Kansas 70.3 Race Report

Today was my first race of the US season, Kansas 70.3. I have managed to get some good training under my belt over the past few weeks in Boulder, so was looking forward to seeing where I was at against the competition over this side of the globe…and what better way to gauge a measure of my progress than race against the world’s best in Chrissie Wellington! Chrissie is the type of athlete that comes around once in a life time…if lucky. I look up to her as both a person and an athlete, so it was awesome to be toeing the start line with her.



Race start was an early 6.30am, which was good so as to beat the heat. The 1.9km swim was a one lapper in the Clinton Park Lake. It took me a while to get going in the swim, but after about a kilometre I started to find my rhythm. I exited the water in 5th place, made up a place in T1, and headed out onto the bike course in 4th.



The 90km 1 lap bike course took us out through the hilly back roads of Lawrence, Kansas. The roads were smooth and the winds favourable for the first half of the bike. I was feeling strong and managed to reel in one of the lead girls at about kilometre 40. With about 15 kilometres to go I was passed by another girl, where I then held my position and headed out onto the run in 4th.



The 2 lap 21.1km run course wound through the Clinton Park campgrounds and dropped down to the lake car park, where we then had to climb up and out of. The first lap felt fairly average, and I knew that if I were to hold my position then I would have to get moving. Luckily I started to feel a lot stronger in the final 10km and ended up running a PB 21.1km time of 1.27. I crossed the finishing line in 4th place Pro female, about 2min down on 3rd and some 18min down from Chrissie (if you want to be the best, you have to race the best!)



I was aiming for a top 6 finish so was pleased to come away with 4th and gain some more World Champs qualifying points and a tonne of experience that I will take with me into my next race at Buffalo Springs, TX in 2 weeks’ time.



Thanks to Cheryl for providing us with such a great homestay, it definitely helps me to stay relaxed prior to a race knowing that I’ve got a comfy bed to sleep in! Also a huge thanks to Sam for making the trek to Kansas with me and taking awesome photos and keeping Mum and Dad updated back home.

My result today gives me the confidence I need going into a season of tough racing over here in the US and it is a stepping stone to bigger and better things to come in the future. Happy days :)

WEEK 22 - A Brief Week

Sunshine:) Sunburn:( Rattle snakes...in bushes. Cows...everywhere. Yoga...inner peace. Swimming...in the sunshine. Frozen yoghurt...unlimited variety, unlimited toppings. Altitude...breathing through a straw. Dairy Queen...almost McFlurry. Riding...up hills, down hills, everywhere. Massage...must stay awake, do not snore. Ward cookies...mmmm. Car hunting...Saturn. Burrito...1kg! Apple and rhubarb pie...thanks Cookie :) NBA finals...Dallas Mavericks...Dirk Nowitzki. Reubens...best burgers in town. Skunk...pooeee. Tom Selleck...Jesse Stone. Study...over it. New tri shoes...zoom zoom. Coffee...in love. Boulder Creek...ice bath. Best Buy...intense salesman. 30min abs for athletes...buff...one day. Colorado Rockies...fail. Coyotes...a sighting is imminent. Heating up...34.5 degrees tomorrow. Hawthorn...lucky we'll be back in time for GF! This week...Kansas 70.3 race prep. Home-grown chooks...best eggs ever. Bed time...zzzzz.

WEEK 21 - Boulder!

For the next 4 months, weekly blog time is going to be Monday morning Australian time (which is Sunday afternoon US time). I was considering keeping the blog on Sunday evening Australian time however that would make it only Saturday over here, and seeing as Sundays are quite eventful days blog time has now changed. Hence the reason you may be reading this on a Monday and not a Sunday…phew!

It has been quite a big week. Sam and I left Melbourne last Monday morning bound for the US. After 30 hours of travel and one missing bag we finally arrived in Boulder, which is where we will be based for the next 4 months.It seems only yesterday that we were last here. It is great to be back and hardly anything has changed at all. However the place we are staying at now has chooks…which is quite the novelty!





For most of the week we have just been settling back in and adjusting to the time difference, altitude and the travel. All of these factors combined have left my body feeling pretty sluggish, however within the next week or so I should start to feel ‘normal’ again. One of the most important factors to consider when coming to altitude is to ensure the body has the time it needs to adjust before training hard again. Doing too much too soon will leave you buried in a hole which is very hard to get out of when up this high. As such I have only done about half my weekly volume with very little intensity. It’s a little frustrating as I want to be training hard straight away, however patience is the key and with my first race less than 2 weeks (Kansas 70.3) I want to be fresh and ready to go, not still recovering from pushing too hard too soon.

This morning I completed my first long run at an easy pace, however I made sure that I stayed on the heavily populated trails as this bear fear has still got the better of me…but I will conquer it!! I feel as though I have made some small progression though, as there are now a herd of cows on my favourite running trail that I have to run through, this would normally have freaked me right out however now I can run within a metre of them no worries!

On another note, I am currently watching Sam race in his first road race of the US season, the Superior-Morgul Classic. It’s a pretty big road race over here of about 80 mile. Since the peleton only comes past once every 17 mile I thought it a fine chance to blog in between laps. He has just gone through lap 3 of 6 and is sitting pretty in the middle of the bunch and looks good. I have been put on camera duty, so the following photos are of the race. Although I am not very good at multi-tasking so it is either photos or cheering, not both!














This week I’ll start to increase the training a bit more. Between sessions will be sleeping, eating and studying…as I have exams in less than 3 weeks. Studying over here is much more fun than studying at home, as Starbucks (and just about every other café, restaurant, shopping centre) has free WIFI, so I can set myself up on the compfy couches with a grande no whipped cream mocha with a shot of espresso (seriously the choices of coffee over here are mind boggling!) in one hand and study notes in the other. It is good to have something to do between sessions to keep my mind active rather than just watch countless episodes of Sex and the City!

I will check back in next week with another blog. In the meantime I have got the twitter account up and running Maddie_Oldfield
with regular updates, so be sure to hit the follow button and get with the Twitter rage!

WEEK 20 - Food Glorious Food

I have spent the past week at home in Tassie being spoilt rotten by Mum and Dad. I love going home as Dads cooking is a-mazing and Mum makes pretty awesome desserts, alas I thought it appropriate to do a picture blog of my yummy meals...as it is going to be a while before I eat this well again! Most people may find this blog excrutiatingly boring, however there are a select few out there who are just as obessed with food as I am. So scroll down and have a look! mmm mmmmmm.


Rack of lamb with potatoes, gravy, peas and brussel sprouts


Slow Cooked Beef with Peas and Dumplings!


Fresh Pasta Meatballs with Chopped Tomato


Homemade Pizza



Chicken and Leek Pie (it whats on the inside that counts!)



Spaghetti Bolignaise (the favourite!)



Roast Beef with Gravy, Cauliflower Cheese, Brussel Sprouts, Sauteed Spinach, Pumpkin and Stuffed Tomato


So now that the important news is out of the way...Sam and I head off to Boulder tomorrow! At this stage the first race is Kansas 70.3 on June 12. Looking forward to getting to the warm!

WEEK 19 - Not So Smooth Sailing

I honestly thought it was all over on Friday night. I actually thought I was going to die. No one seems to take me too seriously when I recount what I thought were my last moments...but it was truly a frightful experience!

Melbourne has had it's fair share of horrendous weather this past week and Friday night was looking to be no different. Bad weather at night doesn't normally phase me...except when I have to cross Bass Strait on the trusty stead that is the Spirit of Tasmania.




Normally when I make the crossing it is quite a pain-free experience which usually involves boarding the boat, eating tea, going to bed, and then voila, arrival at destination. However Friday night was quite the opposite.

After eating tea at the restaurant on board, Dad and I went out on the deck to check out the scenery (although at 9 o'clock at night in the middle of the ocean not much can be seen), and phew it was windy!! Dad made me hold on tight to the rails as he said I could possibly blow away (not sure if he was joking or not, but I made sure I held on as tight as I could!) We decided to head back inside once it started pelting hail and the captain made an announcement that "we were to be in for a rough night with 100km/hr winds, lightening and unexpected patches of discomfort so sit back, relax and TRY to enjoy the ride!

This was when I thought it was best to just head to bed, sleep through the bumpy crossing of Bass Strait and wake up to Tassie in the morning. How wrong I was! As I settled into bed the rocking of the boat started to get bigger and bigger, until the boat was doing full blown smack downs on each wave. It was like one of those rides at the show where you climb, climb, climb and then BAM you hit the bottom...except on a ride it's kind of fun and only lasts about a minute. On the boat it is horrendous and lasted for hours on end. Each time the boat smacked into a wave I was sure it would capsize and that would be it, life over!

It was at this point that I decided to send a fair well message to Sam and say that if he didn't hear from me in the morning then I would be at the bottom of the ocean. Nice to know that he took me seriously when he responded with a "Safe Trip!!xx"

As much as I tried to sleep I swear I woke up every minute...even one time to the people in the cabin next door screaming! When I looked at my watch and saw that it was 5.30am I was so excited...until I realised that I was looking at my watch upside down and it was in fact 1.30am! Meh...still another 5 hours of this torture!

Meanwhile Dad was snoring his away through this nightmare. Although I did take some comfort in this as he has done the Sydney-Hobart yacht race something like 17 times, so if this didn't phase him then I shouldn't worry...




Anyway, to cut a long story short I didn't die and we did make it to Tassie in one piece. I did in fact manage to get some sleep and when I awoke to the calm waters in Devonport I had to think twice as to whether I had just experienced a dream-nightmare or real life-nightmare. I conclude the latter...

Busso 70.3 Race Report

After a short six day turn around it was back on the start line once again to tackle another Half Ironman - this time being the Busselton 70.3. After a hard race last weekend at Port Macquarie 70.3 where I finished 2nd, it was all about recovery in an attempt to be right for the race at Busso on Saturday.

Josh and I spent a few extra days in Port Mac chilling out before flying straight over to Perth on the Wednesday and then driving down to Busso. Thursday and Friday were spent doing various promotional events for the TriWA communtity including handing out medals at the junior tri on the Friday arvo. It was great to give something back to the triathlon community and to be a part of the activities with the other pro athletes.

Before we knew it Saturday morning had rolled around and it was ready to race! I was unsure how my body would feel after last week once the pressure was on, but I was ready to give it my all as soon as the gun went.

Once again the girls had a stacked field including Jo Lawn, Belinda Granger and Bec Keat. Just to be racing a against these girls is awesome and I aspire to be as successful as them one day in the future.

I had a great swim and came out with the main pack of girls, however once we hit the bike course I could tell it was going to be a long day - the body wasn't coming to the party! I managed to stick with the girls for the first 30km on the bike but soon found myself in no man's land for the final 60km. I still managed to ride solid though for the rest of the bike and pushed through on the run to finish up 7th Pro Female. I was pretty disappointed once I crossed the finish line, I was hoping for another race like last week, but after putting it into perspective - 2 Half Ironman's in 6 days at 23 years old, I can't expect too much. Over the 2 races I managed to rack up some valuable qualifying points and hopefully after some more good results in the US I will be in that top 30 girls selected to compete at World 70.3 Champs in Vegas.

It has been a great experience these last 10 days learning to live, train, travel and race as a pro athlete. Thanks so much to Josh for letting me hang out with him over the week...I'm sure he's just about had enough of hanging out with his brother's girlfriend!!

For now it's back to Melbourne for a few days of catching up with friends and chilling out before packing up and heading home to Tas for a week and then the US campaign begins!

And finally...after months of deliberation I have gotten on the Twitter bandwagon, I can sense an addiction coming on!

Port Mac 70.3 Race Report - 2nd Pro!

This weekend saw the combined running of the 2011 Port Macquarie 70.3 and Ironman. Having both the events on the same day was a new concept that seemed to work quite well and I'm sure it will continue on in the future.

Port Macquarie was the first 70.3 event I have raced in. After doing well at the long course distance in my past two races I decided to step it up and get a season of 70.3 racing under my belt in an attempt to qualify for the World Champs in Las Vegas in September.

I was fairly nervous going into this race - it was the strongest field I have come up against with names such as Granger, Lawn, Wu, Rollinson and Lester all toeing the start line.

I learnt two things from this race - 1. I don't want to be doing a full Ironman anytime soon...after seeing all those Ironman athletes out on the course today, it definitely looks like the hardest thing to be done!
2. Don't give up...

After posting a good swim I headed out onto the 1 lap 90km bike course with Granger, Wu and Franks. The first few hills combined with the headwind made for super tough riding and I soon found myself spat out the back. It was at this point that I thought my race was over and all those negative thoughts started to creep in. However I soldiered on and started to feel strong again in the second half. With the legs feeling good, I was looking forward to posting a good run time and try to make up some ground.

Heading out onto the 2 lap 21.1km run I had no idea what place I was in, but soon heard feedback from the crowd that I was in around about 5th place. This was a lot better than expected and gave me the confidence to give it my all on the run and try to chase down the girls in front. I was feeling good so stepped up the pace and managed to pick up a few places, and eventually crossed the finish line in 2nd place pro female, behind winner Jo Lawn.

I was really pleased with this result. The aim was to put in a performance that was respectable and I believe I have achieved that today. This result gives me the confidence that I can mix it with the pro field and it will set me up for a great year in the US. I have so much more to learn and so much more strength to gain, so this is all just the beginning and I can't wait to give it all I've got in the coming years.

A huge thanks to Darrel and Sonia Nash for their awesome hospitality while in Port, as well as all the supporters out on the course including Dan, Pat and Allison. Also to my sponsors Malvern Star, Brooks, Giro, Selle SMP and Peak Bike Hub.

Once again the biggest thanks to my coach Josh Rix...I will be forever grateful of the countless hours he is putting into training me, it's all starting to pay off :)

It's a quick turn around this week, with Busselton 70.3 in 6 days time. If I can get my body right then it should be an exciting race!