Triathlon World Champs- Vancouver 2008

This was my third world championship for Triathlon (2005 Standard Distance in Hawaii- 22nd age group and 2006 Long Distance in Canberra- 17th Elite) and 5th world championship in total (I competed at two Canoe Polo World Championships- Adelaide in 1996 and as the New Zealand Women’s team captain in Essen, Germany in 2002).

Here is the "site of the triathlon", this was where the race start, finish, expo and merchandise tents were set up. This was our view from our room... great location:

This race was a stepping stone towards my long term goal to medal at the 2009 World Championship to be held on the Gold Coast in September 2009… My goal was to get a top 10 result this year and to see what I need to work on in order to make the podium in 09. I came 10th this year so was very pleased to achieve my goal and now I know what I need to do over the next 440 odd days until the 2009 Worlds.

Triathlon is a summer sport (or that is usually the case) but I can tell you we did not get greeted with summer conditions in Vancouver at all. The race organisers told us to expect water temperatures around 16 – 17 degrees and similar air temperatures for the race. This was not the case. Vancouver was REALLY cold! The water temperature was only 11 degrees and the air temperature between 8 – 12 degrees… this did not include the wind chill factor. Most athletes were not prepared for this cold snap that hit Vancouver. Luckily I come from Wellington and that the two final weeks here were also pretty miserable. Given that, I still struggled with the cold and I was paranoid about getting sick! It was so cold that the organisers cancelled the opening ceremony and parade of nations as well. They didn’t want the athletes hanging around in the cold!

So as well as the cold I also had to deal with cycling, swimming and running on the wrong side of the roads/swim lanes and footpaths! This was harder than it sounds, has anyone tried to tumble turn the wrong way in a swimming pool? And never having driven on the other side of the road, the first roundabout I encountered on my bike was a mess! Once I got my lefts and rights sorted out my final 9 days of training went ok.

The Thursday before my race all athletes were invited to swim the course in an organised course familiarisation session. This was my first long session in the cold water and I was really shocked at just how cold the water was. I have never swum in temperatures that cold! I could barely manage 3 strokes before I had to pull my head out and stop! My breathing was a mess and I my feet, hands and forehead were all really painful… until they went totally numb that is! Here I am before the practice swim and very cold after the swim... down jacket, woollen hat, hottie, duvet, woollen socks and a cup of tea!!

Race day dawned and at 5.45 am I headed off to transition (1.5 km walk from the start line), although it was cold I really enjoyed the walk and it was great to clear my head. Once I set up my gear I headed back to the start line to get ready. I had decided to do a good warm up in the water, there were various schools of thought on this but I know how much better I am having got in the water.

This is me walking to the race start (by the way Vera's does great burgers for post race meals):

After about 10 or so minutes acclimatising to the extremely cold water I joined the other 80 odd competitors in my age group ready for the start. As we lined up ready to go I noticed that the wind had started to come up and the sea was looking a bit wavy. This got me excited as I am a strength swimmer and the rougher the conditions the better I am. Here is my age group race start:

Once I started swimming I realised how much harder the conditions were. The first 200 metres of swimming nearly bought on a cold water asthma attack for me and I had to hold back a back to keep that in control. I exited the water in 6th place. This was so exciting for me and the best ever swim finish I have ever had. The hard yards are paying off. Here I am leaving the water, my hands were so cold I decided not to finish taking off my wetsuit until I warmed up slightly!!!

The bike was 4 laps around Stanley Park with a hill climb and super fast descent each lap. Again a course that suited me. I really loved the ride, but lost 2 places here. Here I am on one of ther corners... and with my new helmet:

By the time I started the run I was nearly thawed out, my toes were still a little numb but I soon forgot that. It seems like a very similar refrain here but I really enjoyed the run as well... there was lots of little rises and one sharp rise which played to my strengths as an athlete. I also ran a triathlon 10km pb on the course, and was only 10 sec off my straight 10km run pb as well.
All in all a great day. I enjoyed every leg and achieved the goal I set 18 months ago. Who could ask for more??

By the way the emergency blankets on the finish line helped:

Last week in New Zealand

So I only have 5 more sleeps till I leave for Canada and I still have an awful lot to do... training, work, packing, tidying the house, altitude simulation sessions.... the list goes on. But I am ready to race which is an awesome space to be in right now.

I have my actual race time now... 7.25am and there is 85 athletes in my age group. I will be finished my race before some of the men even start!!

Well I don't have much more news and this will probably be my last post before we leave so watch this space for the first report from Canada.

Last big brick done!!

Well today was the last big training brick for this campaign. I had a 3 km swim, 2 hour ride with 45km tempo and a 5km run at race pace.

The swim included:
8 * 50 m explosive kick
3 *(4 * 50 m max, 3 * 100m race pace on 1.30 and 200m easy pull)

The ride included 45km tempo at:
15km just below race pace
15km at race pace
15km above race pace
Each 15km included a climb up Ngaio Gorge.

The run was a 5km at race pace. I did my first ever sub 20 min 5km off the bike in this session which was really awesome!

So all in all a great session to end the really, really hard training leading up to Vancouver.

Looking ahead I still have a few tough sessions to go but none of this length.

At the time of writing this post I am just 13 days and 7 hours away from racing

World Champs websites and race time

Here are two websites where you may be able to find race information up to and on the day:

http://www.triathlon.org/worldchamps.php

http://www.triathlonvancouver.com/

My race time is 6.45 am (not sure of exact wave start time yet) Saturday 7th June (Vancouver time)...

This is Sunday 8th June 1.45am NZT and Saturday 7th June 11.45pm Australian time. So by Sunday morning you will be able to wake up and find out how I have done :-) I promise not to send text messages when I finish and wake you up (approx. 4.05 am and 2.05am NZ and Aus time respectively).

15 days till race day...

So I am sitting at work with just 15 days to go till race day (and only 7 till we leave the country) and I just can't get motivated to work. I am distracted like I never have been. My body is tired and sore from all the hard sessions that I am been doing and I am worried that we won't have enough money for our trip! But I am looking forward to racing.

My goals for the race are:

1. Enjoy the race;
2. Have the best swim, bike and run that I can have;
3. Maintain focus and give it everything I have.

If these three goals come together on race day then I will be pleased. The goal for this year's world champs was to go and see what I might need to do to podium in the 2009 World Champs. I need to see where I am at in my age group and I will then have over a year to focus on building the skills I need for 2009.

In terms of the course I think that it will suit me.... the bike is a 4 lap course with a 2-3 km 6% climb and a 3km fast downhill for each lap. The run course is a 3 lap course with a gradual 400m climb each lap. This course seems to be a strength based course which suits me. So definitely looking forward to it.

The swim is a one lap point to point swim with a beach start. I am technically better at beach starts over deep water starts so that suits me too. I just need to get good goggles for it now as the last few Scorching Bay races I had issues with my goggles coming off in the beach start!

That's about all from me. I am going to carry on writing my to do and packing lists now :-)

More Rarotonga photos....

Here are some more photos from Rarotonga... This first one is of the Thursday swim race start. I am number 8 in the white cap.

Here is a photo of the main road in Rarotonga on race day, if you look closely at the photo you can see the rough road surface that bruised my arms while riding on my aero bars!!!

And here I am crossing the finish line... looking VERY tired!

Raro photos

Here is a random selection of Rarotonga pictures.... just to give a flavour of what it was like...

Fruit and vegetables on the back of a truck at the market.

The beautiful hibiscus flower (my attempt at being arty)

One random beach.... the camera does not really capture how lovely it was

This is the view across Muri lagoon from the backpackers one morning.... so nice!

Random shots of palm trees :-)

My trophy for winning the race (was not allowed to take this one home... I have a shell one that I was allowed to keep).

My wheels for the week... the blue one over the back is mine.

Hehehe the men's toilet sign at the sailing club...

And the women's...

Me before the thursday night swim race...

Me after winning the race

Me back at the backpackers later in the day....

Quick update from Raro... more tomorrow

Hi all, here is a quick update from Raro... I WON the triathlon!!! Yay! I get return airfares back here as part of my prize! So stoked right now.

Backing up a few days I came third female and 7th overall in the round the boiler swim which I was also really pleased with. It was a very technical surf swim with waves breaking over the coral reef. I didn't read the water very well... just didn't know how really. One minute I was fine, the next the coral was nearly scraping my chest!!! Great tough swim though as a lead in to the main race.

This morning started with the ehaviest downpour I have ever cine across... I was a bit worried that the bike might be dangerous but lunchtime hit and the temperature shot up, the rain went away and the humidity levels increased. I knew that I was in for a tough one. In the bolier swim (800m) I was behind the lead 2 women by 40 seconds so I prepared myself to be over a minute behind the girls after the 1500m swim, but I had the SWIM OF MY LIFE!!! at one stage I was with the lead groiup of men. I came out on the lead swimmers toes... having drafted a good portion of the race so stoked with this. I paid for it a bit in the first 10 -15 km of the bike though. But pulled away from the other girls within about a km. In the middle of the ride there was the steepest nastiest hill you could ever imagine. I was in my granny gear and standing!!! and I like hills. I went through 2 full bottles of replace on the ride. About 1.14 for 42.5km so pleased with that effort.

THe run... I didn't know what sort of lead I had from the ride so hit the run hard, at the first turnaround I hit the timer and found I had a 3 min lead on the second place female. Really stoked s I increased this to a 5 min lead by the end of the run. The run was hot hard and tough. There werre aid stations every 1.25km with sponges and water which I needed.

We finished the race to be given nu coconuts to drink and this is the best thing to have after a race./... totally awesome.

I thjen got interviewed by rarotongan TV. All in all I just had a primo day.... and am really pleased. Its so nice to have a race that things go well for.

Yay

I will post phots when back in NZ as well as some stories about the rest of my trip.

Weather

So just in the past week the temperature has dropped dramatically. On the weekend I went cycling and there was snow on the Orongaronga and Rimutaka ranges!!! My bike computer had the outside air temperature at just 9 degrees at one point!! The wind chill factor would have made it even colder as well. It makes it hard to get the legs moving when we are in these conditions I tell you!

So as you can imagine I am really looking forward to heading to rarotonga for a few days.... hmmm or am I? Just checked out the extended weather forecast for Raro and I have:

Wednesday- High: 30° C. Wind 36 km/h. Chance of precipitation 90%.

Thursday - High: 29° C. Wind 32 km/h. Chance of precipitation 40%.

Friday - High: 27° C. Wind 18 km/h.

Saturday (RACE DAY) - High: 28° C. Wind 18 km/h. Chance of precipitation 40%.

Sunday - High: 28° C. Wind 18 km/h. Chance of precipitation 40%.

Eeeekkkk I would love a nice balmy 23 - 24 degrees I think. racing in temperatures close to 30 degrees will be tough for me! At least I should get a bit of a tan :-)

In order to try and pre-acclimatise to the expected heat conditions in Raro I have been doing sauna sessions after each training session... building up to 30 min sessions without rehydration. That is a test of motivation to stay in the sauna I tell you. There are times when I am so ready to walk out. But it definitely helps. I did the sauna treatments before racing in honolulu and it really helped then.

Thats about all, my next update will be from Raro itself.

Time is flying by....

Just 31 days till we fly out to Canada now. I am not sure where the time has gone. It all seems rather scary now. But the great thing is my training seems to be on track. I did a triathlon race simulation on Sunday (1000m swim/30km bike/8km run) and I was really pleased with the swim and run. However, I am not happy with where my cycling is at. But it really is a lot to ask really... to have all three disciplines going well at once isn't it. That is the juggling act of triathlon. We just hope and pray that all three come together on the day and that the myriad of other things that could go wrong don't.

Anyway, in 7 days time I also leave for rarotonga for a race. I was fortunate enough to be given a trip there from my boss at work that he won. Otherwise the trip would definitely not have been able to happen. As it is I am taking leave without pay from work which in itself puts a fair bit of pressure on the budget.

Training wise I have been doing lots of really specific bike intervals based on a power meter and certain wattages. This is all based round a 16km power test I regularly do on my bike. I am finding this training really valuable and hopefully it will pay off come June. I am not entirely convinced that my new bike setup is right. I have not been comfortable in the aero position recently and this concerns me slightly. I feel like I am experiencing a loss in power in that position. It leaves me in a tough place right now though... do I change it this close to Worlds??

Jason is still enjoying not training and has no real sports plans for the next wee while. I am sure after we get back from Canada it will be time for him to set some new goals. I must say it is a bit easier with just one of us training. That way it gives more time to keep the house ticking along... when we were both training we really struggled to keep up with cooking, cleaning and gardening...

Now that the trip seems to be just round the corner it is probably time to give you all an overview of what we are doing. We leave NZ on Friday 30 May, and fly direct to Vancouver from Auckland. Thank goodness for direct flights.

We are staying at the English Bay Hotel from 30 May to 9 June (my worlds race in on 7 June). This hotel is literally within 100m of my race start/finish line which is really cool. During the days before the race we will of course be training (and checking out the 137m swimming pool.... wow that's long!!!), checking out the race course, getting used to open water swimming again and recovering well. We will also have the pasta party, opening ceremony, registration, race expo, the Sprint Worlds, and the under 19 and 23 world champs races to attend/watch. We also want to do a bit of sightseeing around Vancouver during those days as well. The day after my race is the elite world champs and our prizegiving.

Monday 9th July Jason and I start our tour on the Rocky Mountaineer. We head from Vancouver on the Rocky Mountaineer train to Kamloops. Kamloops is in the heart of British Columbia’s interior. On this journey we will see dramatic changes in scenery, from the lush green fields of the Fraser River valley, through forests and winding river canyons surrounded by the peaks of the Coast and Cascade mountains, to the desert-like environment of the interior. Highlights include the rushing waters of Hell’s Gate in the Fraser Canyon and the steep slopes and rock sheds along the Thompson River. We stay overnight in Kamloops and go to the "Great Canadian Lumberjack Show"... Jason is really looking forward to this one :-)

The next day we head from Kamloops to Banff: Today’s highlights include Craigellachie, where the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven, the climb over Rogers Pass, the Kicking Horse Canyon, the Spiral Tunnels and, of course, the glaciers and snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies. Overnight in Banff.

Following that we ehad from Banff to Lake Louise: The highlight of this day is a 25-minute helicopter flight above the six glaciers of Mount Resolute, Mount Cline and the Whitegoat Peaks. We will also view a 270-metre (900-foot) waterfall, see some spectacular aqua-green high-alpine lakes and cross over a 2,700-metre (9,000-foot) mountain pass. A visit to a local ranch will provide ample time to discover the walking trails on-site and enjoy lunch . We overnight at The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

We transfer from Lake Louise to Banff and join a morning sightseeing tour that shows the highlights of Banff. Visit the Banff Gondola, Bow Falls, Surprise Corner and the Hoodoos before an afternoon transfer to Calgary. Overnight in Calgary.

We get to explore Calgary for a day adn then fly back to vancouver.

Our last night in Vancouver includes tickets to the Cirque du Soliel and a stay ina real posh hotel :-)

We arrive back in New Zealand on Wednesday 18 June but don't go back to work until the following Monday.