Winter training

This is the lake I swim in during Summer
 Not so inviting just now! 

It was a snow storm here two days ago, -11 yesterday and possibly warming up so that tomorrow we will get a few days of rain rather than more snow. In the UK and Northern Europe just now all the airports are shut due to the snowstorms hitting them. All this makes training a challenge! So I've had a few extremes to consider winter, how to keep fit and what can make training through it more fun. As I can’t avoid winter where I live I chose to embrace it instead. So I thought I would share with you some of the things I like to try at this time of year, in case you are looking to make your winter training more fun too.

Off season training is a great time to improve specific technique, rebalance the body using targeted strength and conditioning, and enjoy using and maintaining your fitness doing something other than your main sport (racing triathlons for me).

Rain, cold, short days, Christmas lunches, New Year’s parties all can seem to conspire against getting a good adaptive phase to get into solid training when the New Year arrives. So how do you persuade yourself to get out of your warm bed and go for that run in the cold, dark and wet?

So a few thought that seem to work for me

1. I am swimming more
2. I am enjoying using my fitness doing something different and better suited to winter
3. I have a simple strength routine I do from home
4. I am practicing more yoga
5. I am learning to love my home trainer sessions
6. Sometimes I just have to toughen up and enjoy getting out there, rain, snow or shine!

1/ Swim more
Winter swimming is great. When it is freezing outside, go swimming in a lovely heated indoor pool. Not only will you gain fitness, you can also take the time to do some really focussed sessions for technique improvement or build strength and water feel through longer sessions.

I have recently been sponsored by Hotel Beauregard in La Clusaz, a stunning hotel with a great warm pool, sauna, spa and steam room right at the base of the ski lifts. The pool is not very long (under 20 meters) but that didn’t stop me enjoying a great 5.7k swim there on Friday while the snow fell outside the windows. I was even warm enough after to enjoy running home through the snow in snow boots and with my backpack. I felt like I was in army training! It kept the heart rate a lot higher than normal though. Strength and aerobic training together.

Winter is a great time to join a squad or masters swim program and get some advice and group motivation to improve and enjoy. I love heading to squad with my tri team, TMT Annecy, twice a week. There are some great swimmers there that I can learn from both by watching and chasing. It is also a good, well structured session.

So enjoy your swimming. I have been loving mine lately which is great as I seemed to be fighting with it over the summer and now, with the pressure off, I have just been able to enjoy it. Funnily enough enjoying it more has made me want to swim more and swimming more has made me a stronger, faster swimmer.

2/ Different sports to enjoy
In this I have an unfair advantage as I live close to the lovely ski resort of La Clusaz in the French Alps, so although I cannot ride on the roads for all of winter and some of autumn and spring, I have the benefit of easily accessible winter alpine sports to indulge in.

I love cross country skiing. I try to go skate skiing at least three times a week at the moment. It is great for aerobic fitness and strength but even more importantly for me, is almost magical, that feeling of being out amongst the mountains gliding through the forests, along the valley or up on the Plateau.

It is a time to appreciate my fitness that was hard earned over the summer. My skating is better than it has ever been, and not because I have done a lot in the past. I am really a recently converted alpine/telemark skier who is more used to using lifts to get up the hills and metal edges to come down again. It is more likely my improved fitness and strength from the season that has helped my technique out the most.

Outside of skate skiing some of the other winter “training” I am doing includes; shovelling the snow off the driveway, telemark skiing (in bounds only so far this season although spring should offer great backcountry options), snow shoeing over the mountain behind our house to take the long way to the pool, lugging 20kg of kid plus a sled up deep, steep slopes for the boys to enjoy some sledding and running on snow covered roads and paths. I’m getting better at this, either in normal runners with warm woollen socks or in comfy snow boots depending on the depth. Depending on where you live some of these may be an option either for a day, weekend or on a holiday where you not only have a great time but come home fitter and stronger for it too.

Other great off season options can include mountain biking, trail running, dancing, indoor climbing or other indoor sports. The only thing I would caution here is if your next season is really important to you may not wish to take on a brand new sport or a sport with a high rate of injury. For example I am not too phased by heading out for a ski even in bounds with occasional out of control human missiles to avoid as I have been skiing for 20+ years now and trust in my ability to keep out of trouble on skis. However I won’t be adding snowboarding to my winter repertoire this year as I haven’t done it before and don’t wish to go through a learning curve and the risks that entails just now.

3/ Strength and conditioning
I have seen lots of friends injured over the summer through training and racing. Triathletes are often comparatively weak in three key areas, core, glutes and shoulders. Without specific strength work, despite significant training in each discipline, it is easy to be out of body balance as it is much easier to build the large muscle groups than the smaller balancing/aligning ones. Maintaining good running swimming and cycling technique, particularly when fatigued at the end of a race or long training session are heavily dependent on these areas. Tight calves, hips, ITB and chest/neck are also common in triathletes. All of these put you at risk of injury.

By the end of last season I had lost a lot of my normal flexibility as I hadn’t been doing my usual level of yoga and lots more specific training. I had a sore knee on and off as well closely connected to a tight ITB and weak glutes.

I have now had a great break releasing any residual tightness and letting the body and mind really heal and recover from the season. As I ramp up my training again, I am putting more of an emphasis on strength and conditioning. I hope this will aid technique improvements that require such strength and keep me in better balance.

At home a few times a week I work on,
- Core
- Upper body
- ITB/glute/legs

In a separate blog I’ll put my routine in if you are interested. For now, there are some good links on the strength and conditioning section on the right.

I don’t go to a gym for this as it is easier to fit in from home. I have a chin up bar in the kitchen doorway, a medicine ball, kettle bell, swiss ball, core roller, set of free weights, a yoga mat, two children (one 19 and one 28 kgs), a snow shovel and a driveway often replenished with snow. With those I can enjoy a routine that fits in and around family life.

4/ Practice yoga
A big part of my end of season recovery was re-establishing a regular yoga practice. It is good for my mind, body and soul. It was really hard at first as it felt terrible when the body was tight and tired. I started with a promise to myself to at least do just 6 surinamiscars each day (sun salutes) and a short meditation. From there I slowly built into the standing poses as part of my sun salute B before adding the rest of the elements as the body opened up and was ready for them. I have now re-established a good, regular and relaxed practice that I look forward to.

The whole idea of asanas (physical stretches) in yoga is to calm the body enough for it to be still and release you from physical distractions for meditation. It works for me. I get multiple benefits; releasing the body in a way that removes residual tightness from training, building some strength particularly core, as well as allowing me the space to calm my breathing, thoughts and feelings, usually in that order.

If you do not have a quiet space at home (or kids happy to join your routine) or a regular practice that you know how to do safely by yourself, then find a good yoga school that suits your personality and preferences. Winter is lovely for yoga - warm rooms, warm people and bodies that need loosening up from all the tightness of the outside cold, often less activity and winter foods.

5/ Love your home trainer
Ok so this can be a hard task some days. I am planning to be doing a 2-3 hour session tomorrow as my key session of this week. That is a lot of sitting in one place looking at the same spot in front of you! A good view is a definite advantage. I used to do my home trainer from a garage with the door open to an awesome view down the valley. Liam could even do laps around me as I rode.

Some little companions for my ride

Best option is great preparation. I had a coach who once said home trainer is great for preparing the mind not just the body for competition as there is so little to distract you from the feelings of the effort. It is an easy way to ensure focus as, for better or worse, you have none of the distractions of the road; traffic, lights, scenery, changes in steepness/surface etc. I do buy the focus benefit, however I also make it a bit easier for myself by getting spare towels, drinks and gels etc all ready and set up on a table I can reach beside me, having music, videos at hand and an interesting program that breaks up the time into different work efforts. I often watch Gray’s Anatomy while I ride – entertaining but not too hard to follow even if you lose focus for a while mid effort. Also short episodes on DVD are easier for me as I am not committed to finishing it if I feel like turning it off. I have even been known to study French while on the HT in warm up and cool down. Great, good energy music works for any length session too.

One of my favourite sessions is a mix of overgearing and high cadence where you do 10 min cycles (5m OG/1m HC/4 min recovery, 4m OG/2m HC/4m recovery, 3m OG/3m HC/4m recovery, 2m OG/4m HC/4m recovery, 1m OG/5m HC/4m recovery). I also do one leg efforts to focus on technique and address specific leg weaknesses and as I setup near a window I can check my position / alignment and watch for any unnecessary movement.

Clearly you also need a good home trainer and suitable place to set it up. If you have young kids you will know to be wary of how accessible the back, spinning wheel is.

6/ Toughen up, get out there.
So you have some indoor options, some better winter outdoor options and finally, sometimes you just have to toughen up and get out there in whatever weather blows in.

Often when you are warm and dry inside looking out at the cold, dark and or wet can be really off putting. Once out there I often just relax into my run or whatever I am up to 7-10 mins into it when the blood has had time to get in the working muscles and warm you. One of the things I do to help me get out there more comfortably is do a little aerobic warm up like skipping before I go out if it is really cold.

Also making sure you are dressed right for the conditions. A really thin jacket that traps the heat and can be taken off once you have warmed up and stuck in a back pocket is good too. If you are running on roads at night a flouro reflective vest may not be a fashion statement but I am always happy to wear one if it saves me from being hit by a car.

So, enjoy your winter. It gives you some different opportunities. Last winter I ran on a full moon evening about 900m vertical ascent/descent and 15k up to a Plateau through the snow which varied from hard pack on the lower paths and roads to deep, dry powder at the top. It was a real joy (despite losing a toenail later from the descent). As we have a long winter here, I’m certainly hoping to enjoy winter training rather than feel that I have to endure it.

Firstly, enjoy your Christmas and New Years!
Joyeux noël et bonne année!

A bientot
C

A new coach and a great movie - stories of leadership

I am really excited as I have a new coach. I am still being coached by the TTC Group next season (as I was last) http://www.thetriathloncoach.com/ but am now being coached by Dave Green for 2011. He is based in France so possibly more convenient, but more than anything he has an absolute wealth of experience and a great manner that makes me feel confident that as a team we will extend what is possible beyond anything I could come near without such guidance and interaction in my preparation. I am going to write a blog about the good, the bad and the indifferent of coaching shortly, but for now a few thoughts on leadership enabling people to excel beyond what they thought they were capable of, as great coaches can do.

I was watching a great movie last night, "Invictus" with Rob. At first glance it is a rugby movie based in South Africa for the World Cup in 1995. Rob loves rugby so no surprise that he chose it. However rugby is really just the canvas on which a far more interesting and complex story about leadership through change takes place.

The two key leaders are Nelson Mandela from when he takes office in an unstable, angry and fearful post apartheid South Africa and Francois Pienaar, the Afrikaans Springbok captain. It ends with the moment when the Springboks won the 95 World Cup on home soil against the odds and allowed a brief moment of national pride and unity at a time when the nation was anything but unified. It is a great movie that shows the power of two kinds of leadership, leadership through inspiration and leadership through example to allow people around each of these men to do in the end, what at the beginning seemed entirely unfeasible, both to themselves and their peers.

I loved the messages so much I will be showing it to my boys (4 and 7) when we next have a movie evening with them. They love sport too, so I hope they find it packaged in a good format for them to enjoy as well as be inspired by.

Invictus is the name of the poem by William Ernest Henley that gave Mandela inspiration when he was at his lowest in prison on Robbin Island. In the movie, and I believe in reality, he shared the poem with Pienaar to assist him inspire the team that at the time was a potent symbol of Afrikaaner pride and the racism that put Mandela in gaol. Personal leadership in action.

Hopefully you will never personally understand the depths to which Mandela understood some of the darker lines of this peom. I have had a pretty blessed life and cannot really conceive of the horrors and fear that his politics and leadership put him in. However anyone who really extends themselves towards their limit, whether in sport, in politics or any other field, knows you are taking on risks and challenges to do so. Whatever difficult situation you may find yourself in, the final two lines are the potent ones, you are the master of your fate (don't blame others) and you are the captain of your soul. Here it is. 

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

A bientot (see you soon)
C

Anything but Ordinary

My Mum has been worried lately about how we are going and how long we are planning to continue our current adventure. I am no longer working 9 to 5, earning a nice steady income in corporate gig in a big bank and keeping my passions for small incremental moments that may sneak through the cracks of an "ordinary" life. What's more my more balanced and stable husband is doing the same and enjoying it! She worries, as is a Mum's role, about a lot of things, but probably mostly about the fact that by being less ordinary, the little unit that is my family, is exposed to a lot more potential change and adversity.

Here is the thing, I don't want to be on the easy freeway of life along with the majority of folk, speeding from meeting to meeting, kids at before and after school care, living an easy life of prosperity and busyness but without any of the potential highs or lows that come from taking such an off route by-way as we have.

There is a catch though. A beautiful, far more self directed existence as we now have, living the dream as it really can be some days, does come at a cost. You chose to take risks. Take enough of them and some will materialise. So it is not just taking risks, it is accepting that you are making your life more variable, volatile and exposed. It is harder. You need to take more ownership and all your mistakes are your own to learn from as you cannot blame others; society, your parents, your best mate, your boss, the economy etc. when things go wrong.

I was listening to Avril Lavigne's song Anything but Ordinary (yes I love girly music like her's) driving through the snow storm down to Annecy yesterday and had it on full volume 5 times over as it truly resonates with me just now. Here are the lyrics and a You Tube link so you can hear it for yourself. You Tube link

To walk within the lines
Would make my life so boring
I want to know that I
Have been to the extremes
So knock me off my feet
Come on now give it to me
Anything to make me feel alive

Is it enough to love?
Is it enough to breathe?
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
Is it enough to die?
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be anything but ordinary please.
I'd rather be anything but ordinary please.

Let down your defences
Use no common sense
If you look you will see
that this world is a beautiful
accident, turbulent, succulent
opulent, impermanent,
I wanna taste it
Don't wanna waste it away

Barcelona Tapas

Sometimes I get so weird

I even freak myself out
I laugh myself to sleep
It's my lullaby

Is it enough to love?

Is it enough to breathe?

Somebody rip my heart out

And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die?

Somebody save my life

I'd rather be anything but ordinary please

You see I don't want to be ordinary. I realised that ages ago and have generally embraced rather than feared that. I know the costs of choosing the less trodden path can be substantial, both personally and when you are planning as a family unit, as it has to work for all. But we decided we wanted to put ourselves in an environment with the ability for amazing opportunities and adventures.

Some of the moments like a relaxed lunch together, full of laughter, fun, great food, wine and atmosphere in a groovy little tapas bar in Barcelona as the boys test drive their 10 words of Spanish with gusto have been truly sensational. Snow shoeing through knee to thigh deep untouched powder in the forests behind our house yesterday, including seeing wild deer en route to the pool at La Clusaz was a quieter, beautiful moment.

Other moments have been tough, heartbreaking and challenging to my core. Like seeing my generally sociable, happy son stand facing the wall at his first day of the new year at school to hide his fear and discomfort. We had put him in a place where he couldn’t yet converse with the other kids and knew none of them. I couldn’t protect him from his struggle. I was impotent to take the pain and fear away. Although I am really relieved to see him now heading off to school far more happily with friends to play with and more language to be able to share the games with them, it is hard knowing how easily he fitted in and thrived at school in Australia and how much it is still a daily challenge here. Hopefully long term, the benefits of the experiences here and having another language will outweigh the short term struggle. Until then we just try and support him the best we can and be his pit crew and support team in his grand challenge.



No shield, no cloak or makeup to hide
behind. Just me being, well me!

 Some of the risks are of showing who you really are to others. It is incredibly liberating being who you are, not who you think people want you to be. You cannot successfully attempt to fulfil a challenging, unusual goal with layers of self protection still in place. It is a bit like trying to do an ironman with makeup on! The effort makes any pretentions quickly exposed and irrelevant.

That is scary in many ways, as when people turn away or challenge what they see in you, it is not some lightly sketched outline or partially cloaked version of you they have an issue with, that you can change in your next appearance. It is a more fundamentally real and unprotected you that you really need to delve deep to decide whether you too wish to change it or it if a part of you that you wish to maintain and protect.

Additionally when you strive to make big, hairy, audacious goals (BHAG) come to life, you need to know you can manage the heartbreak if you don’t get there. A BHAG by definition has a great risk of failure. It doesn’t make it not worth doing, but understand the risks and be prepared to accept them (personally and those also on the journey with you) before you start.

Ron Clarke

Ron Clarke was one of the great Australian middle distance runners of my parent’s generation. Despite amazing success, including breaking 19 records for distances from the ½ mile to 6 miles in the 1960’s, he never won a gold medal at an Olympics. As a result he was labelled by an unsympathetic and uncompromising public as “the bloke that choked”. He was phenomenally talented and hard working, had put himself out there, aimed for the stars, reached the moon, and yet failed the expectations of a community who wouldn’t be able to keep up with him on an easy training run.

You may be blocked by circumstance, chose to abandon your goal as you determine the costs/sacrifices to be made are not worth it once further understood or just not get there despite best efforts. As I put in my last blog about goals, it is the journey, not the achievement of the goal that provides the majority of the overall experience. Whether you are successful or not, the striving closer to the edge of your capability changes you in many ways. It provides great lessons that floating along through life can never teach you, giving you an even better platform for any subsequent endeavour.

Not wanting an ordinary life don’t mean that some of the most precious moments are not “ordinary” though; such as playing with the boys on the way home from school, having a nice picnic together by a river, sitting with Rob at a cafe today doing some business planning while we waited for the shops to reopen from the standard French 2 hr lunch break. It is more the intensity that is different. When you are journeying in a more self-determined way, challenging yourself in many ways, risking failure and heartache, you see the world in richer colour so that even “ordinary” moments feel different, better, more real. Lyrics like those above seem written specifically with you in mind, stories and books resonate more deeply and the world seems abundant with opportunity. It is like being in love, but with life itself.

So some days may be hard, even heartbreaking, but I would prefer this to never really knowing what was possible, hiding within a comfortable, ordinary life, pretending my dreams can fit to that size and not ever truly connecting with people openly and fully or challenging myself to a really big, audacious goal. Luckily for me Rob feels that way too. Instead we chose to discover what an extraordinary adventure of a life we are capable of both individually and as a family. So no pinstriped suits needed here just now. With -18c forecast for tomorrow morning, a down jacket is far more practical.

All the best in finding an extra-ordinary dream to follow yourself.

Biz
C

Winter L plates and fun

Winter has arrived and snow fun is starting. Lots of fresh snow here now after a week of storms.

The kids are loving sledding and playing in the snow. Jackson was first to get the skis on today for a ski de fond (skating) ski on the trails at Grand Bornand. He loved it despite it being a serious challenge for him on the slippery, skinny long skis with soft shoes to control. I hear you Jackson! I re-found the fun in cross country skiing after the boys were born as it meant I could still ski with them in the baby backpack (unlike alpine skiing). It is a challenge though. Slippery little suckers!


Focussed!

Rob and I are learning to that going anywhere needs a big lead time.  For now we are still getting used to shovelling the driveway, dressing the boys in layers upon layers, trying to get them to put on their own gloves, boots, hats etc so they can do it when cold and tired by themselves and reminding them to come home from school, the movies, friends houses etc with the same things they went with (not very successfully!), getting reused to driving on snow and ice, and taking plenty of food and a thermos of hot tea everywhere for rewarming and fueling after. Hopefully we will get faster after a bit more practice. For now, sorry if we are late or left a glove in your house, we are still in L plate mode. However, like teenagers learning to drive for the first time, we are still loving the ride despite the slow pace.

I hope you are enjoying your change of season too, whether it is the warmer weather arriving in Australia now, or winter as the first big storms blanket big chunks of Europe and Nth America in white.

A bientot
C

Setting and achieving remarkable goals

Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru

Aung San Suu Kyi has been released in Burma after being under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years! Amazing to see her finally released. How do great things occur? Even more interesting to me is how do great people, achieve such remarkable lives? Her life has been strongly influenced by another remarkable soul, Mahatma Gandhi who in his 78 years influenced (and was influenced by) South African politics, created a new form of effective non-violent political opposition, imagined and then “fathered” modern India and influenced generations of people around the world, particularly empowering those who feel disempowered by their circumstances, such as Aung San Suu.

Just like great sport people seem to have more time in the field of play to foresee and respond to the competition, great achievers seem to have more time in their lives to make extraordinary things possible between the mundane requirements of day to day existence we are all encumbered by. Some of the differences come from talent, but everyone knows the most talented kid at school doesn’t often become the most successful. In my view great achievers seem to fairly consistently posess unusual courage to set audacious goals, the ability to work out how they may get there, or at least start the journey, effective adaptive capacity, and then amazing energy to sustain the effort despite obstacles.

“Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.” Dennis Waitley

For me personally, I use goal setting to motivate me to try for seemingly large goals such as racing with top 10 results as a pro in 4 key large races despite only a few years in the sport and being eligible for veteran (over 40) category. Two years ago I would not have dreamed that was feasible. At the time I hadn’t raced tri seriously for nearly two decades. It also helps me consider what should gain priority on any day, like today. Is it better to spend my time playing outside with the kids, helping them with homework, going out training, writing my blog, catching up with friends or doing my French homework for Monday? Reality is I would like to do them all, so do I try and do them all incrementally or a few. If a few, which takes priority? Well set goals help me make these decisions.

It’s also topical for me as it’s that time of year to consider resetting my goals. No, it’s not NYE yet, but the end of the year is heading our way, my season is over and it’s time to start planning and preparation for next year. So I'll share some of the process I go through for you to take and adopt or adapt as best suits. I set my goals in the following, generally sequential stages.

• Take the learnings from your last set of goals (these may or may not have been explicit)
• Consider new goals in consultation with others
• Make the goals SMART and consistent
• Accept and share your goals with your “team”
• Go for it!

When I think about goals, I tend to consider them in three parts; the desired outcome, expected/ planned process and core values. Looking at them as a set of three inter-related parts helps highlight a basic truth about goals; it is usually the journey, not the outcome that gives you the greatest pleasure and long term personal growth. So you don’t want to let focus and commitment to an outcome compromise you to a point that you don’t get to fully appreciate the path to it.

Outcome: Measureable result such as; establish a new business, complete your first triathlon or ironman, run 10k under 45 mins, complete your studies with an average grade of 80% etc

Process: How you expect to achieve the goal. When you consider the goal what do you think you need to do differently (start, stop or change/adapt) to successfully achieve it. Eg for the 10k run time example above this may be something like: join a club and train with them 3 times a week to keep motivated and build skills, add a key interval session and a strength workout each once a week, lose 2 kgs and determine a race schedule that gives you some 5k lead up runs and at least a couple of options to achieve your target time in case of injury/illness/work or family commitments etc.

Values: The way in which you achieve the goal. When you need to compromise or reprioritise on the way through (as you always need to do) this is the basis on which those difficult decisions will be made. It is all good to have established a successful new venture, but was it was done with the integrity that you expected of yourself. Hopefully so!

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony” Mahatma Gandhi

So the process of goal setting.

1. Take the learnings from your last goals

Before setting anything new, it’s always worth looking at your last set of goals (whether explicit or not) to honestly consider how you went. If you understand both how you went and why, then the next goals will be even more achievable and able to stretch you to greater heights.

In review consider, did you achieve the goal outcome or not? Either way did the process support the goal as you expected? Did you get some good or bad luck (uncontrollable elements) that intervened? How well did you adapt? Did your values assist guide your difficult decisions? What did you learn from it all that you can use again? Then let go of any other attachments to the past outcomes as best you can in order to fully focus on the new set.

2. Consider new goals in consultation with others

Setting new goals is exciting. Imagine the possible! For me next year I’ll be able to race as a pro thanks to Triathlon Australia granting me a licence after a good season this year. This is a really exciting opportunity that I hope to fully appreciate by racing well in some great ironman and long courses across Europe. I am also focussed on building a great business running triathlon and yoga camps in the Aravis Valley with Adventures in the Alps while developing personal skills (such as language) and relationships to make life here in France easier, more enjoyable and connected.



For any big goal you are unlikely to be able to reach it alone or without impacting those around you. So when you consider your goals, consider them in relation to “your team”. Who will need to be involved with you in reaching these goals? Do they understand the goal, their role in it and are they equally happy or hopefully excited by the opportunity?

My team - 2009 World Champs Perth



Your team includes the obvious people such as a coach (business or sporting) and professional service providers (physio, accountant, etc) as well as people you will impact through your goal orientation such as family and friends. Before you make a commitment, make sure they are part of it, understand and are supportive of it. It is not much fun celebrating a birthday without having a great family and good friends around you, even if the cupboard is full of medals / bank account numbers / university honours ...

So by the time you have committed to a set of goals, you and your team have discussed options, established boundaries and reprioritised as needed. Make it easy to deal with the tough stuff before it is even there by recognising where it may come, discussing it and either working out an approach to make it acceptable or rejecting it.

3. SMART and consistent goals

So now to write the agreed goals down and ensure they are smart. By that I mean, will you know if you’ve achieved them or not? Do they sensibly stretch you? Is your team on board and are all aware of mutual expectations? To make it easy, SMART can form an acronym that summarises this nicely.

SMART goals are

• Specific and stretching
• Measurable
• Accountable (the whole team likely to be involved is aware of their expectations)
• Realistic
• Timebound

Secondly, are the goals consistent? Consistent goals are those that do not conflict with each other (internally consistent) or the requirements of the external environment for them to be achieved (externally consistent). Internal consistency from my perspective includes all of my outcomes, values and process elements. If you need to spend all of your leisure hours training yet espouse a key value to be a good family member and friend, then you have a problem coming your way!

4. Accept and share your goals

So now the fun bit. Commit! I think one of the best ways to commit is to share your goals with others and initiate the first step or two. I tend to also write my top three goals on a little card I keep in my wallet. It includes each goal including a time for completion as well as my key values. On the flip side is a picture of the Aravis Valley in winter (taken when the dream to live here was still a dream and seemed a long way off) and a quote on each side. Both quotes are included in this blog.

As you share goals, two things happen. Firstly they can appear more real, explicit and considered to you as you extrovert them in different ways with different people. Secondly, I am always amazed at how many people add value when you share a goal. The team widens beyond your expectations as people share their thoughts or their skills, ask questions that make you realise where you still need to find answers, answer questions or solve problems you have or just offer a kind word of encouragement at a point in time when it is really needed. Big goals are very rarely achieved in isolation.

Sharing goals helps others engage with you in a meaningful way and assist which makes them feel, and truly be valued. Equally it is wonderful to actively assist others achieve their goals, so look for this to always be a mutual or even just outbound activity. To me, this is what community is, people assisting each other achieve what they couldn’t in isolation. It is what makes life rewarding and fun.

5. Go for it!

Commit, or don’t. Once committed, make it real. “Do or do not, there is no try” Yoda

So you have set your priorities, determined how you expect to achieve them and with who. Now time to do the hard work, commit and make the sacrifices that are needed to achieve anything great. That may mean something as simple as foregoing your weakness for citron tarts (not so simple for an old tart-aholic friend of mine!) or getting up at 5am for training in the dark and cold when you’d far prefer stay in bed. If you have set the goals well, including a good understanding of the process, you shouldn’t be surprised by the sacrifices required to achieve them. Additionally unforeseen obstacles can be managed through decisions based on clear, coherent and prioritised goals and values.

Now it does happen that along the way things change and goals need to be reset. I’ll deal with that in a later blog. For now, set your sails for the moon and plan to get there!

So, all the best in achieving your dreams, whether they are simple, great or truly audacious! I’m off to focus on the next priority in my evening, making dinner for the troops!

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagine. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler" Henry David Thoreau

RRRrrrrrr! The three Rs of recovery

Rrrrrr! Living in France, Rs have taken a whole new significance in my life. I am learning to rrrroll my rrrrrs on the back of my tongue in the French classes that I started last week. Jackson often corrects me as his rrrrs just rrrroll off quite naturally now. His 7yo mouth seems far more adaptable to the new sounds required of it than mine. Possibly a good analogy for general adaptability of kids!

A bit burnt out: time to regenerate

Now with the tri season over a few other Rs have become highly relevant in my life too. These are the various stages of post season recovery.

Most athletes are aware of the importance of adapting the mind and body to increased training loads as you go into a new season or set up for a new goal. What is equally important for long term sustainability in the sport is the adaption to lower loads and a good recovery period at the end of the season.

For simplicity I have summarised these into three stages that each have two elements. Conveniently for my theme of this blog, they all begin with R.

1. Initial stage: Rest and recover
2. Secondary stage: Relax and recuperate
3. Third stage: Reinvigorate and refresh

How long you could/should spend at each of these stages depends on a lot of factors including; the extent to which you have depleted your energy through the season/race, your age, any pre-existing injuries or illness,
basic nutrition and any specific deficiencies, previous experience at that level of the sport, sleep patterns and other significant life change/stress.

I was in need of recovery
It had been a very full on 12 months for me, truly rewarding but physically, emotionally and mentally challenging and tiring.


Bright eyed and bushy tailed
Perth Oct 2009

It was almost exactly a year ago (Oct 25) when I raced the Long Course Triathlon World Champs in Perth, Australia. It was after coming third there that I had the idea put to me of moving to Europe and racing triathlon here based in the French Alps. At the time I was enjoying getting back into tri after a very long break, but had all the usuals trappings of a relatively happy, normal suburban life; husband, kids, two interesting careers to juggle, good schools, friends and family, mortgage, etc. We knew it would be a big move with lots of challenges, some foreseeable and others to be found along the way. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Rob and I decided that it would be a good idea to take a year or three out of our "ordinary" life, take some risk, but also open ourselves to the opportunity to experience something a little more extra-ordinary.

Well a year on from that decision and 6 months into the new adventure, I have few regrets. To use a quote I read today;

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.                                                                                            Douglas Adams

In short, it was a very big year, including two tri seasons back to back, a quick trip to France in the middle to discover the area, finishing up two jobs, shutting down a life (emptying, cleaning and renting out houses, selling cars and other stuff no longer needed, boxing for storage or shipping the rest), then the move and starting again; renting houses, buying cars, setting up a home, setting up kids at new schools, slowly establishing new connections with parents, tri team members etc and of course all in a new language to be learned while training, travelling and racing. By the time I had finished my last race, the Challenge series ironman in Barcelona, I was in desperate need of rest and recovery.

Initial stage: Rest and Recovery
The goal of this stage is initially to recover from the event (rehydration and nutrition, removing any inflammation or tightness) followed by letting the body heal any injuries, rebuild some energy and generally come back to a state from which, if it were mid season, you could contemplate training again without risk of any injury or illness.

For me it took two weeks with lots of sleep and very quiet days to get through the fog of exhaustion. I was not just tired from one race, but a full year of change. I really didn't feel like seeing anyone other than my kids and husband and just enjoyed introverting for a while, sleeping, reading, spending time making our home a bit homely, organising photos or slowly working through all those things that got left for later while I was mid-season. I did almost no exercise, just occasional swims, yoga, easy easy rides and walks in the mountains to assist my body remove residual tightness and tension.

Practicing my barista skills for Rob

Interestingly I actually felt worse for a while before my energy started to regenerate. It was as if by saying to my body and mind, "it is now time for a rest", it responded with a "Thank God we're in need of a shutdown!" and turned off all systems. For someone who usually bounces around with too much energy, I had become someone with just enough (and sometimes not enough!) to make it through a day consisting of the absolute bare minimum. In this early stage while I felt really tired and flat and it was easy to want caffeine and sugar to give me the energy I was missing. I can't say I abstained entirely but I limited my coffee to two a day and really tried to eat nutrient rich food to assist the body get back some energy from within as well as through sleep.

Recuperate and relax
After I felt some physical energy slowly seeping back in, I was still pretty mentally and emotionally exhausted. In this second stage I held back from using the physical energy too early and took time to just enjoy simple activities each day as well as take stock of the achievements of the season and the learnings from it. To use a good analogy, I took some time away from the dance floor, in amongst the crowd, instead viewing the action (both past and present) from the balcony. A better place to get some perspective and see the patterns.

Enjoying the mountain trails 

For me this was a great time to get back into a regular yoga and meditation practice. In the recovery stage I was just too tired and the body too tight to want to practice every day. Once the flat out physical exhaustion had disappeared, I was ready to let the mind and heart have some space to repair. The yoga mat is a great place for that.

I also took to the mountains (another great healer of mine) and walked and/or jogged along trails through the autumn leaves, mud or snow enjoying the well known trails and finding dozens of new ones around the Aravis Valley.

For me, the key for this stage was reducing the noise of the years' events. People talk about the tapestry of life. In this phase I looked at each of the significant threads of the year so that I could settle them more comfortably into the overall weave that is my past, without the noise of all the initial excitement, disapointment or other attachments to them. I am no Dalia Lama, and can't say I do this for 100% of the noise, but look to accept what was and try to only carry forward what can impact the future positively.

Refresh and re-invigorate
So the past is let go as best I can, the current day is back into full technicolour and the body and mind are relaxed and ready to look forward again. Time to get excited about what is yet to come. A funny indication for me that I was ready to look forward again was when I got sick of the girly novels I was reading and started picking up more challenging and interesting brain food instead.

So enter the dreamtime. This is fun, looking at the world of options and opportunity possible to us as a family and me as an individual and deciding for the 40th (or maybe 140th!) time what it is that I would like to be when I grow up. Then working out how to make the dreams real. I have a little card in my wallet with my three major goals for 2010 on it. Along with the goals I have 4 key values written underneath that I wish to maintain in the achievement of these (or any) goals. After reviewing these in the recupe stage, it was time to let these go and start to consider what my 2011 card would look like. My values, although reviewed don't change year to year usually, but the goals all needed to be reset.

I have now had some time to work out my tri season goals for next year which I am really excited about. To do so I applied for and have been granted a professional licence from Triathlon Australia so I will be able to race in the pro ranks at both the WTC and Challenge races I am targetting. I have some new sponsors I am really looking forward to working with, I'll do more writing over the winter season possibly also for some tri and fitness publications and am also looking forward to training with teammates from my club, TMT, using and extending my French.

Additionally I have started working to establish a new business and have some really exciting plans to unveil shortly. Stay tuned! In order to do all this of course I need to focus on the last of this year's goals yet to be achieved and so I am back at school learning French 5 days a week.

To set these goals I needed to have my energy back and my head and heart clear or otherwise I would likely set unrealistic goals (as not carefully enough considered or discussed with others) or goals that would not stretch me as fully as is realistic and achievable.

So here I am 6 weeks on and enjoying my latest challenge of learning a new language. I won't pretend I am back to 100% tiggerishness at all times, as I have moments of needing to go back a pace and rest, relax or reprioritise. Generally though I am feeling ready for my next adventure...or three!

Enjoy yours.
A bientot

Mon premier Europeen saison finit!

So I've finished my first European season. It has been amazing. The experience has been wonderful and the highlights have been many.

 

The obvious ones would have to include;

• Winning the Long Course World Champs in Germany in August
• Racing across cobblestones and under the Eiffel Tower in Paris in July
• Racing my first ironman in the pro field in Spain finishing in the top 10 in a good time.

The less obvious but probably more real highlights are:

• Learning to love the many and fantastic training options throughout our region, the Aravis Valley and surrounds,
• Struggling with and coming to more friendly terms with my swim
• Beginning to feel a part of my team, TMT Triathlon
• Swimming with triathlete friends from Australia past the castle under the cliffs in Lac d'Annecy

• Appreciating the ever growing practical and emotional support from Rob and the boys both at races and throughout my training (as a team we have grown stronger and our results are Team Hemphill's not mine)
• Watching the Tour de France pass through our village with Cadel in yellow and watching on TV as they rode over many cols I had also riden on (albeit somewhat slower!)
• Getting some great guidance from good people and slowly building and learning to trust my own internal guidance better
• Most of all though, meeting the many, various and wonderful people at races, in training and through our travels.

Of course it has not all been sunshine, fresh pastries and smiley faces. We had a month of rain and cold when we first arrived in France exhausted and disoriented in our new world that we hoped to make a home in, I lost a good friend, feeling like an alien at school events and realising how hard it must be for the boys each day as they go through their own significant transition, cold cold descents off cols through sleet and/or rain, occassional injury and illness concerns, mechanical troubles (generally with our car and scooter not bikes as they are much better designed, built and looked after), and of course the tired muscles, body and soul - sometime all at the same time.

Overall it has been overwhelmingly a fantastic, rich life experience. Like all good experiences, not without its challenges, but with plenty of great rewards too.

But for now, after enjoying a short holiday with the family in Barcelona, the Pyrenees and Avignon it is time to settle down for a quieter, more stable period of recovery, more focussed language learning and building a triathlon based business for next summer in the Aravis so we can stay in this great part of the world.

Thanks to Valdora, Jaggad, TMT and Louisa for your assistance throughout this season. For now, my new Valdora roadie and I are off to get in a few more rides before the snows fall and stay on the roads and I need to swap wheels for skis for the winter.

A bientot
C

Challenge Barcelona-Maresme Race Report

 

Enjoying the bike course: Challenge Barcelona-Maresme

   Last weekend I finished my first European season in Spain at the Challenge Barcelona-Maresme ironman race. It was a great race to end on and I was pretty happy with my result, crossing the line in 10:17, 8th in the female pro field. It was my first ironman (in fact my first marathon too) and first race in a selective pro field.

I enjoyed the race and learned lots. I look forward to doing a few more next year, improving again by building on this season's experience.

So to the race...



The 1st buoy is just out there girls...somewhere

 The swim was through stunningly clear Mediterranean water off the Costa Maresme coast of Spain, near Barcelona. However it was pretty dark as we started. Dawn broke as we rounded the second marker. I swam with the first bunch with three other pro women. It was a good swim for me coming out of the water in 1:03 with only 3 women having swum faster than our group. Also as I was drafting effectively with only occasional spurts as the group lifted a bit, I swam really within myself and didn't raise my HR too much or take in much sea water.

Heading out of T1

T1 was pretty smooth so I was soon out onto the flat, fast coastal ride. There were 3 laps, 2 of 69k and one shorter one to make up the 180k. One of the interesting, very Spanish course management issues was to avoid the cactus that fell off the cliffs along the coast onto the road. No good for bike tyres! They swept the course ahead of the day, but still a few had fallen by the race.

My bike was steady but solid. I felt good the whole way despite the wind picking up by the last lap and ate and drank to plan. I rode my own race dropping back 50m behind a couple of the women who were all vying with each other ahead. By the time we came into T3, I was 5th after a bike of 5:15 and we were still all close. I was feeling great despite being 10m ahead of my target time and at that point on track for a sub 10h first ironman.



2 laps down, 2 to go!

By the run it was a very warm (31oC) to take on the 4 laps of 10.5k through the towns of Callela and Pineda and across the fields to Santa Susanna.

A few lessons here! I got a bit excited and ran the first 5k too fast, moving into 4th by the 4k mark. However I think I could have managed the pace by just pulling back a bit and holding my position if I had not also gone fuel low. I had only taken on water in the last 10k of the bike and first 3k of the run as I had been worried about settling into the run.

This proved too long without energy sending my internal battery flat for a while. The legs felt good but there was nothing left to power them. It took another full lap and a half taking in copious coke/water and gels to get back to a reasonable pace. Despite fantastic encouragement from spectators and most importantly, Rob and the boys including a 100m sprint by Liam keeping up with me yelling "Go Go Go Mummy Go", unfortunately I got passed by 4 girls in that time. Although I did move up on them in the last lap as I regained a faster pace I was just too late to pass them back. The last lap I ran with a French triathlete from Les Lions who was fantastic for both keeping a good rhythm and enjoying the experience. Thanks Yannick, great pacing!

Race and season over

So all up 10:17:02 across the finish line. I could have gone better in the run had I managed my fuel differently, but I have no real disappointment, as overall I did better than I had hoped and have the tempting possibility of going even better with the experience of this one behind me. The other women in the pro field, particularly Julia and Celia were truly lovely and made me feel welcome racing at this level and distance for the first time. Thanks.

 

So if you are in the Northern Hemisphere and getting to the end of your season too, enjoy the offseason. If you are in Oz or elsewhere south of the equator, enjoy your training, race smart and recover well.

 

Keep coming back to have a look as I have lots of interesting articles to add that I have been too busy with training and racing to finish. For now though, time to build some Lego with the boys. See you soon :-)

Budapest World Championships

So another big race week. In the very beautiful and interesting, but grey and slightly neglected feeling Budapest. It rained for most of the week. Luckily for the Elite Women and AG Olympic Distance racers, not on our race day though, which was the only day it cleared from rainy to overcast.

The elite men and sprint distance AG racers competed in pouring, cold conditions on Saturday. In the elite male field that raced that day there was a fair bit of carnage on the bike course with a number of crashes. In the end though, it was the Brownlee's, Alistair and Jonathan that had the best day of it, showing their class and winning their respective races. In the elite women, Emma Snowsill showed the champion she is taking the final of the series by running away from the best in the world to finish with a 2 min lead. Emma Moffatt, her training partner, then finished the double by outsprinting Lisa Norden and Jessica Spiring to come second and win the overall season.

A brief moment when shadows graced the streets of Budapest

I was racing on the Sunday in the Olympic Distance World Championships (Age Group) for Australia. I was nervous as I wanted to do well but was not sure what was possible. It is not a great distance for me just now as my primary focus races this season are longer courses, Immenstadt 6 weeks ago and the Barcelona Challenge (ironman distance) in three weeks. Also I had been getting some knee pain in the weeks between Immenstadt Long Course World Champs and this race. It seemed to be finally resolving with lots of good yoga/stretching, massage, and some specific balancing strengthening exercises but I hadn't run much in training and very little high intensity running.

So racking the bike in the ankle deep mud of transition on the Sat afternoon I really was not sure if my goal of top 10 and desire to top 5 or better was realistic or not. It really depended on a decent swim as mine can be pretty variable (!?) and a trouble free fast run. I was pretty confident of my bike being solid. I really would have loved to podium but knew it would be a long shot. I was aware of two very strong athletes both coming with this race as the focus of their season; Steph from Vancouver who won last year and Sophie from the UK who was keen to top the podium after finishing 2nd three times in recent years. Besides these two I had 60+ others I didn't know of who would also all have their own strengths and goals.

My race plan went something like this

• Swim straight, hard to first buoy, settle into solid rhythm then kick up again at the end as really cold water (15oC or so) so get blood in legs before the exit
• Bike hard as possible < 178 HR. Take in nutrition and fluids in aero position on the straights. Be wary of drafting as busy course.
• Run hard as possible, from fast but good form (no injuries!) to absolute max last 2.5k lap
• Transition fast and direct to my spot but short balanced steps (really muddy!)
• NO INJURIES!!!! If really sore, pull out.

Overall, I followed my race plan, the knee held up well with no pain and I did okay. I came 5th in 2:05:35. So, in summary, the best three things about the race were;

1. PB for an Olympic Distance race (although the bike I think was a bit short)
2. Fastest run of the day in my category at 40:30
3. Top 5 I achieved my goal (just by outsprinting the USA team member Steph Popelar through the finish)

But as always there are lots of learnings from the race. My top three from this race were;

1. Start the race at the start of the race. I have let my dissapointment with recent swims make me accept that I am not a great swimmer so I almost mentally start the race at the end of the swim not the start of it. It is a bad attitude that doesn't help me swim as well as I can. I think I could have swum harder in Budapest. I rode and ran at absolute max given the distance I was racing. I know that. I am just not convinced I did the same in the swim. 
2. Sighting and feet. I was so concerned about swimming straight after going off track in Passy I kept looking up and resighting fully rather than eyes just above water level when swivelling back down, slowing me a little each time. The buoys at Budapest were huge so I probably didn't need to. Also no great feet found to draft behind for any long stretches. It was hard in the grey, brown murky water of the Danube (as even the best, Andrea Hewitt found when she missed the lead pack in the water later that afternoon) but I need the additional assistance and I didn't get it for long. I need to get better at this!
3. Preparation. A good positive learning was my preparation for this race was really good. It was a big event, tightly managed with 1000s of entrants and a new city, with a seperate start and finish area which all made it a bit challenging. My prep was solid and smooth. Physically getting my legs sorted in the weeks prior and not overstressing about them but trusting that keeping on with the right interventions would get them there and getting the body race ready in the last few days before the event meant I felt that I turned up with the body as well prepared as I could have. Mentally I had ridden the bike and run and swum in the race area so knew the course and transitions. I had a decent race plan that did anticipate the challenges of race day to ensure I could give it what I had (except see learning 1). Also just the travel and basic prep like getting my bike and gear sorted, there and together in the right spot in the right condition for the day all went very smoothly. After a summer of travelling and racing I am getting better at doing the basics.  

The Danube, prettier when backlit than swimming through it!

So overall, I am not sure how to feel. A little dissapointed as I think I could have swum better and made it to the podium if I hadn't screwed around with my swimming so much this summer trying to improve it and also better leveraged that which I had on the day in the swim. Earlier in the summer I posted a swim time on a similar course that would have got me into 2nd place if I could have replicated it here. I have been trying to change and improve since then which seems to have just sent me backwards! A great comment on this comes from a book I have been reading lately,

I was in no man's land, no longer good at doing it wrong, but also not yet able to consistently get it right .

Well it gives me a clear focus for the off season. So moving past the swim, I transitioned smoothly and fast, rode the third fastest bike split and ran the fastest. I competed hard, eventually outriding a Canadian lady who drafted for a fair bit of the bike course and finally catching the lovely US lady on the run that took me every cm of the 10k to get.

So learnings on board, ready for my next race and now it's time to go get on my bike. I'm now into my final big week prior to Barcelona!

Train well, race hard, enjoy and recover easy! Time for some training here.
A bientot
Christine

Mt Blanc race report

So this week I'll not tackle the wonderful topic of women's differences regarding training, as we leave tomorrow to go to Budapest so I can race at the Olympic Distance World Championships. It is 6 weeks since I raced in Immenstadt at the Long Course Worlds. I am only just getting my tiggerishness (bounce) back so the time between the two has been good. I am looking forward to the opportunity to race in a big field of fantastic athletes from around the world, including a big contingent from Australia.

I have only raced once between the two world champs, at the Mont Blanc Tri in Passy 10 days ago. That was a really beautiful olympic distance race in the Chamonix Valley with Mt Blanc at 4,808m providing a perfect snow capped backdrop.

Although I would have only given myself about a 6/10 for my race performance, it was great fun as it was a stunning place and day, there were lots of Team Mermillod Triathlon (my French club) folk there, as well as the one and only Crew Chief (my husband, Rob) who had his first Northern Hemisphere race experience, and my parents who were visiting from Oz so they had a chance to see what racing here was all about and hang out with the boys in the great playgrounds by the lake on a warm summer's afternoon.

So I guess my thought for this week is about fun vs performance in racing. I love racing as it is a chance to push myself harder than in training and see what comes out against a field of peers and my own expectations. I love the atmosphere of race day and the challenge it provides everyone which drives that great individual feeling of achievement and the comraderie afterwards when everyone has overcome whatever challenges they faced on the day, and mostly feel good about their efforts.

But what if you have a bad race, or like I did, just a so so one? Do you let it ruin your day, or worse threaten your enjoyment of your next block of training or the sport more generally? I hope not.

Rudyard Kipling had a great quote my grandfather loved from the poem "If" about this

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

I read this to mean, it is good to dream big, aim high and set challenging goals for yourself, but not lose the enjoyment of what you do either to achieve success, or as a result if you fail to achieve it. Triathlon is an excuse for a great journey and the outcome that it provides, good, indifferent or bad is very much secondary to the fun of getting there. Let's be real, very few athletes in this sport make a real living out of it, so the outcome is more about personal satisfaction and validation of the effort than anything else.
So, in practice... I really had a pretty average race at Passy, going off course in the swim and not really hitting rhythm in it anyway, having a solid bike (finally strong on the descents where I outpaced the guys around me as well as on the one steep climb each lap) and an ok but not great run given I had been having some knee trouble leading up to it. But it didn't really matter all that much as I was happy coming 4th overall given I wasn't feeling ready to race again in the week leading up to it. I still won the veteran femme category and although it would have been nice to be in top 3 which was my goal, I really admire all three athletes who beat me and they well earned their place in front that day.

So performance vs fun. An ex coach of mine used to sneer at the "fun" word regarding training or racing. I disagree. I love triathlon because it is fun for me, even when I am hitting the red zone at the end of a race, I enjoy the challenge and the atmosphere. That is why I do it. I loved that Rob got to race with me that day and excelled himself in it. He had a fantastic race on far more limited training time than I get. He loved the opportunity to be out there amongst it again. His race report is linked here if your are interested.

http://thecrewchief.blogspot.com/

I meanwhile had to manage my head after a poor swim to reset and enjoy tackling the field as usual from behind. I am not as strong a swimmer as bike / runner so tend to do this every race anyway. I joke that I am like Pharlap, the famous Australian racehorse that raced better when held back at the start of the race to then fly through the field from the back. Well, ok, I am just not a very good swimmer so don't really hold back by choice, but riding and running through the field is kinda fun! I just gave myself a bit more of a starting handicap that day. Not getting frustrated by what has already past is a necessity in enjoying racing. This is particularly true in longer courses where there is more time for stuff to happen, lulls, flat tyres, cramps ...

Enjoying the run

So I reset the head after my swim and by the end of the first descent on the bike, was loving being on course and taking my usual approach which is, if I can keep up with the majority of the guys I am racing with, and overtake more overall than I let pass me, then I will find the girls up there in front. It worked and I slowly moved through the field from 12th to 4th through the bike and run. I often try and find someone to pace with on the run, going just a bit faster than I comfortably would go by myself. I did for just over a lap at Passy. A lovely guy who chatted amiably in French to me when he had the spare breath, some of which I understood and much of which, in my tired and focussed race state, I missed. Apologies! The lead on the first three strong girls was too much to close though. So, 4th and and ok race, but plenty to enjoy and learn from.

I managed to win some flowers that I could give
to Mum for being, well, my Mum!

After the race I really enjoyed the time with Rob, the other girls I knew from previous races, TMT club members, my boys and parents. Triathlon is really just a great excuse for bringing together lovely people. We relaxed for a few hours by the lake and by then I was ready for some more. So I took the option to ride the 50k home via Megeve and Col de Aravis and enjoyed the early evening in the mountains.

So lots of learning to take to the next race at the World Champs this weekend to be even better mentally and physically prepared and of course, enjoy even more!

So, enjoy your day too, whatever the outcome.
A bientot!
Christine