Armidale December Tri

Following the Kingscliff triathlon I headed home to Armidale for a week to visit family, catch up with people, and do the December triathlon club race.

I took the week to recover from Kingy Tri and just enjoy being out and about exercising. I even threw in a bit of bush walking/rock scrambling and kayaking to compliment the old swim/bike/run. It was great to take the pressure off for a week and remember why I love doing triathlon so much.

Enjoying the change of scenery from Brisbane roads

It's been two years since I've made it along to any of the Armidale triathlons and it was nice to be welcomed back and assured I hadn't been forgotten. It was fantastic to see the club has grown enormously over the last couple of years with about 100 people taking part in this month's event.

Transition area

Being a non-competitive event (well, as "non-competitive" as a bunch of athletes can be...) the atmosphere was completely different to a proper race; far more relaxed, smaller and friendlier. I really enjoyed racing for the sake of going fast and challenging myself rather than trying to win. It was a good reminder that while winning is fun, it's only a minor part of what racing is all about.

I'm looking forward to being back again for the January race!

Gillian

Kingscliff

Last Sunday I had my first win of the season at the Kingscliff triathlon, and with it took my second consecutive Australian University Championships title. After having my best race of the season here last year I was eager to return and defend my title.

Despite the weather report threatening yet another wet race the weather smiled on us and it was a beautiful sunny day. The swim was held in Cudgen Creek beginning 1500m up from transition during an ebb tide so was a fast, tide assisted swim. Knowing that Maddi Allen was a strong swimmer my race plan had been to try and stick on her feet for the swim then try and take the lead on the bike. The plan worked and starting a minute behind the open men we caught the tail end of the field within the first 500m and the second pack with about 200m to go. It was quite a strange experience swimming past the boys as even the slower swimmers are usually faster than me, or at least less than a minute slower!

Leading some of the boys out of the swim

I had a good T1 and mounted my bike in the lead. The bike was windy just like last year, however I think this worked to my advantage and added an extra element to the otherwise fairly flat course. Over the 4 laps on the bike I could see I was opening up a gap on the other girls which gave me confidence heading onto the run. The run was hot and hard with a steep hill to negotiate straight out of transition. I held a solid pace for the first 5km but running over the section of sand at the end of the first lap and then up the hill for the second time took its toll on my legs. Knowing I was comfortably in the lead, in the last 5km I was just holding on until the finish.

Before I had time to catch my breath I had the TV and newspaper reporters wanting interviews. I have never been good at interviews at the best of times and trying to give coherent and sensible answers when I could barely stand up was interesting but I think I did ok!

Gillian

Robina Triathlon: Dealing with disappointment

Race two of the QLD Gatorade series was held in Robina last Sunday. I was using this race as a good solid hit out before the Kingscliff triathlon this coming weekend, and a fun lower pressure race.

Unfortunately I learnt the hard lesson that "bad" races and disappointment are part of the gig of being a professional athlete, or any athlete for that matter. Coming into the race I was feeling fast in training and was fairly confident that I had a shot at winning the race, and almost certainly a top 3 finish.

I had a really good swim, coming out with a gap on the rest of the field coming into T1. I extended my lead through the bike and headed into T2 confident that I could bring it home in the run. Then things started to go pear shaped. In my rush to have a quick transition I didn't hook my seat over the rack properly and my bike fell over. I put my shoes on then had to pull my bike back off the ground from underneath the next bike and re-rack it. That lost me 5-10 seconds, not much, but valuable time in such a short fast race. I still had a lead of 12 seconds at the start of the run but I struggled to find my rhythm and was soon caught by Brittany Dutton who was flying on the run. About 500m into the run I started to feel a twinge which quickly developed into a full blown stitch. I was forced to slow right down to a shuffle, struggling to breathe. From then my race was reduced to a 3.5km shuffle to get myself to the finish line. It was frustrating watching the other girls cream past me, unable to run properly. I crossed the line in 5th place, 3 mins behind the leader and feeling rather despondent after being in the lead less than 20 minutes ago.

My immediate reaction was to feel upset that I'd had a "bad" race, but on reflection, it wasn't a bad race, it was a good race until the run. Just because I had finished lower down the rankings than I would have liked I felt embarrassed and worried about what others would think about my performance/abilities. Everybody has off days though, whether because you're fatigued, got pummelled in the swim, stuffed up your nutrition or got your race tactics wrong. You just have to accept that your race isn't going to go perfectly all the time; in fact, it is NEVER going to go perfectly. In the end what matters more is what you take out of the race - learn from what went wrong (and what went right!), and accept that sometimes the situation is out of your hands.

In this case I learnt that drinking too much Gatorade on the bike leads to a very uncomfortable run. In hindsight I never used to drink Gatorade during a sprint distance race. It wasn't until I started racing Olympic distance that I used Gatorade. A single bottle of water would have sufficed for the 15km cycle. It just emphasises the importance of the small details such as nutrition, and transitions!!!

Gillian

News update

A lot has happened in the past month so here are a few updates.


As I mentioned at the end of my last blog post, I have some exciting news to share. I am ecstatic to announce I now have my very first sponsor, Injinji. Injinji make performance toe socks for running and other activities. As anyone who knows me well would know, I love these socks. I swear by them and never run without them. I used to get terrible blisters on and between my toes every time I ran. I tried Vaseline, tape, bandaids but nothing helped. It got to the point where on a long run up Mt Coot-tha I rubbed 2 layers of skin off between my toes and had to walk down the mountain barefoot. I was then recommended to try wearing Injinji socks by Brett Sweeney who I was training with at the time. They completely fixed the problem and I can now run without getting any blisters at all. It was a strange feeling at first having individual toes in my socks but I quickly got used to it and love the feeling of freedom and control it gives my feet when I’m running. You don’t try and use your hands when you have mittens on – you wear gloves, so why try running with all your toes in one compartment. It makes sense, right? ;)

My personal favourite - rainbow stripes ;)

I am looking forward to developing a relationship with the team at Injinji and learning the ropes of being a sponsored athlete. Hopefully this experience will also help me gain other sponsors in the future! Thanks to mum who initiated the conversation about sponsorship while we were buying socks at the Noosa expo. Check out my new sponsors tab

While up in Noosa for the triathlon, the UQ sport annual blues awards night was held and I was awarded a University Blue for my achievements in triathlon this year. I was very flattered to receive this award and quite disappointed to miss the ceremony.

Collecting my blues award from uni

I also completed my uni degree so come my graduation in December I will be a qualified marine biologist! Uni has been stressful and hard work at times but I will miss it. Not for too long though as I am planning to come back in second semester next year to do honours.

Tomorrow I have a short sharp hit out at the Gatorade QTS race 2 in Robina. The shorter distance of 400/15/4 will be a shock to the system after not having raced anything shorter than Olympic Distance since February this year but it should be fun. I am looking forward to it as the Gatorade series races are always well organised with a great atmosphere.
Next up is the Australian Uni Champs as part of the Kingscliff triathlon on the 25^th November. This is a fantastic race and I would highly recommend it to anyone!
To finish of a solid 3 weeks of racing I’m excited to be heading home to race in the Armidale Triathlon Club December race. I missed out on racing any of the Armidale club races last year and was rather disappointed so am making sure I can make it back for at least 2 this year! This race will mark 5 years since I first dabbled in triathlon with my mountain bike, togs, and a pair of soccer shorts. I am looking forward to catching up with the people who got me into this crazy sport in the first place!

Gillian

Noosa 2012

Due to missing some early season races with field trips and illness my race season this summer started later than usual with the Noosa Triathlon held on Sunday the 4th November as part of the Noosa Triathlon and Multisport Festival.

The Noosa triathlon has developed into a nemesis for me over the past three years. My previous three experiences at Noosa have been less than pleasant with a crash in 2009, and dehydration and overheating in both 2010 and 2011. Last year I had been determined not to end up in the medical tent attached to a drip after the race as in 2010 and made sure I drank lots the day before the race and during the race. Despite what I thought was much better preparation than the previous year, my race last year ended 150m shy of the finish line when I collapsed. I don't remember anything between about 250m to go and coming back to my senses in the medical tent covered in vomit and cramping like crazy with a very concerned mother and coach looking on. Although there are several amusing stories that came out of that day (including me falling off the wheelchair) the whole experience really scared me and I decided I didn't want to do the Noosa Tri again. Needless to say a few months down the track when the impact had faded a little I decided I had to give it another crack.

Fortunately 2012 was my year and for the first time ever I enjoyed the Noosa Triathlon, an event that is the favourite of many a triathlete, and as I finally can see, with good reason.
Noosa always attracts a good field and this year was no exception with the first seven women across the line all having world championship or world cup victories to their names. After having my pro licence for a year now the novelty of racing with such awesome athletes from around the world has still not worn off!

The swim was fairly uneventful and I got a solid start, exiting the water in 5th position with Ellie Salthouse. I had a good T1, despite my helmet and glasses being accidentally knocked to the ground by Felicity Abram, and worked my way into 4th position by the end of Noosa Parade. About 5 minutes into the cycle it started to rain and by the time I reached the "Noosa hill" it was raining quite heavily. About halfway up the hill I was caught by the likes of Ashleigh Gentle, Felicity Sheedy-Ryan and Caroline Steffen who I had a minute on out of the swim. Those girls sure know how to ride bikes! The majority of the Noosa bike course is straight so not too treacherous in the rain however coming down the hill was a little scary and there was major carnage on the roundabouts coming back into town, particularly in the elite men’s field. Having previously crashed on wet roundabouts in other races I was possibly over cautious but I was not going to fall off my bike, I was finishing this race no matter what!

The run has always been my weakest leg, and was the part of this race I was most nervous about. By the end of T2, however, I knew I was going to have a good run. My legs felt (relatively) good off the bike and I was ready to fire. I made a conscious decision to race hard but also remember to enjoy myself and got a real buzz smiling and waving at everyone I knew as I headed out onto the run.
Ellie and I had maintained about the same pace on the bike and she had 15 seconds on me out of T2. For the first 2km or so I concentrated on my own pace and keeping a high cadence but when I sensed Ellie was slowing a little I focused on trying to catch her, chipping away at the gap slowly but surely. I managed to catch her just before the run turn and put in a surge as I passed her to make sure she didn't come with me. From there on it was back to focusing on my own pace and making it across that finish line fast and strong. The last few hundred meters of a race is always amazing, but this one was particularly special. I was so relieved and so happy to be crossing that finish line and proving to myself that Noosa is no different to any other triathlon I have done.
I finished in 11th position, a result I am happy with given the strength of the field and was awarded the Luke Harrop Memorial Bursary for being the 1st U23 female ranked outside the top 50 in the world.

Heading out of T1

Grinning like a cheshire cat on stage

A big thank you to everyone who supported me and wished me well in the lead up to this race and on the day; it meant a lot to me and helped me get over that mental barrier. Thanks to Greg for hand delivering my pump which I had left at home in Brisbane when he came up for the race, to my awesome coach Cath, who I’m pretty sure was more nervous than I was, and especially to mum and dad who drove up from Armidale the day they arrived back from Scotland to take me to Noosa and watched me race. I’m glad I managed to pull it off for all of you! :)

Gillian

P.S. There’s some exciting news coming soon!