I wrote this straight after Canberra 70.3:

Maybe I shouldn’t be writing this straight away but I’m sitting in my hotel room, waiting for my mate to come back from the first race I haven’t finished.  So I really have nothing better to do! 

My training had been solid the past 5 weeks with my new start in NSW. I have been loving the training, the coach and the other athletes. So I was feeling great heading down to Canberra, aside from the normal taper week sluggishness, which is always to be expected. Arrived late Friday night and after a great night’s sleep, had an hour ride on the Saturday morning and was done for the day. Registered, racked my bike, attended briefing then smashed an amazing pizza and Mcflurry and hit the sack. A terrible night’s sleep but after a good one on Friday I wasn’t tired getting up this morning, just raring to go! 

The forecast was for rain but when we were setting up in transition it looked like the perfect conditions. Off for a longish warm up jog my legs were feeling great. Cutting it fine as I seem to be doing a lot lately, I got down to what I thought was the swim start to find out it was another 200m swim back towards transition and I had 5mins to start time!! Whoops!!!! Made it there with 2minutes to spare!  I wanted to stick with Nicole Ward and Michelle Wu in the swim. Lisa would be out in front with the men no doubt but I came out in front of Michelle at Yeppoon. Unfortunately I lost their feet before the first buoy and was swimming solo the rest of the way. Still only 1min down and could see them running to their bikes as I ran up to transition- that’s okay!!! A bit of friendly banter with my Canberra roomie though…. Was nice to chick a pro male!!! Sorry Adsy, had to add it in ;-) 

Out on the bike and I was flying! I haven’t felt that good in the bike leg since probably my first 70.3 back in 2009!!!! Today was going to be the day! I felt it yesterday and it was turning out that way. My goal for the bike leg was to catch Michelle, because Lisa would probably hold her lead off the bike but Wu had potential to run her down for the win. And soon I was ticking them off- I had a feeling I was in about 7th position. The rain was coming down hard at that stage- so much for the good weather! By about 10/15km I’d caught and passed Nicole and another girl and could see another up ahead. By about the 40km mark I’d collected her too. Great 3rd place!! Down the sharp/ technical decent and I felt a little wobble but I was going pretty gun hoe and the roads were slippery. After the downhill was a short sharp pinch which I got out of my saddle for and the wobble got worse- FLAT- are you kidding me????? AGAIN????? Yup, sure enough my front tyre was losing pressure. Off the bike and tried the pit stop which lasted about 100m, off again to change the tyre, back on the bike for 10km and then wobble, wobble, flat again. All over red rover! Outta all my tools, pit stop, gas. Game over. 

So there’s nothing like 3 flats in 3/6 races since August. And no- it’s not the wheels and tyres, thanks everyone for suggesting the obvious! The first two races with flats were on tubular wheels and so I went back to clinchers (because I KNOW I can change them!) and they were great for the 3 races in the USA, however today they weren’t able to withstand the rubbish that had been washed onto the road from the rainy weather. 

I have nothing else to really say about it all. Congrats to Lisa for holding off Michelle for the win and to Nicole for 3rd place. X-tri: wonderful event as always. I just want to be able to do one of them properly one day! Maybe Singapore in 2012? 

So wrapping up a very disappointing 2011. I want to put it behind me and forget it ever happened really. Things that I have learnt: 
-          Yes I’m still a hard arsed angry b***h: still finishing two of the races where I had flats (Yeppoon and Japan 70.3) 
-          I am having a crack and it’s not easy. Being a pro athlete is not at all glamorous when you are not quite up there (YET!). Sponsorship is NOT that 
            easy to acquire and hearing ‘No’ 50 times a week is a little soul destroying and you question your chosen path. I am pretty much broke right now 
            and scrapping through life, but that’s ok (I think!). 
-          I am learning to takes risks- I have left one life behind and all I know, moved interstate to a new place where I knew no-one to start something 
            completely new and different (but am now questioning why I didn’t do it at the start of the year!) 
-          That I am blessed to have a mother that is my biggest fan and supporter out there. 
-          To have a few sponsors that are taking a chance on someone who isn’t yet one of the big hitters; Mizuno Australia, Enervit, Compressport, Allez 
            Sport Mooloolaba and Cyclezone Mooloolaba. Your support makes life that little bit easier to handle at the tough times. 
-          That after today I am on the right track. I would love to have found out where my run legs were at and just how much of a dent I could have made 
            on the second half of the bike but that’s something I’ll have to wait to find out. 
-          And lastly: listen to your bodies! No-one knows it better than you! If your body is telling you owie, don’t do a session just because it’s written on 
            your program. Missing one session it’s going to make or break you. Better to miss one afternoon than a whole season! 
-          And things could always be worse: I’m attending the opening of Katie’s bench on Mooloolaba hill this Thursday. I still miss her terribly. 12 months 
            ago I bet she never expected NOT to be here. 

Merry Christmas to all. 

2012 can’t get here fast enough! 

Rachie signing out for 2011 xo

The Yokohama round was originally scheduled for May, but postponed after the devastating earthquake that hit the region. But thanks to the work of the ITU, local organising committee and Japan Triathlon Union (JTU), the event was rescheduled and points will now count towards the 2012 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series rankings. Therefore, expect plenty of athletes who are keen to make a fresh start after Beijing. Yokohama was part of the first Dextro Energy Triathlon Series in 2009, with Jan Frodeno and Lisa Norden claiming their debut series wins there. The course is based around Yokohama's beautiful harbour, with a two-lap 1.5km swim, an eight-lap 40km bike course and a four-lap 10km run. Click here for full race preview 

About the race:

Yokohama is Japan's harbour city, and is the country's second largest behind the capital Tokyo. The course starts with a swim in the sea near Osambashi pier, with the bike and run legs starting and finishing in Yamashita park and in and around Yokohama's waterfront.

Hi guys,

I just wanted to give you a quick update on my immediate race schedule leading into the Ironman World Championships in Kona.

With the new Kona points qualification schedule no one was really sure how each athlete would go about qualifying for the World Champs.  I was sure if I had a few solid races under my belt I would make the cut off no problem, but with the achilles problem I haven't been able to do all the races I wanted to race and get the results I had aimed for. That being said I have still had a pretty good season. 20th in Kona last year, 2nd at Ironman New Zealand, 4th at the US 70.3 champs, 5th at the New Orleans 70.3 (high points race), and 9th at the Eagleman 70.3. Outside of the World Triathlon Corporation races that count for points I finished 2nd at the Rev 3 Half Ironman and 2nd at the Kemah Olympic distance triathlon. 

The top 50 male athletes on points will compete in Kona. At the end of July the top 40 men were given their spots and at the end of August the next 10 qualifying athletes will be selected.  Currently I am sitting in 50th position, but with 3 full distance ironman races and 3 more 70.3 races in the month of August other athletes will move forward on points and there is not much of a guarantee I will make the cut off.

This is part of the reason why I have decided to compete at the European 70.3 Champs next weekend in Wiesbaden, Germany. The points on offer are high but with the large points and the prestige of being the European Champion comes a large number of the best athletes in the sport racing. Hopefully I will be able to get a solid result and secure my spot for Kona

Training the past couple weeks in Switzerland has been great… Tough but great… Oh yeah, and also at altitude. We had a camp with one of my sponsors, Biestmilch in St. Moritz, then a few days in Davos with the Swiss triathlon team.  I have never ridden hills so long and suffered so much in all of my life. Coming back down to a normal altitude earlier than expected was a smart move and I am starting to feel ready to race. 

Anyway, I will report in after the weekend.