Well, my three week training camp in Noosa is now over……………which means I get to race tomorrow. It has been a really good intensity training block here in Noosa coming off of Maui’s big base block.
I started off the camp with a fun “Splash and Dash” only three days after getting off the plane. I wasn’t so sure this was a great idea but coach Lance wanted me to go have a good effort. I was prepared for a range of results considering I hadn’t done any speed running for four months and I still felt sluggish from the plane. The race was a 600m swim 3km run twice through. They made it more interesting by making it a Male Female chase where the women got a 3:30min lead for the just over 30min race. So needless to say I had competition from both the men and the women. I got out the water second and quickly caught the larger “swimmer” and proceeded to put my head down to reel in the women. I chased hard and took 1:30min out heading back into the water so I had some work to do. I worked as hard as I could with my legs dragging in the water in the second swim. It wasn’t until 400m to go on the last run that I was within striking distance of the heels of the lead two girls. I started my sprint earlier then I wanted to only to beat Lisa Norden to the line by only 5 seconds. It felt really good to go out and have a hard effort and actually run fast. With this positive effort I was ready for my Noosa training camp.
I quickly got my run legs back as a result of the race and was running faster and stronger then the same time last year. My cycling had been feeling very strong after almost a 1000km in Maui so it only took a couple of Saturday morning Noosa Triathlete shootout rides to get my speed going. With the likes of Andrew Johns, Greg Bennet, Olivier Marceau, Luke Mackenzie and other Ironman athletes and cyclists having a go at these rides, there was no lack of someone going hard. Swimming has been building well with two speed sets, one strength and one threshold open water swim a week I should be good to go. Swimming with the local squad and live in international triathletes lead by legendary coach Maxi was a great change of training routine. Max has always been so accommodating with the triathletes staying longer after his own practices and holding extra workouts just for us. Many thanks go to Max.
With all the training done and a rest week well absorbed I am feeling more than ready to race. After months of training it always feels good to actually put that work to use. I am eager to test my fitness against the other athletes and see what gains I have made since last year.
Here we go! Race number one of the season – Mooloolaba, Australia World Cup March 30, 2008
