to see the last few trips! Enjoying an afternoon road
trip & exploration adventure up at Cradle Mountain, choosing the half day
hike around Dove lake at the highest car accessible point of Cradle mountain. Although
the weather wasn’t playing too nice it was pretty spectacular, a lot of fun,
well worth the trip & a great recovery walk! (no worries coach haha)
Sounding like a broken record, it was straight home Sunday, back &
settled in to kick back into another busy weeks training & activities bright
& early Monday morning! By Thursday it was bike cleaning & suitcase
packing time for the last race of the
month on the Gold Coast, heading up for the memorable Luke Harrop Triathlon
event, which hosted this years Australian Elite National Sprint Championship
Event.
The pressing cyclone far north meant the sunshine state was not dishing
up its usual beautiful weather, and instead I was welcomed to rain and storms,
and with this heavy rain flooding in the Australian
Elite Sprint Championships was turned into a Duathlon- 2.5km run, 20km cycle
& 5km run, because the water quality measured at over 200x the passable
level of cleanliness considered
okay to swim in, gross!
That's racing, as
athletes we need to be adaptable to whatever the conditions, everyone is in the
same boat & although I certainly would have preferred a swim you've just
got to take it as it is & get on with the racing!!
Kicking off bright and early at 6.15am for the Elite women
Aussie Tri Champs, the weather was playing nice & my reverse psychology of
buying an umbrella worked wonders to stop the rain haha.
I was wanting to take the first 2.5km run out strong and put the
field under pressure to try and string out the upcoming bike pack, and if you
haven't noticed yet it's my only style of racing that I know, old school
Aussie- hard from the gun. The field broke up as hoped & a front pack of 6
emerged on the run, & with a smooth first transition I got a little gap on
the field and went for it solo off the front on the bike!
Onto the 20km ride the race was as per usual from here & I
settled down onto the aero bars, pushing to stay away from the chase pack
behind. At the first 5km turn I got a look back at the gap & was
comfortable here & continued to work! By 10km the pack of 7 chasers weren't
too far away so I made the move to ease up and join the bunch, rolling strong
turns we all worked well as a front bunch to keep the pace there!
Heading off onto the second run with a hard 5km ahead! Having
U/23 Katinka right with me heading out to the first 1.25km turn, she was doing
a great job at keeping me honest, as were the chasing girls on our heels! I
decided to test the waters and put down a surge before the turn and got the gap
I was after to pull away in the lead. The girls behind certainly kept me
running hard, pushing all the way to the finish with some strong runners there!
I was thrilled to take the tape for a second weekend in a row
& take the Australian Elite Sprint title after winning the Oceania Elite
title the weekend prior! A special double & a real positive sign for where
I'm at & moving forward! Bring it ALL on!! (Preferably triathlon over
duathlons in future though please & thanks!)
Certainly HAPPY DAYS, and soaking it up now because there’s plenty
more hard racing to come!!
It was terrific to have my coach Mick & his family clan
thereon the Gold Coast to watch with their homemade "go Emma" signs
in Green & Gold which was awesome!
The true athlete life, straight to media & anti-doping
control, packing Bikes, checking out of the hotel, running back to presentation
& cheering on all the age groupers before hustling to the airport to make
my flight home!!
A HUGE Thanks to my brilliant team of sponsors & support
crew around me allowing me to go out & do what I love, chase the dream
& rip in every day!!
You beauty, you guys rock!
Guess what, March is just as busy team so stay tuned!!
Thanks for the read!
Em
X
