2011/12 Gatorade Tri Series Race #5 Report

After having a less than impressive swim in my last Gatorade Sprint Tri at Brighton, I was really looking at putting in a better effort in yesterdays Race #5 at Elwood. I decided to do a longer 1km warm-up in the water prior to race start, as it often takes me quite sometime to feel warmed up and raring to go. This seemed to work a treat as I came out of the 500m swim with the lead bunch of 6 girls. The pace was one through T1 and a rookie error by myself saw me almost miss that lead bunch as I got caught up in a fence just before the mount line. How this happened I don't know! However, luckily it was disaster averted and I quickly found my way onto the 20km bike course. We had a nice group of 6 all working well together on the bike, and managed to stay ahead of the chase pack. Once again, the pace was on coming into T2. I managed to avoid all fences this time and made my way out onto the run course at the pointy end and it wasn't long until I hit the front. I knew I would have to keep the pace up as there were some quick girls behind me. The legs were feeling a little shabby after last weeks long course at Falls Creek so I was happy to only be running 5km. I managed to put in a strong run leg and crossed the line in 1st place. The win also happened to be my 10th win in the Gatorade Triathlon Series since I started in 2008 so it was nice to see that I still mix it in these shorter races!



Malvern Star | Peak Bike Hub | Brooks | Giro | Team Barefoot | Selle SMP

Australian Long Course Triathlon

After spending some awesome time training up at Falls Creek over New Year I was hanging to get up there again for some fun in the mountains, this time for the 2XU Falls Creek Long Course Triathlon. Considering how unreal the course is, and the fact that is was an Australian Championship, it was somewhat surprising to see just two of us on the pro female start line...myself and World 70.3 Champ Mel Rollison. The much talked about scheduling clash of 2 long course tri's in Victoria on the same weekend and the brutality of the course may have been the reasoning for this, however you can only race who turns up.

The fact that there were only two of us totally changed the dynamics of the race. With great respect for Mel and the amazing athlete she is, my focus changed from racing for a place, to racing myself and trying to improve on last years time, all while having the privilege of a one-on-one lesson in racing by the worlds number 1 triathlete.

The race day conditions were perfect, credit must go to SuperSprint for bringing the start time forward an hour to avoid the afternoon storm front that would roll in.

Once we were set on our way for the 2km swim, and the blood started to flow, the chilly 15 degree water temperature soon began to feel like a bath...and thankfully that was the last of the chill that I would feel all day.



Altitude plays with the body, and as such the swim felt a lot harder than usual, however I managed to keep it controlled and exited the water with Mel closely on my heels. It was then onto the bike for the 3 lap, 80km cycle. With 6 kickers each lap, it made it tough to get into a rhythm. However my new Malvern Star TT felt the goods, and rocketed me to a bike time that was 4min quicker than last year and within 2min of Rollison.

Mel quickly stamped her authority on the run as she put 8min into me over the 20km course and streaked ahead for the win. Meanwhile, the amazing views out to the mountains helped take my mind off burning legs, as I recorded a run time 2min quicker than last year and crossed the line with a 6min pb.



Falls Creek is an amazing location for a triathlon. It is tough, it is hard and there is a lot of apprehension prior to race day day. However it is truly worth making the trip for and it would be great to see this event grow in the future and see more girls on the start line. SuperSprint did an awesome effort staging such a great event in testing and unpredictable conditions.

Huge thank you to all the support on the race course and to Mum and Dad for making the trip across the Strait to watch. Big congrats to all who raced and a shout out to SammyJ for ripping up the course to become Australian 25-29years Champ...all while doning some unsightful footy socks!



Malvern Star | Peak Bike Hub | Brooks | Giro | Team Barefoot | Selle SMP

2011/12 Gatorade Tri Series Race #3 Report

It was a case of third time lucky for the 2011/12 Gatorade Triathon Series, with the swim a go ahead after the first two races were changed to a duathlon format due to poor water quality. The 500m/20km/5km race was held at Brighton for the first time in some years. It had been a while since I had last ventured into the bay, so I was looking forward to putting in a good race. Unfortunately my keen-ness for a swim didn't translate into a good swim, and as such I found myself out the back fairly smartly with some work to do on the bike to catch the group of 8 girls about 45sec up the road. Luckily I have been riding my bike more than swimming, so with help from fellow competitor Dew, we were able to bridge across quite nicely by the 5km mark. 15 more km of riding followed with the group all working well together. It was then onto the run. Often I don't know how my legs will feel until my feet literally hit the ground running, and luckily they were feeling the goods today. I lead the field out of T2 and was soon joined by Densham. Just before the first km mark she made a surge and got about 50m ahead. I made sure to keep her in my sights, as the saying "out of sight, out of mind" often holds very true. By 4km I was starting to hit my straps and really wanted to finish off as strong as I could. I could see Densham slowing in the distance, and with 200m to go I knew that I had to put in one almighty sprint if I were to cross the line first. Unfortunately for her, lucky for me, she didn't see me coming and my last ditch lunge on the line resulted in one helluva finish and the shiny gold medal. It was a great race, with many lessons learnt...one being that my swim start needs some attention and two...never give up!

That's a Wrap!

The final blog of the year is coming all the way from Falls Creek...and what a place to bring in the new year! Falls is one of my favourite places on earth. The scenery is something else, the riding amazing and the running awesome.

We have just spent the final day of 2011 doing a stellar ride down the back side of Falls Creek to Omeo and return. A big day in the saddle, and totally worth it...we even got to see some wild brumbies in our travels!

2011 has been a huge year full of travel, training, racing, and most of all good times. I also achieved two of my major goals of the year, one being going back to Uni (even if it is only part-time!), and the other racing my first World Champs race at the pro level. It has also been one tough year learning and observing first hand the amount of hard work, dedication and sacrifice it will take to become a successful athlete. The lessons I have learnt throughout the year and the adventures I have had will stay with me forever.

2012 is looking to be another great year with some exciting races and travel planned. I am so lucky to have the support of family and friends, and so thankful that I can share all of life's adventures with Sam.

It has definitely been an experience doing 52 consecutive weeks of blogging. However, I will make sure to keep the blog alive into 2012 (just not so frequent!).

Until next time,

Happy New Year!

The (almost) End Of An Adventure

As 2011 is rapidly drawing to a close, so is my epic weekly blogging adventures. As some may recall at the beginning of the year I boldly pronounced "I shall blog every week for the next year!" Oh, why do I always come up with these ideas that seem amazing at the onset...

At the time this seemed like a simple task, however upon reflection it has been exhausting! Thinking of something to write (worth reading) week in week out is like writing an assignment for uni or school over and over again. Now don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed this blogging experience, however I am not the greatest when it comes to sitting and concentrating for a whopping 30 minutes of weekly blog writing. Anyhow, it has been a fun adventure and it will be nice to have a years worth of blogs to read back on in the future when I am bored out of my mind, looking for something to read.

I must say though that I have become increasingly less punctual with my blogging schedule. What was once supposed to be Sunday funday blog day, turned into Monday blog day then Tuesday, Wednesday and now Friday!! However I have not missed a single week in this whole adventure which is truly exciting for me (however, according to my calculations, there is still one more week to go...and anything can happen in a week, so I'm not out of the woods just yet).

Thinking of topics to write about has been the most stressful part of this blogging journey. However, as I have learnt, one can really blog about anything...take now for example, I am blogging about blogging. And as boring as this may seem, there still appears to be something to blog about when blogging about a blog.

I have tried to keep the weekly blog topics varied, from race reports to training updates, photos blogs to recounting the various misadventures I find myself in. Some weeks I find myself grappling for stories to blog about, then at the very last minute right before that moment when I am about give up, and proclaim to the world that "it was just too hard", I walk into the perfect blogging situation...so it is in these instances that I must thank blog worthy topics such as swooping plovers, hungry bears, YouTube, self-obsessed gym junkies, race reports and training adventures.

In conclusion to this riveting blog, it must be noted that deep down I do actually enjoy blogging and as such I will make a concerted effort to continue to keep the blog alive into next year (but maybe just not so frequent!).

However, before the year is out and this adventure is complete, there is still one more blog that must be written on a topic that is yet to be decided but is almost guaranteed to be the most riveting blog of all.

Until then, Merry Christmas!

Gatorade Tri Series Race #2 - Elwood

Yesterday was the 2nd race of the 2011/12 Gatorade Triathlon Series. After sitting out race #1 I was looking forward to getting out there and racing as part of Team Barefoot again. After spending the best part of 8 months racing the half ironman distance, I was really keen to do be doing a shorter local race with less pressure.

Both races in the series so far have been of the duathlon format since the swim has been cancelled...and I was quite happy we weren't getting into the bay yesterday, it was filthy!




As the focus for me is next year I went untapered into this race, so the legs weren't feeling their freshest! The first 1.4km run went out at lightening speed and the pace was on, my Brooks T7 Racers were perfect for the speedy start. I had a good transition in T1 and went out onto the bike in first place with a group of 3 other girls. The wind on the bike made for tough riding, and the tailwind out was complimented by a strong headwind on the return. My new Malvern Star Oppy C7 road bike felt awesome in its first race workout.

The girls behind us rode really well to bridge the gap, and by the time we hit T2 we were a group of 7. Erin Densham motored out of T2 and ran on for the win, I ended up crossing the line in 3rd place elite female.

It was a fun day out and I love racing just 5min down the road from home! Big congrats to Sam on his stellar 2nd place in M25-29.

I am heading home to Tassie at the end of the week for Christmas followed by some good training time up at Falls Creek over new year. Then it's full steam ahead into racing for 2012!

Perfect day for the Dandy's!

The sun was shinning, the birds singing and the sky was blue...must be a day for a spin in the Dandenongs. Sam knows all these roads like the back of his hand so I played follow the leader. Great ride!!

Some pretty fields


The leader (Sam)


Another pretty field


View from the top...Melbourne City is out there somewhere





Sam again...as you can see, I spent very little time on the front!


Me and my mate :)