Natalie Van Coevorden: Monthly Report- December

Monthly Report-December

Falls Creek never lets me down in the unexpected adventures and experiences of training and everyday life. I was hoping my legs would survive and get me through what ended up being a 135km week of running. I was pleased and satisfied with sessions I got through and was happy that the other girls were there to help me through them. We were luckily enough to get a run in with Steve Moneghetti, a famous Australian long distance runner who definitely showed us who was boss when he dropped us running up a hill.  Bobby McGee also made a visit to us, going through the essential drills for triathlon and one on one session with him. I got some great feedback from him, allowing me to implement it into my daily training environment. The girls and I have been in the kitchen cooking together every night and successfully made 14 dinners together without killing each other. 

Coming back home for my birthday and Christmas for a little downtime was short lived with a 5km TT on the track and a 16km max aerobic run. I wasn’t expecting too much from track and did not feel that great on the day but was happy with the overall result after such big weeks before hand. The 16km run I felt much better and more comfortable trying to think about what Bobby had been telling me about running more on my toes and letting my shoulders drop. I want to thank Shane Barrie for helping my get through the last couple of kms when I swear my legs were yelling at me to stop running.

A new experience to end the year was riding on the velodrome in Wollongong on track bikes- bikes that have no brakes and pretty much scary in general. By the end of our 3 sessions, I enjoyed it thoroughly, learning new skills and important concepts that are necessary for that kind of training. It is actually an intense workout, with Jamie constantly reminding us of the intense natural of French Grand Prix. I even decided that I was talented enough on the rollers to try and get on the backwards- not my smartest moment. I always received my new bike this month, thank you to Spearmans Cycles and Giant Bikes for the 2012 TCR. It has been riding beautifully on the long rides that we have been doing over the time we have been home.

Triathlon NSW has been apart of my development in the triathlon world and we were luckily enough to be involved in a few sessions with them. Riding and swimming with them was a great experience as I saw their strengths and weakness. I loved the swimming set on Monday as it was the first time in ages I have been pushed in a race pace swim set. I even got one of the boys to say I was swimming too fast…looks like I beat him to the first buoy in a race. 

It is now a new year. A time for new experiences, new expectations, new dreams and new resolutions, mostly to stay upright on my bike but to also see what I can achieve this year. I am currently back up in Falls Creek now till the 24th of January before heading back down for Australia Day Aquathon at Wollongong Harbour.