Hello everyone.  I’m currently sitting on the EZ 145 flight from Munich to London Stansted, I was on the exact same flight two weeks ago returning from Kitzbuhel excitedly writing my blog after one of my best ever races.  Here I am again sitting in same inhumane position they like to put us in writing another one about my race here in Schliersee.  This flight is providing me with some happy memories (I still hate budget airlines though

When Rainer (team manager) told me that Schliersee was on the Bundesliga circuit this year I jumped at the chance to race this and have been really excited to race it ever since! It’s a famously hard course with a chilly lake swim, a very hard mountainous bike ride and a off road very sapping run course.  I know this is perfect for me, I really wanted to win it and if I can break the course record.  4 guys have been under 2hrs and the fastest is Michael Raelert with 1hr 59.30.

I spoke to a lot of my friends about Schliersee but most of them warned me away from the idea because it’s so hard that it can make you too smashed to achieve your bigger goals.  I’ve been racing quite a lot recently and the timing is not perfect but thankfully I managed to get to the start line feeling strong enough to put in a good performance even with a decent 32hr week under my belt after Kitzbuhel.  We’ll have to see how I pull up from the race in the next few days but I don’t feel too smashed so I hope I can get back to my hard training routine very soon.

Thankfully the weather cleared up nicely after a lot of rain in the days before so we could enjoy nice dry conditions and even sunshine after the race!  The swim went ok, I knew that for once it wouldn’t be too much of a factor so I was semi stress free.  Most people more of less got on the bike together and we rolled round for the first 7k, I wasn’t feeling great actually, I think mainly because I still had some fatigue from Kitzbuhel.  We got to the first hill and I put a bit of pressure down but I had it in my head that the hill at 15k would be a good time to make a move.  I managed to split it up quite a lot, we dropped maybe half of the group but I wanted to make it smaller so we could all work hard together (it’s better for the course record) after this effort the pace eased off a bit as everyone started to think about the last 5k which is an average of 10%!  I attacked as soon as the climb started and only Laurent Vidal and Patrick Lange could keep with me.  I felt quite tired at this point and after 2k of the climb I realised that Lange had the best legs and he put 25 seconds into Laurent and I.  This part of the race was really hard, my legs were full of lactic acid and I was really looking forward to getting off to start running!

I got onto the run feeling strong, Michelle sets Stu Hayes and I a lot of hard running off maximum effort bikes so I’m well used to the feeling!  After the first of 3 hilly loops I managed to dodge the random cows on the course and caught Lange and by this point I was running on my own.  I pushed the pace quite hard and after every lap glanced at the clock trying to work out if I am close to the course record but I had no idea as the hills were so muddy it really slowed down my rhythm!  I crossed the line in 1hr 59.45 just missing the course record but delighted to get my first win of the season and also a win for Team Buschutten!

I have to say this though…there was a war within a war in this race as top Ironmen Timo Bracht and Faris Al Sultan were racing and I am happy to say on a course which is designed for a strong athlete the ITU boys smashed them! Wahoo! Turns out we can ride our bikes…

Finally I have to say a huge thanks to Team EJOT Buschutten. Rainer and Sabine Jung and the WHOLE team.  You all put so much effort into the organisation and made it a really enjoyable experience, it’s an honour to be part of the team!

W

Chasing on the bike

Had an interesting weekend in Geelong for the race.

I decided to drop in about 5 days out from the race.  I twisted my wrist while I was out running with Brad Kahlefeldt and Emma Moffatt. I thought that as my training is going to be disturbed I may as well turn it into a positive and go for a hit out. I predicted that my wrist would be better by the race.

It was ok…but was still sore! My main concern was that I would struggle to sprint on my bike and also if anyone gave me any hassle in the swim I would struggle to fight anyone off!

After having our race postponed from the Saturday to Sunday due to high winds…(soft Aussies) we were ready to go on.

The swim went well…I felt really good in the water after all the work I have been doing on my swim. I couldn’t man handle any athletes around me so rather then getting to the front I could only sit where I was and not move up. So I missed the very front and had 2k of chasing to do before i got on to the pack.

It sure was a shock to my system but I closed the 100m gap…I couldn’t really get out of my saddle and sprint so I just sat down and grinded up there feet still out of the shoes so was happy with how I rode.  The pace was reasonably quick on the bike. Overall I was impressed with the ‘other Aussie guys’…there were some really good swimmers in there and also some very strong bike riders who were happy to have a crack! There were quite a few who had the capacity to run under 15:45 as well off a hard bike.

The run was pretty sharp.  It was always going to be! Brad Kahlefeldt, Laurent Vidal and Brendan Sexton pushed the pace pretty hard and I managed 3k before Brad put the hammer down.

I’m satisfied enough with my first race.  It’s been a long time since I’ve put in a good performance…since June last year in Des Moines in fact! I think my performance this weekend was rusty but within striking distance of great shape! Not bad for a first race, the next one will EASILY be better.

I also want to shout out about…

My competitors at the weekend.  1st Brad Kahlefeldt 2nd Laurent Vidal and 3rd Brendan Sexton who for me had the race of the day.  As well as the girls.

My team mates who raced the Runaway Bay 5k.  Especially Kathy Tremblay who went 16:35 + course record

Vicky Holland who won her first race of the year in Takapuna! Looking good for the year Vix:)

Our awesome homestay hosts Kerrie and Jason have gone well overboard to make us feel very welcome.   I feel so relaxed leading into the weekend that I could be racing in at home! It’s certainly a far cry from the usual waiting game based in a boring hotel room!  I used to get bored coming here to race, it was very much a get in get out affair.  However I have really been enjoying the chilled out lifestyle that they have here in the summer and am really grateful for the experience.

It’s the 3^rd time I have been to Des Moines. This time though we have seen a fair bit.  Yesterday we went to the Bass Mall! A huge warehouse dream world for Iownians! Camping equipment, fishing boats, speed boats, camouflage, bass, stuffed animals, fishing equipment, boots and LOTS OF GUNS/Weapons!

85% of residents in Iowa own a gun, so when in Rome…Like excited children who have never held a gun before, we went about taking some pretty funky gangster shots with Bryans camera!  The shopkeeper wasn’t very impressed when Aaron pointed the biggest magnum into my cheek for a photo!  He also almost lost it when we started asking him where the sawn off’s are and the fact that Aaron used to have a BB gun.

We managed to redeem ourselves though when we asked him what guns he owns.  Then…we couldn’t keep him quiet as he rattled off about 10 guns!

Conor our homestay host

I haven’t done much training this week. I think, as I was a bit overdone for Madrid it would do my nothing but good to just tick the legs over.  After all the fun I have had though I decided today that I was going to stop and get serious in time for another big one at the weekend.

‘Hyvee’ is a very well known event over here, the locals REALLY get behind it which is a lot of fun to be part of.  Tonight we have a big party with the local Triathlon Club.

Had a good weekend in France.  Great weather, great racing and great company with Team Lagardere Paris Racing.

Picked up heaps of cool kit as usual.  I always feel very spoilt by the team, although the hotel always leaves something to be desired!

Race morning I was feeling good.  Woke up at 6:15 with excitement.  I trained super hard the week after Seoul so I was expecting some heaviness in the legs.

My morning run with Steffen Justus went well. We did 30min with some pick ups and then went to lunch.  Which was as usual in our team. Plain pasta and a bit of fish…

It was cool starting the French Grand Prix season again, seeing the old faces just in different kit.

The swim went well, I came out the water about 15^th-20^th. Not bad for me.  There was of course a little gap to the front.  Not far though, normally something we can shut down by the first lap.

I felt amazing on the bike.  Brukankov came out the water with me and I expected him to close most of the gap on his own on the bike but he couldn’t do it so I came round him and gapped the whole group behind.  Next thing I know I have 20 seconds on everyone but I’m still 20 secs behind the front.  It was no use; the team were telling me to go back to the group.  Beauvais were pushing too hard as a team so I stopped pedalling.

It was disappointing that the race was now for 9^th but this wouldn’t happen so easily in a World Champs Series race.  I hope…

There were many of the worlds best still in the 2^nd pack though so it was still going to be an exciting race for us guys and great practice.

I pushed the last lap quite hard so I could get into transition first and we set off running really quick.  Courtney Atkinson (2^nd Seoul) and I put time into everyone right from the first 200m which was great.  I thought this is a perfect opportunity to practice what Ben and I have been talking about.  Believing I can win and never giving up.  Believe me it’s hard when you are knackered…I focused on staying positive as he was really putting the hurt on me.  It would have been really easy to give up at Kilometer 2 but I really wanted to beat Courtney as it would do heaps for my confidence.  Fortunately the 2^nd lap didn’t speed up so I was able to settle down a tad. I didn’t come round him till the last 400m as it was hard enough behind him.  When I did though I started sprinting and took the win (out of us 2!) Also the fastest run of the day!

Ok 9^th is probably in the bottom 20% of my FGP results but I felt really strong in all 3 so I’m very motivated to take this form into Madrid World Champs Series and Des Moines.  I even have a week to improve it!

Only problem is…How come I always seem to race better when I am a bit tired!? That is something for me to chat about tomorrow with the support staff!

Team Lagardere finished 3rd…The Boss isn’t happy!

I have to mention the boys…Ben Higgins and Tom Curtis had great races. Tu Quoi Tu Quoi!

Check out Laurent Vidals new website, Looks good:)

Exciting athlete, French Grand Prix Team mate and top man!

laurent-vidal.com

We had a couple of nights out in Gold Coast after the race, both were awesome and it was fantastic to go out and relax with all the guys who I race week in, week out. It was a nightclub full of lightweights!

We chilled out on Saturday and watched the Women’s race and both Junior Races. Congratuations to Helen Jenkins who came a storming 3rd!  She continues to improve each year and to Jonny Brownlee who took 2nd.  He was a bit gutted about it though I think!

Terrible journey back. It went perfectly smooth but it always is such a mission!

Since then just been hanging out with the missus, doing a tiny bit amount of training (not enough for La Baule in 9 days…) and generally sofa’ing it up!

Got an exciting weekend though, tomorrow I am “giving back” to the Junior Section of my local Club, the Cambridge Triathlon Club.  We are going to do a short handicapped Duathlon in the morning and a bit of Open Water practice afterwards!  the guys have done an amazing job with these guys so I’m excited to spend some time with them! When I first started it was just Rosie and I under 16 years.  Now I think there are 100+!

Sunday Chariots of Fire race in Cambridge with some mates!

Enough Waffle! I attached some pics I found on Facebook

I have known Laurent Vidal for 6 years, he lives in Sete in France, races for Lagardere Paris Racing, we see each other at races all the time, all over the world and have twice come joint first in FGP’s.  We are developing together in this sport and here’s what he has to say 2 weeks after a fantastic podium in Kitzbuhel World Champs series.

Where are you now?
I am the French Pyrénées for an altitude training camp until London WCS.  Sitting on the coach recovering from a big day!

What was you last race and how did it go?
I got Bronze medal at the Kitzbuhel World Champ Series. It was pretty good to get a podium there. I had an horrible wetsuit swim but lucky my legs bring me up to the front on the bike and run! I came out the water in 58th worst swim of my life! haha!

Your favorite training session?
I love the days off after good days/week of hard work out. Recovery is part of the training and I love it!

Most hated training session?
I was used to hate the swimming warm up before a race so I stopped it!

Funniest moment from a race?
I really think it was when we won toghether Embrum FGP and when we were going up the hill on the bike you threw away your drink bottle telling me “waste of weight”! That was pretty funny.

Where are you going on holiday at the end of the year?
I haven’t decided yet , personnaly I would like to go somewhere where I can enjoy doing nothing and relax in a beautifull place with nice people.

What do you do to relax?
I am not really nervous as a person and not a stresshead at all!
Ok, I find really relaxing to sleep after lunch or to go out with friend/family at night.

Top training tip to anyone reading this?
No matter what you are doing you just have to be good the day of THE race.

Top racing tip to anyone reading this?
Learn to know yourself and you will be able to know what you can do, or not to finally achieve your goal on a race.

What are you doing this afternoon?
I get myself ready for a long long steady run with Dirk Bockel (Luxemberg athlete) around the lake up here in Font Romeu (1800m altitude). That should be great because we are both on the same mood. It’s been two weeks, I am up there to prepare the London WCS and the end of the season.

Perfect day out?
A nice sleep in, followed by an hour run then a nice fresh french breakfast (croissant , pain Beurre).
A ride in hot weather before a quick lunch and finish the day at the beach for an open water swim. Finally you eat out with friends.

What do you hate?
Mostly the things that annoy me are:
Young children crying next to you on the plane, waiting for ages to get my main at the restaurant, people who don’t want to take any risk (I like the challenge) ,swimming in a pool under 27°, waking up before 7am, drivers under the limited speed when it’s clearly not dangerous!

Where would you want most to live?
At the moment I really enjoy my way of life, living in New Zealand from December to April then back to France for the Triathlon season before a bit of rest in my home town in Sète (South of France).

Thanks LOLO;)

London went great at the weekend, I competed at the end of a difficult period for me, motivation wise I felt a bit low, I worked hard in Wales but I didn’t feel like I had much in the way of form…but I guess I needed that at the weekend to give myself a much needed confidence boost.  Great timing!

I love this race, it’s the biggest race in the world, It’s just unfortunate I haven’t been able to compete in the past 4 years due to Olympic Spiel. It’s an incredible vibe out there and with my new sponsor Multipower watching…what a great place to race well and give them an instant reward.

I woke up in the morning feeling pretty good, in my morning run I had a good feeling in my legs and that usually means it’s going to be a good day!

The swim start was clean for once, Stu Hayes didn’t manage to start 5 meters in front of everyone else! I had a comfortable swim, and came out the water about 10 meters behind or something…there or there abouts, as usual;)

I hammered transition, It’s a long one and once out on the bike, Aaron Harris , Stu Hayes , Courtney Atkinson and Harry Wiltshire and I instantly put the Watts time to make it tough for the chasers who were almost certainly going to dilly about behind.  We worked well and came off the bike with 2 Min’s lead.

So we had shaken off some of the guys to watch out for, however the job was not nearly done, I still had Stu Hayes and Courtney Atkinson to beat, and they’re tough opposition!  I set off on the first lap with the aim of giving Courtney a really hard time, I put in 4 really hard efforts, not surges…sprints! On the last one, after a GAP and GO effort I managed to put time into him.  Fortunately, however much it hurt, I built on this gap and took the tape, I think top 3 performances of all time and perfect for my ‘biggest races’ coming up.

I love racing in England, I find it much easier, I don’t know for sure what it is, but I seem to have more beans for the race and energy levels are better.  I had the confidence to go too hard too early and put myself on the line…it worked well, I cant wait to do it again in a few weeks and see if it works in the hardest series in the World!

Tomorrow, I have got something really cool on the blog…Athlete interviews I will aim to do a different one each week please tune in again to read a cool interview by Laurent Vidal, French National Champion.

Other Triathlon Team news, Phil Graves won his first ever Ironman in the UK, while Dejan Patrcivic finished a solid 4th!  Fraser Cartmell did a good job in Antwerp coming in top 10, and one of my best buds rocked in 5th.  Good on you Dann B;)

I grabbed my 2nd win of the season on Sunday in Dunkerque for the 2nd French Grand Prix. Its a great weekend and as it was so close to England and my parent and future in-laws are able to come cheer me on. The amount of kit we were given from Lagardere Paris Racing team is phenomenal, it’s like a 2nd Christmas and it’s so good to catch up with the boys for some banter.

The boys...

I actually crossed the line 1st with my team mate Laurent Vidal. I don’t normally bother to out sprint my team mates in the French Grand Prix because there are so many other opportunities where we are rivals, on Sunday we were a team with the same goal!

The swim went really badly actually, I came out the water in 45th which is less then ideal but I was still on the front group though so was safe. There is a new kid on the block – word is he is an ex Beijing Olympic 1500m Swimmer and he has been mixing up the swims a lot recently! To be honest, this is less than ideal for me!!

I felt really strong on the bike, the pace was seriously ON! The field was strung out the whole way through the city like a snake and was extremely hard to get to the front after the swim!

Fortunately I hit T2 almost at the front and I got onto the run feeling really great so could soon catch the front and take the lead with Alistair Brownlee where we pushed it on together for the first 3.5k. Alistair unfortunately got stopped by a marshall briefly under the tunnel for a time penalty giving me a chance to get a gap on him with Laurent Vidal.  We held this to the finish and took the tape.  

I love weekends like this, it was great seeing the boys (Stuart Hayes, Laurent, David Hauss, Mehdi and David Coach) again.  As well as the other guys from the other teams.  It was fast and furious racing and made it a very entertaining weekend for everyone involved! Its a dangerous race Dunkerque due to city centre course and cobbles but fortunately the rain held off and everyone got round safely. 

Next up for me is Madrid World Championship Series. I keep saying this but this is a real test… The best guys in the world, hard course and full distance.  I hope it goes as well as the others so far. If not, long season ahead  I’m heading to the pool so I can give myself a chance of swimming with Javier Gomez this weekend. 

Cheers for checking out my first post and well done Lagardere Paris Racing team!