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Between mid October and mid December I felt like I was either tapering down for a race or trying to recover from one. The last two months finally allowed me to get a consistent training block in. I used this period of time to try and prepare for the Australian long course championships in Falls Creek, Victoria. When I was comparing my last two results I had no doubt that my preparation prior to world long course and IM WA played a huge role in the quality of the performance. With that in mind I set out to replicate the meticulous preparation I had for world long course coming into Australia long course. I’m pleased to say that I did manage to get myself to the start ready to race and my result reflected that. With a 12^th place overall I took out the 18-24 age group by over 40 minutes and placed up alongside some of the top age groupers in the country and amongst the tail end of the professionals. I really feel that I’m getting an understanding of what it takes to peak for performance and how to arrive at the start line physically and mentally prepared to race.    

Peaking for Performance:
I have five key areas that I focus on in order to peak for races. These areas are physical and psychological state as well as nutrition, acclimatisation, and familiarity with the course. The physical part of the equation I’m sure each and every one of you is well acquainted with. Perhaps the only comment I would make is in regards to tapering off training. I like to start backing off 10 days to 2 weeks prior to a major race but that is a very individualistic approach. At risk of stating the obvious the point of tapering is to be fresh come race day. As I finished my final bit of training the morning prior to my race (a cruisy 6k run with a few strides and a short walk) I was passed by three groups of triathletes out training with fully stocked fuel belts and popping gels. Needless to say I was made to feel as though I was bludging out there. But my opinion remains that there is nothing to be gained from working at moderate to hard levels of intensity right up to a race. I really think that if your reaching for your gels in the final few days before an event your still pushing too hard. You really should not be significantly depleting your glycogen stores. Research has shown that halving your training volume does not induce a loss in fitness levels for nearly 4 weeks so don’t let the need to meet certain targets be the reason your still pushing on. 

Speaking of glycogen stores I have finally found a carbo-loading strategy or lack thereof which suits me, so here is some food for though. Simply put carbo-loading only requires you to take in 1.5-2g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight in the final four days before competition in order to be effectively loaded up. A common comment that I have heard (and experienced myself) prior to a race is that all the carbs have been making the person feel a tad sickly and even lethargic. The reality is that our 1.5-2g target is really quite a small target and many athletes consume significantly more than this on an average training day. As such the strategy that suits me, and I believe would suit most people is to not change a thing in their diet in the final days before a race. The idea being that we are already meeting our carbo loading target and the reduction in training load resulting from our taper naturally facilitates the build up of our glycogen stores. So if you ever find yourself feeling like the last Clif bar or extra large bowl of pasta you consumed may have been one food item too many I’d give this go.

The psychological side of things is perhaps the hardest to get right. I think as long as you really want to be there your well on your way to having a great race. The amount of times I arrive pool side for a swim set whilst feeling far more like a nap is an unfortunate thing, but to turn up to race not really wanting to give it your all is an unforgivable thing. That said I have always found race morning different to a standard pool set, the adrenalin is going and I’ve rarely not been ready to put my best foot forward. To be mentally prepared to do this I simply try to keep a few things in mind. I race to challenge myself not others and that I shouldn’t race with expectations. Racing against others, be it professionally, as an age grouper or against your best friend is always good fun... when your winning. But to base achievement on beating others is not always practical as you can have great race and still lose out. As such I think of everyone as competing with me not against me and all I’m concerned with is the effort I get out of myself. The focus on giving the greatest personal effort that I can is the only expectation that I place upon myself. I’m certainly not saying I don’t like to win but I think I race best when my focus is not on just that.     

The icing on the cake is acclimation and familiarity with the venue. Acclimation for my recent race in falls creek saw me head up to the venue three weeks prior to race to live and train at altitude. Although only a mile high its certainly enough to notice a difference in performance, particularly up hills. The 3 week duration was chosen as it is commonly sited as the length of time for acclimatisation to take place, however the biggest gains are seen in the first 3-7 days. So whilst a 3 week training and racing venture is impractical for most a far more moderate amount of time at altitude beforehand can really make a difference. But with only one triathlon in Australia at altitude it’s not going to be often that you need to acclimate to such conditions. Far more relevant is the acclimation to heat and cold. In terms of heat, the recommended approach is 10 days of moderate-low intensity exercise in said heat. Dealing with the cold is a bit trickier, whilst it is acknowledged that you can acclimate to cold over a long period of time your probably  best of turning up at least a couple of days before to get over the shock and then bring some gloves and a jacket for the bike leg!

Finally familiarising yourself with the course, in particular the bike, is another great thing to do. When I’m out learning a course I experiment with different levels of effort going over rolling hills, perhaps you will discover that by committing on the certain downhills you can just make it over the top of the next incline. I also pick out trees or markings on the road to use as braking markers for corners and turnarounds. And best of all come race day I know exactly how many corners, rises and descents there are to be traversed before I can get into the run.

Nail all of these areas you will be ready to peak for performance.                

Australian Long Course, 2xu Falls Creek Triathlon Race Report:
Having spent a prolonged period up at falls creek its a brilliant place for triathlon training. Whilst the closest pool at Mount Beauty is slow 30k drive from falls there is a lake created by the Rocky Valley dam up there which is spectacular, it’s clean and just stretches out for kilometres. Although the overwhelming opinion is that it is a tad too cold (~14-17 degrees) I found it just dandy in a wetsuit and neoprene cap... a lot warmer than Parramatta lake in the winter at any rate. With such a great lake its no wonder the swim feels so good. I had a pretty good swim albeit largely on my own. The swimming splits included about a 250m run up the beach and the road to transition. Although I flew up the hill determined not to waste a moment I quickly found myself unable to find my bike. When you forget exactly which rack its on and then forget what race number you are it can be quite a trying process, luckily a few spectators a bit more coherent that myself pointed me in the right direction.

Getting out onto the bike course I was confident that I knew exactly how to ride the technical bike course, my pre-determined braking markers were very useful. The bike leg saw me to and fro with a few bigger guys who came out of transition just behind me over the duration of the entire bike leg. The uphills were my domain but their power always brought them back to me on the downhills, it made for good motivation. On a rather pleasant note its the only race I’ve ever done where I can say that there was virtually no drafting. I saw the odd instance but for the most part the limited field and hills broke everyone up very nicely and allowed for a clean race.

Going back into T2 I found my rack no problems and then proceeded to fumble with my shoe laces for over a minute whilst being filmed. The cool swim and then bike in 8 degree weather had left my fingers unable to manage the momentous task of doing up my laces, perhaps I will bring back the elastic laces. From there I got moving pretty quick and started to run down guys on the 2 lap course. Whilst there was one brutal 400-500m climb up a ski run each lap the rest of course was about as flat it could be given the mountainous location. With the motivation of a great result and the dominant figure of Melissa Rollinson chasing me I ran a fast but controlled first lap before managing run an ever so slightly quicker second half. My final lap was buoyed by the fact that I was now catching fellow competitors and gapping those behind me. Nevertheless the finish line still seemed to take an age to finally become tangible. It was great crossing the line in 12^th and to have mixed it with some of the pro’s. Post race I was pleasantly surprised to see my 76:33 run split over the 20k course had been the second fastest of the day behind overall winner Tim Reed. I had also been the fourth amateur athlete across the line and with a convincing win in the 18-24 age group I was crowned national champion.  It was a near perfect race for me with the only downsides being my less than blistering transitions, definitely some work needed there.

As for what is next, I’m looking at my options but there isn’t likely to be anything major in the near future. Train hard and have fun till next time.

-Ryan       

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Hi everyone,

As 2011 draws to a end I am about to close the chapter on my Achilles injury and hopefully never open it again. It has been a tough year mentally, physically and emotionally. Trying to push my body through this achilles injury proved to be impossible, I never got the results I knew I was capable of and I ended up having to resort to surgery. It is times like these that you look deep within yourself to find out what you are really made of and what you want to achieve at the end of the day and for me, Triathlon is what I am truly passionate about and I know I can come back stronger than ever. The fire in my belly has been fed to maximum capacity and I am ready for 2012 to be a year that will not be forgotten. 

The past several weeks have been spent largely on the bike and I have given the cycling legs a couple good tests along the way. 3 weeks ago was the Nutri-Grain Taupo Half Ironman where I competed in the cycle leg for the team "Snap, Crackle and Pop" I was Crackle… I think. I pushed the bike pretty hard but ended up being 20 seconds slower than cycle legend Gordon McCauley (which was not bad even considering he was doing the whole race). Next stop was last weekend at the Waihi midsummer madness bike TT. This was a 130km Time Trial, starting in Waihi and looping around some of the Coromandel towns before finishing back in Waihi. I started last and after riding in the rain, on the rough New Zealand roads, with over 1500 vertical meters of climbing and the last 50kms into a head wind I had lapped the majority of the field to have the fastest time on the day of 3hrs 39minutes. 

For those of you who have not heard I have gradually progressed to running on the road. I am up to 40 minutes most days with no pain in my Achilles. I know I love running, but I never thought I would miss it this much. I cannot wait until I can get back into stomping out my long runs along the coast, but I will take the build up slowly and controlled and be back in shape and ready to give Cameron Brown a run for his money at the Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand in Taupo in March.

 

I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New year.

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Ten days ago my wife Tarryn, son Oscar and I ventured west to a quaint little town called Busselton to race the annual Western Australian Ironman. This is a great event and continues to get better with help from the continued efforts of WTC who run the event, but mostly because of the culture created by a bunch of quirky tri geeks (myself included) and the beauty of Geographe bay. We are all there to achieve a common goal and that is to place ourselves well and truly out of our comfort zone and take the challenge of getting the absolute best out of ourselves under massive duress.

 

1600+ participants took the plunge into Geographe bay, some there to try and win the race, some qualify for kona, some beat a personal best, or just hear those sacred words "you are an ironman". I was there to achieve a top five or better finish. I had trained for this, it is a realistic goal and to cut a long story short I didn't achieve it. I finished 9th in a time of 8.54 and was out of the race after the bike ride. I swam average, started the bike well but tried to stay with a bunch of guys who were far better than me on the day and I paid the price of risking too much early. I was beaten physically and perhaps later on mentally finishing the last 60km at an effort that wouldn't even suffice for an easy training ride. I suffered despite feeling like I was doing everything within my power to ride at my goal pace. (Would I do this again? The short answer is yes! In order get what I expect out of myself I have to take risks, push myself to the brink and get through the other side, but to do this I need to develop my cycling further.) I then went about trying to salvage the race with a decent run. I did this until about the 30km mark, when the wheels fell of and my pace slowed significantly. My day in a nutshell swim 53min, bike 4hr57min, run 2nd 59min total 8hr 54min.

Now this brings me to the point of my blog, I had access to the best equipment through my fantastic sponsors, Trek bikes, Champion system clothing, Saucony runners, Ryders eyewear, Winners sports nutrition, Cecil Walker cycles and Nashypix. I had exceptional support from my awesome wife Tarryn, coach Kristian Mannietta, manager Dan from DTR. At the end of the day nothing was left to chance and I couldn't deliver my expectations on race day. It is now time to look at the whole process, analyse my performance with honesty and integrity, then do what is required to achieve what I know is possible.

You may be thinking I am being hard on myself but I must add that I am exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to race ironman, I still embraced the day and in 10+ years I will look back at all my Ironman performances and be proud. I still immensely enjoyed crossing the finish line, the sound of my 20 month old son yelling "Go Dad" at the top of his lungs, seeing my wife each lap of the bike and run, the joy of being introduced to the start line as a pro, burger and chips post race and the comaradarie amongst fellow athletes pre/post race. I still enjoyed hurting myself, pushing myself and wanting to give up. We had a great 9 days in WA and I cherish every moment I get to travel and race.

 

Driving to the airport on the way home I was listening to ABC national (showing my age) and the lead singer of Gotye was being interviewed. A week or so earlier I had watched what I thought was a great performance ‘live’ at the Aria music awards from Gotye. I was even imagining how good it must feel to be able to belt out a tune like that at the top of your lungs having your fans, peers etc looking on in ore. In his interview he spoke of how humbling that performance was, he found it incredibly difficult in such a big venue (he was not used to performing in such massive spaces). He listened to the performance the next day and was ‘embarrassed by what he knew was a poor performance’. Despite me the tone death musical enthusiast thinking it was incredible. He was objective and spoke of having a lot of work to do as an artist to be able to handle gigs in such venues. This reminded me of my feelings on the race a few days earlier. Several of my friends, family and colleagues could not understand how I could not be satisfied with my performance. Top 10, sub 9, sub 3hr marathon, "your kidding that's awesome". My good mate Beau Miles even dedicated a space on his blog to what he described as a “laypersons take on elite performance” http://www.beaumilesfilm.com/blog.php . I am grateful for the experience and am grateful for anyone of those around me who might be inspired by not only my performance but my dedication to the process. For me however, the minute I am satisfied with repeating the same performance over and over (my last four ironman's I have finished within a 4min window), stop challenging myself and ultimately tell myself to be content with a performance I know I can do a lot better than is the minute I should find a new challenge. Plus at the end of the day I just love to Swim, Bike and Run.

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Bunbury classic 2011, first triathlon of the season. I had been hanging out to race again as I hadn’t had a proper racing season since 2009. Being my 3rd Olympic distance race I was nervous to enter in the open category for the first time. Thoughts constantly going through my head, am I ready? Should I be racing as an age grouper? So before hand, being indecisive my good old mother went ahead and entered me so there was no going back! 

Racing has given me extra motivation and drive to push myself to break those limits 

Along with many others, I’ve spent this last weekend cheering friends and family on in the Busselton Ironman. Seeing everyone out there feeling that pain that many don’t understand – and don’t want to understand or on the other hand crave to experience, this reminds me of my long term goals. I believe there aren’t many other sports that you can find more determination, strength and courage that these competitors show. I’ve never felt more inspired than when my training partners and mother crossed that finish line to be an Ironman. Congratulations to all that went out there, whenever I’m feeling weak I’ll think of the pain you all sign up for. When something feels a little too hard, there is always someone out there doing it harder.  

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In two weeks of last minute decisions to race, I picked up a 1st (XOsize tri, Mordy) and 2nd (Gatorade tri (duathlon), Elwood).  In May of this year I hung up the goggles and bike to focus soley on running.  I figured road 5/10k would be the goal, however to my surprise and my coach I ran a 4:33 for 1500m on the track at VMC and 17:45 at Vic 5000m champs narrowly missing a start at Zatopek Meet, Melbourne.

I was 17yrs old when I last raced at this prestigious track event in the U/20 3000m.  With 12 years of tri racing in between, I am happy to be racing track again!! The Zatopek meet on Saturday delivered on awesome racing, as we stood in lane 3 with other distance running ethusiasts.  Benny Saint (St Lawrence), looked strong as he crossed the line, Australian Champion in 28:00 for 10km.  I felt pumped, with only 6 hours sleep til I raced at Gatorade Tri.  I was watching the updates as 10mm of rain meant no swim.  I have literally got in pool to water run and a few laps when I am coaching athletes, so a cancelled swim would be great news! 


Sure enough it bucketed down but so came the winds.  The new race format was 1.4 run/20k ride (draft legal)/5k run.  Perfect! The race commentator spoke about Olympian Erin Densham and series champion Madeline Oldfield to battle it out.  I was under the radar!  I had a win last week at XOsize tri so I felt quietly confident I can still ride strong enough to stay in the bunch.  Gun goes and we jostle for limited path space, I turned onto the oval and took the front I was going to try and split up the field as best I could.  With me onto the bike were 3.  We rode strong out, nice tail wind but no one really wanted to work hard coming back, all thinking about the final run.  In not driving it, we got caught by 2nd group and they continually attacked.  I kept responding, closing the gaps but it was hurting the legs a bit.  I kept thinking I need to ride more often!! I took the last corner pretty quick as now we were a big bunch trying to enter a narrow transition, I was 4th.  


Densham, Oldfield took off out of transition, whilst I, at Grandma pace, put on the racing flats.  Once the flying bird (mizunos) were on I quickly caught Madeline and thought she might sit on my shoulder, but not today. Erin had 100m, in sight, but just holding the gap.  I was in the hurt box at 3k mark, with a strong headwind all the way to the finish line.  I focussed on quicker turnover, as the legs were just not lifting!  I came good at 4.5k but too late to surge, I crossed the line 2nd around 30seconds behind Erin. I was happy with result. 


The verdict: still no comeback to tri, heart is with running and some riding, mountain biking. I feel very little love for the pool! (I think the feeling is mutual!)
Advice: "know thyself". I know am racer not a trainer, so my motivation comes from goals to race! Its the adrenaline, the tactics and the hardness that you just can't get in a training session. As you get older, the tactics and hardness is more developed, so keep at it, its never too late (or too old!!)
 

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Tri NSW Junior Series Weekend Newcastle 26th-27th November 2011

Day 1 – Hill Climb

The Hill climb was held at King Edward Park over about a 1klm course. The course has been a traditional car racing course with an annual hill climb held each October however today it was time for athletes to ride the scenic Oceanside course on their road bikes. With prize money on offer to the three fastest overall times the major placing’s were taken by specialist junior cyclists with Tim Papworth and Jayden Rowett both recording 2m12 followed closely by Jesse Ewett in 2m13. Jarrod Haldenby and Australian Schools Junior Champion Patrick Moore were the first triathlete’s home around 6 and 7 seconds behind.  The fastest female was Hannah Haldenby in 2m52 with Mikayla Martin next in 2m58 and me in 3m00. A shorter race was held for the youngsters of whom Callam Lang secured victory. 

Day 2 – Triathlon Rathmines Park

This was a great new course organised by the Newcastle Tri Club at Rathmines with an open water swim in the lake, an excellent closed road circuit and bike path run.

In the 16-19’s local Bryce Murray secured victory in the men’s with central coast athlete Emma Boyd taking out the women’s race. Next race was mine the 14-15’s. In the Men’s Patrick Moore had a solid victory after a great tussle with Forster’s Jake Schumacher whom managed to lead the Australian Champion of the bike. In the women’s race Rachael Knellwolf dominated with a very solid all-round performance followed by Isabella Khoudair and myself in third. I was extremely pleased to manage to hang on for a place today given I’ve had an injury interrupted off-season.

In the 12-13’s my favourite training partner Hamish Longmuir dominated from start to finish as did Mikayla Martin both who are having a great season thus far. They were followed by Izaac Daily and Keiran Tall in the men’s and Samantha Davidson and Cassie Barnes in the girls.

In the under 11’s Callam Lang won after a great battle with Christopher Higham and Lauren Griffin won the girls. However Callam’ s seven year old brother was easily the cutest triathlete by note only finishing second in the under 9’s but managing to show he can actually swim in deep water without touching the bottom.

Overall it was a great weekend of racing and I’d like to thank the Newcastle Tri Club and Tri-NSW for organising and running such a fabulous juniors event. Details of the series can be found at the tri-nsw website with the next race being on the 18th of December at Windsor and organised by the Hawkesbury tri club

Mikhele

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Not to bore anyone with the reasons behind my extended absence from the Triathlon Tribe blogging, I will just jump straight back into it and bring everyone up to date with what has happened throughout November.  With the domestic triathlon season well and truly underway there is plenty to delve into so with no further ado here it is:

Although not strictly November, this certainly falls under the nonsense heading!  My first triathlon for the season was set to be the first race of the Queensland Triathlon Series out at Raby Bay some two weeks prior to Noosa and going into the race I would almost say I was feeling better than ever, especially mentally and was ready to give it a red hot crack but it certainly wasn’t going to be my day and en route to the race I had a tyre explosion on the highway and the resulting trip home in the tow truck was far from pleasant.  Many of my fellow DAT Racing training partners did find their way to the venue and recorded some fantastic results with Brayden Tucker finishing 3rd in the open men and Bonnie Atherton and Holly Grice finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in the open womens race.

For myself, this little mishap meant that my first race of the season would be Noosa itself and having failed to share this information wit me prior to the race my coach was quietly very nervous with my usual habit of having a sub-par performance often the trend at the beginning of every season.  The race was a stacked field of who’s who in Australian triathlon but having finished 15th the year prior and feeling in a lot better shape my goal was to finish inside the top 10.  Unfortunately I fell just short of this and finished 14th just behind Courtney Atkinson and Chris McCormack.  It was a bit of a thrill in itself to just be racing alongside Chris during the swim and the bike but I’ll have to wait for another opportunity to beat the great man!  I have to also mention Ryan Fisher’s 5th place finish and having training alongside him since we both started in the sport he is now recording some amazing results.  Noosa never fails to disappoint and although my race result didn’t satisfy my goal if that is to be my worst for the season I’ll take it.  The weekend wrapped up the same way as every other year with a well earned party and chance to let the hair down and Nike not only put on an amazing after party but had some fantastic marketing throughout the weekend and I’m sure everyone will remember the fluro yellow “We run Noosa” shirts for some time to come.

Other exciting news from the Noosa weekend is that I am now proud to be sponsored by Nutrend Supplements.  Sponsorship is very hard to come by in this sport and I am very grateful to Michael and the team at Nutrend for giving me a fantastic opportunity.  These guys make some of the best tasting gels and sports drinks I have tried and with such a wide variety of flavours there is something to suit anyone.  I’ve been using a range of their products since Noosa and as well as tasting great, I am finding it is really helping with my training and am looking forward to working with these guys into the future.

The recovery from Noosa didn’t go as smoothly as expected and I got knocked about a fair bit from a cold that just wouldn’t leave but nevertheless I trained through it to compete in the second race of the Queensland Triathlon Series at Robina and just by making it to the event I had already improved on my last effort.  I went in to this race wit big expectations to win and following a solid swim and fastest bike split of the day I put myself in a fantastic position to achieve this and was one of the first to leave transition onto the run but unfortunately this is as good as it got for me and I finished a credible yet disappointing personally 7th.  But on a very positive note fellow training partner Holly Grice walked away with a very impressive win in the open womens race recording the fastest bike and run splits of the day.

The following morning the nonsense of the month trend continued and while I was out enjoying a morning recovery run in the forest I took a rather nasty tumble and ended up having to get 5 stitches in my elbow.  I must have looked quite the sight hobbling the remaining 15 minutes back to my car covered in dirt and blood!  I took this as a pretty clear sign that my body was crying out for some rest and armed with plenty of bandages, painkillers and antibiotics for my cold I more or less had a week without any physical activity at all to get myself healthy again.

Needless to say that brought November to an end and I am now back in training and finding some solid form again.  I have one more race remaining for the season which will be race 3 of the QTS back at Raby Bay before settling into a solid block of training in preparation for the main domestic focus of the season being Geelong, Devonport and Mooloolaba.

With my Triathlon Tribe blogging now back on track be sure to keep a look out for my December update which will come around quicker than ever if how quickly this year has already flown by is any indicator.  In the meantime be sure to head to www.nicholashull.blogspot.com or www.twitter.com/nicholashull to keep up to date with anything I deem blog or tweet worthy.

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I’ve been forced to face the facts. I’m a bit of a tri geek. Not a tri-tech geek, or an avid reader of the brutal triathlon forums but I certainly do love the history of the sport. The Nepean Triathlon is one of only a few races where the organisers truly recognise and respect the history of their event. The website clearly promotes the list of athletes that have won this race some of whom are true legends of the sport such as Greg Welch, Brad Beven, Tim Bently, Spot Anderson just to name a few. In recent times there have also been some successful current guys- Sexton, Jacobs and more, names that have really built on the prestige of the event. Due to my tri history nerdiness I really wanted to put up a fight in this race not just to race the guys this year but because of the well documented results of past races to also see how my times compared to the many other athletes that have raced around the Penrith arena.

I sat in a shuttle bus post Hy-Vee this year still coughing my lungs up after falling fairly ill prior to the event but not feeling too sorry for myself as I was stoked to be able to chat to Greg Bennet about how he won the race. It became instantly clear that it’s not by chance or pure talent that Greg wins the big races. He strategically analyzes his competition, the course, his equipment choices and his tactics. He follows a very well rehearsed mental plan. I’m sure all the greats do. I’ve tried to learn from this and have made a lot more effort into following a race plan since I’ve got back to Oz.

I knew I didn’t want this one to come down to a running race. I had run a hard 21kms only 7 days prior digging deep to try and catch Clayton Fettell at Port 70.3. I figured Mitch Robins and Cam Good could out run me by about 30 seconds if I stayed with them on the bike and saved my legs. So after studying the course maps and noticing how technical the bike course was I decided that my best chance for a win was to take some risks on the technical corners coupled with maximum effort acceleration and fingers crossed I would start the run with some breathing space. I also had one person in mind that I wanted to come with me, young Matty Williams.  Karl, from Trizone had given me the heads up of this guys prowess on the bike,  I wanted him on my team as having one person to take some of the air resistance load 7 meters ahead of you, even for short respites is very refreshing.

I got out of the swim where I needed to be. My transition wasn’t too bad but sloppy compared to the guys that have been racing the ITU format races. A strap on my shoe broke so I rode with one foot not strapped in but I soon caught the main group and stayed near the front for the first few kilometres. As soon as we hit the corners I went for it, as did Matty Williams. I didn’t look back, I have had more seconds then a clock, I wanted a win or to at least go down happy I had taken a chance.  Joey Lampe, the nicest man in triathlon, was up the road by a fair margin but by about 8kms we had reeled him in and at the U-turns I tried to really rev up Matty and Joey to really work to keep the dieting ITU pencils from gaining an time.

I saw the gap was growing so on the 2nd lap I tried to lift the pace even more and Joey dropped off leaving Matty Williams and I entering transition with a small gap on Joey and fair gap on the other contenders. I hit the run and knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. I felt heavy and my breathing was laboured. I’m not sure whether it was the hard ride or the race last week but despite the margin, I knew if Mitch was running well it was going to be very close. Finally at about 5kms I started to find some bounce and felt my pace start to lift. Mitch passed Joey who was moving well. Joey has the fastest run pace per body weight of any BFG (big friendly giant) I know. Mitch then further closed the gap on me but thankfully the finish line came soon enough and I crossed in first place. I wasn’t even slightly bummed to miss out on the bonus $2000 for beating the first female (Nepean has a handicap start based on the average male and female finishing times for previous years) because as soon as I knew Melissa Rollison was racing it was going to be near impossible to close an 11 minute gap especially since Mel normally outruns many of the elite men, which she did. Big Congrats to Mel, it’s scarey how good she is.

I’m very proud to have pulled off the race I wanted and even prouder to look through results online and see that my race stacks up as the quickest of the available results (goes back to 2000). Special thanks to my great friends Wicksy, Pyza and Ky making a surprise journey out to the distant land of Penrith. To my greatest love, the Moncat,  thank you for your constant love and support.

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Last year I competed in the Nepean Triathlon, the oldest Triathlon race in Australia. This year is it's 30th year running. I had only done a handful of triathlon races this time last year but that shouldn't excuse me for a clumsy error I made. I forgot where I racked my bike and coming into T2 I could not find my shoes. I ran around for 4 minutes pulling my hair out searching madly for my shoes.

This year will be different I say to myself leading into the race. With a year of races under my belt now, a win at Noosa two weeks ago, a world 70.3 title to my name, I'm starting to get the hang of this three discipline racing. Well at least that's what I thought when I was treading water on the start line.

So we take off. All the females start together, open, age group, weekend warrior - It's a huge field. The swim is only 1km. I will be able to stick with someone for sure here. After a hundred or so metres I'm on my own. Four up ahead, a massive bunch behind....Mel in the middle, swimming on my own AGAIN! My arms and legs are both lactic. I hope it's because I'm swimming hard and not because I'm having a bad day. I see the finish, stand up and run the fairly long transition to my bike which helps to get rid of the lactic acid I built up in the swim. I run my bike to the mount line, do an awesome superman mount (I told ya I'm getting the hang of this now) and land nicely on my saddle. I go to put my foot on my shoe...but miss. I try the other...and miss again. My shoes are now hitting the ground and I'm bumping around trying to catch one, but no luck! I tumble over, the bike hits the ground and my aero drink bottle breaks off the front of the bike. 

Oh no...no water...what to do? I quickly take a few big gulps out of it then leave it. I finally get going and start working on catching the front girls. The 30km bike course loops around the regatta before heading out along a straight flat road for a couple of km's. We then head down side streets and wind in and out on a very technical route. Back along the straight flat, 
around the regatta and then we head off for another lap. By about 10km, I'm in the lead. I'm not feeling great...the stress of my stack? The hard swim? I get through the bike leg, jump off, and rack my bike...in the lead (the first time I've ever been off the bike in first). Unlike last year, I picked the very first rack so I was sure to find my gear this time. 

I racked my bike, chucked my shoes on, grabbed my visor and started running out...only to discover I'm running out of 
T2 in the wrong direction. Someone kindly corrects my mistake and soon I'm on my way...again...in the right direction. While running out, I pull my number, trying to turn it around to the front (the race number has to be on your back for the bike, front for the run). I accidentally manage to pull my number belt completely off. I'm clipping it back up thinking to myself, this is definitely another 'L' plate effort today.

After not feeling great in the swim or bike I take off conservatively. I haven't had any water to drink since my rushed, last big gulp at the start of the bike before having to leave my bottle behind. So my main aim now is to get some water down at the first aid station. I'm running up to the first water station less than 1km into the 10km run. Sweet...water...a little girl is holding out a cup... I reach out to grab it and it drops just before I grab it. Bugger. I keep my arm out hoping there will be another one I can grab. Nope :-(. I'm not dying of thirst but I thought I 'should' get some down. The next aid station is at about 3.5km. This time no one is holding out cups but they are all arranged nice and neatly on the table very close together. Hmmm, I think of the volunteers that have put all the time and effort into arranging these cups with such precision. I'm running at about 3min 30sec per km and I'm trying to think of a strategy to grab just one cup without wiping out 50 other cups surrounding it. I eye-up the very first cup, watch it carefully as I approach...delicately reach out...grasp it...and knock down the next half dozen or so...I tried. Lol.

I'm feeling fine on the run. The course is 2x5km loops around the regatta. It's dead flat, concrete the whole way and you can see the entire course. Great for spectators! I get through one lap and by now I'm feeling great. Totally not what I was expecting after my first two legs. The 2nd and 3rd girls are nowhere to be seen but I also need to beat the first male. The interesting thing about this race is that the women get a head start on the men and whoever crosses the line first outright gets an extra prize. So based on their calculations of previous years, the women got head start of 12min 36sec. So I'm trying to keep an eye out for the lead men behind me. I don't want to go too fast for the last few km's and then make the handicap time less next year, but I don't want to go too slow and let them catch up. There were runners everywhere by now as a lot of the age group athletes were heading out for their first lap so it was hard to tell who was who.
 
The race was once again fantastically organised. I'd really like to thank Warwick Brennan and Gordon Bell for the invite back to this years Nepean Triathlon. Also the rest of the event organisers, sponsors, volunteers and of course all the competitors. I had a great time and I can't wait to come back to do it again next year.

I finished in a time of 1:38:35. 5th fastest swim at 15:34, fastest bike and run at 47:59 and 35:01 respectively. 

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The transformation of Melissa Rollison from world-class steeplechaser to gun triathlete continues at a remarkable pace.

Little more than a year after swapping sports, the 28-year-old Rollison won the prestigious Noosa Triathlon on Sunday, relegating world number four Emma Jackson to second place.

There was also a boilover in the men's race at Noosa, with Sunshine Coast local David Dellow claiming the biggest victory of his career at the age of 32.

Rollison made her name as a steeplechaser, winning the Goodwill Games title in 2001 and claiming silver at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games five years later.

But a string of stress fractures, which forced her to miss the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, eventually wore the Australian down.

She walked away from track and field and was close to quitting professional sport altogether before being convinced to give triathlon a crack, despite having no experience as a swimmer.

Rollison spotted the leaders a head start of nearly three minutes after the opening 1.5-kilometre swim leg on Sunday, but was able to reel Jackson in on the bike before powering away to victory in the concluding 10km run.

She needed medical assistance for a dizzy spell after stumbling exhausted over the finish line in a time of two hours and 25 seconds.

Jackson was second and New Zealander Kate McIlroy was third.

The self-coached Rollison won the 70.3 (half-Ironman) world championships title last month in Las Vegas and still sees her medium-term future in the longer events, despite winning in Noosa over the shorter Olympic distance.

The London Games will come around too quickly, but if she continues to improve at such a rapid rate, the Olympic dream that began when she was a young runner could finally be realised in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

"If the Olympics was a non-drafting race like Noosa I'd definitely be giving it a go next year," Rollison said.

"I caught most of them on the bike today.

"But with drafting you've really got to come out of the swim with the pack.

"For now there is money in 70.3 and I enjoy it, but there's always been that Olympic dream.

"I've been running since I was 11 years old and I always thought I'd make it to the Olympics.

"It would be good to just tick that box."

Dellow's rise to prominence has been a much slower affair.

He has been racing at Noosa for more than decade, finishing second in 2007 and 2008, before finally making the big breakthrough on Sunday.

Dellow clocked a winning time of 1:46:36, with fellow Australians Paul Matthews and James Seear completing the podium.

Having been ill earlier in the week, three-time defending champion Courtney Atkinson hit the wall midway through the bike leg and trailed home 14th, while two-time Hawaii Ironman champ Chris McCormack was 10th.

Dellow took great delight in beating the drafting experts, having been overlooked for a start in most of the World Cup races this year.

"I'm very proud to win here," he said.

"You look at the Noosa honour roll and the names on it and it's incredible that I'm going to be there forever."