Raby Bay Triathlon

While the juniors enjoyed a well earned rest day following their individual races at States on the Friday and backing that up with the teams race on the Saturday, the rest of us made our way out to Raby Bay to compete in race 6 of the Queensland Triathlon Series.  And while the race wasn't of particular significance, with the much talked about and anticipated Devonport Triathlon only 2 weeks into the distance this was the race to fine tune our performances. 

Both open fields drew a number of the big players, in particular Olympic hopeful Emma Jackson lining up in the womens field along side Sarah Deuble and Anna Coldham representing DAT.  On the mens side of things it was one of the biggest open fields in some time with some of us forced to encroach on the womens and teams bike racking space in transition.  DAT was strongly represented with myself, Ryan Fisher, Tom Ryan, Brayden Tucker and Luke Farrell hitting the startline along with Jack Hickey, Bryce McMaster, Jesse Featonby, Matt Brown, Mitch Kealey and recently crowned Australian champion; Drew Box.

But before we even had the opportunity to get down to business it was the stars of the future who were first to dive into the Raby Bay waterways.  Both Josh and Hayden Buerckner were representing DAT and after putting on such fine performances in recent times, both boys stepped up to compete in the 7-9yrs division.  Josh finished a very impressive 7th position and posted the 2nd fastest run split in a very speedy 01:57 while Hayden finished only 01:10 behind his brother in 13th position and is one of the few people I have seen with a smile on his face no matter how fast or hard he is going!

Moving onto the main event, which was due to be held over the supersprint distance of a 400m swim, 15km cycle and 4km run and with the combination of such short distances and the quality of the field, it was bound to be a fierce race right from the beginning.  With the usual current of Raby Bay drifting the boys some 10-15m forward of the start line before the starters eventually got us underway, the swim was over in the blink of an eye and while the first pack contained not only all the DAT boys but all the main players, it was none other than Ryan Fisher leading the way.  Heading off onto the bike there was a distinct DAT influence in the front pack with Ryan heading the field followed closely by Brayden, Tom, myself and Luke.  However, this didn't last long and as we rounded the corner to head up the hill on the first lap Ryan hit the corner with too much speed and found himself very quickly hitting the pavement with some force.  Fortunately the damage was limited and although he was restricted to a single gear for the remainder of the ride, full credit must be given for not only finishing the race but posting one of the fastest run splits for the day. 

Unfortunately he wasn't the only DAT casualty for the ride and on the same corner on the next lap Tom suffered the same outcome.  Similarly he battled on gallantly and while not in the hunt for podium positions after his fall still finished strongly within the top 10 in a quality field. 

His fall did however come at an opportunistic time for myself as I took the opportunity to test the other guys legs and push the pace and found myself with a small yet noticable gap once I'd reached the top of the hill.  Knowing the running speed of some of the guys in the pack I took this opportunity to try and make the most of my opportunity and although I sat off the front for the remainder of the ride, it was always going to be a task to hold off what can only be described as a pack with no draft busters in sight and within reach of the dismount line I may have been at the front but my advantage was cut to a handful of seconds.  It is hard to keep secrets in this sport and the running speed of several of the top boys at the moment is no exception and this was evident as soon as we hit the run.  Jesse immediately surged to the froont and with only 4km to travel looked to have the race locked up from an early stage.  The other podium places went to Mitch Kealey and Matt Brown who had earlier been in a tussle for position with Brayden who narrowly missed out to finish in 5th position followed by myself in 6th position with Luke Farrell rounding out the DAT athletes in 8th position.

On the womens side of things it was always going to be a tough ask to topple Emma Jackson and she showed her class from the outset, hitting the front soon after the swim and never looked back to record an impressive win.  However we did manage to snare the final spot on the womens podium with Sarah Deuble running an impressive race to finish narrowly behind second place getter Chloe Turner.  The misfortune of the DAT athletes didn't end with just the 2 boys crashing out with the only girl to be in front of Emma at any stage in the race and swim leader, Maddi Allen suffering the same fate on the bike, although she did manage to navigate the boys corner, instead coming undone going around the round about.  Anna Coldham didn't have the luck on her side either and was dealt a 3min drafting penalty and can be considered somewhat unlucky after not only what occured during the mens race but from all accounts the womens race as well as she was one of three athletes handed out penalties who actually served her penalty before finishing with a strong run. 

Not to be outdone by the high performance athletes, Jamie Hanelt also tackled the Raby Bay course and was somewhat chuffed with himself after consultation with his personal timing devise to find he had recorded a very impressive sub-16min 4km.  However as could be expected, official timing puts him just off this mark with a 4:01/km average and a 16:04 total.  Never the less this still placed him in 6th position in his age.

While the misfortune can be looked at as the story of the day for the DAT team from Raby Bay, everyone can take something away from the performances and it is fair to say that things are well and truly on track to peak for the race of the season down in Devonport in 10 days time.

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School State Championships

It isn't very often that I am attending a race without the stress and nerves of competing and even less often that I have a complete day off training.  That being said, we were made to earn our complete day off with some fierce but friendly competition around the grounds of the Stafford pool during our swim/windtrainer/run session and there was more than one athlete commenting about some DOM action upon wakening this morning! 

Onto the reason for the complete day off, it was the junior's day to shine (and on a side note the athletes were the only ones shining because the weather out at Redcliffe was providing nothing of the sort!) at the School State Championships and those of us not racing formed the DAT support squad for the morning.  As mentioned, the weather was less than ideal for racing with the wind and normally wave-free beach proving less than friendly and when this combined with the persistent rain it made the spectating a game of ducking for cover.

The seniors were the first race to set off with the only DAT representitive being new member Billy Ryan and while I won't give a full recap of all of the days races, I have it on good authority that Billy left nothing in reserve and was well and truly spent on crossing the finish line.  Never the less, Billy is yet to stop smiling since finishing the race after finishing an impressive 5th to cement his spot on the Queensland team for a trip to Busselton for the National Championships later in March. 

DAT were well represented in both the intermediate boys and girls races, with previous Queensland representitives Jake and Wyatt lining up with Lawrence in the boys race and both Sophie and Claire Malowiecki joining last years national champion Brittany Dutton in the girls field.  The tough conditions in the water really split the field in both races and the wind and rain was of little assistance in both the swim and the run but to quote Britt's sister Courtney; "Nothing stops Britt Dutton.  Baby of the age group and smashes them all taking out the 2012 State CHAMPION.  Stoked for my champ xxx."  Sophie was hot on her heels the entire race and snared herself a shiny bronze medal for her efforts.  In such horrible conditions Claire was happy just to make it to the finish line without incident and did more than that finishing in a credible 26th position. 

On the men's side of things, last year's state champion Wyatt was stepping up to the intermediate division with many of the older boys on lookout for what he has already achieved and after watching the competition between him and Lawrence at training so they should be!  All 3 of the boys produced some great racing with Jake leading the DAT boys home to finish in 5th position followed closely by Wyatt in 6th place and Lawrence in 11th position.

The final races of the day saw the junior boys and girls toe the start line with the only remaining DAT representitive being Nick Free in the junior boys division.  Bearing the scars of battle after suffering a heavy fall out on the bike, Nick could be excused for only making it to the finish but in an impressive effort he did more than that, climbing his way back through the field to finish in an impressive 8th place and although shaken and disappointed after the race he should take heart in his efforts as it is not about how many times you fall that matters, it's how many times you get back up!

That brought to an end the individual races for the 2012 State Championships but all of the juniors will be at it again tomorrow morning for the team event and the announcement of the Queensland team, which barring incident should include Billy, Jake, Wyatt, Brittany and Sophie to compete in the National Championships over in Busselton in late March.  A huge congratulations must go our to all of the DAT athletes that have done themselves proud in what is the biggest race of their season and it was great to be able to enjoy the day off training with my fellow training partners to support all of them, some of whom even managed to sneak out of work for the occasion!

The day wasn't all fun and games and I also managed to sneak in a bit of market research for Chris from Nike who couldn't make it out to Redcliffe this morning so I was put in charge of tallying up what running shoes all of them were racing in and while it must have looked a bit strange me looking down at everyones feet as they ran past it is pretty cool to be able to say that almost one third of all the competitors were out there competing in the same brand that I race and train in, Nike. :)

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Time to get revived!

I spent some time trying to find a good definition for revive that would fit in with what I am about to share, some of which were completely useless but I did stumble across this fitting definition: "to impart new health, vigor or spirit."

Although it may seem somewhat abstract, there is some method to my madness and the reason for my recent Google searching is so I can share the exciting news that I will be working with the team at Revive Physiotherapy in Ashgrove to RESHAPE, REBALANCE & REFORM my body over the next 6 months.

Revive is more than just a physiotherapy studio and they offer every service under the sun including physiotherapy, massage, yoga, personal training and pilates, just to name a few.  The latter mentioned; pilates, is something that I have regularly heard about but never ventured into until 2 weeks ago and can happily say that I am already noticing the benefits of the classes at Revive.  And with a mission statement like this;

To provide first class Physiotherapy, Pilates and complimentary services to our clients in a professional, holistic and nurturing environment.  To empower our clients with the skills and knowledge to make significant changes to their health and wellbeing.

how could you not feel safe in their hands!

Going back to my earlier Google definition to impart new health, vigor or spirit, it is safe to say that Revive Physiotherapy well and truly fit in this definition and with their ongoing support I look forward to the benefits this will no doubt bring to my triathlon performances in the near future.

Be sure to check out all they have to offer on their website http://www.revivestudio.com.au/ and also back here as I share my time spent working with the Revive team.  Also check out Josh Amberger's Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts if you haven't already because he'll also be working with the team at Revive and his blog is well worth a read in your spare time.

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Geelong Triathlon

It has taken my a lot longer than anticipated to get this blog posted as I had originally planned on having it done soon after the completion of the race and had even made time in the days leading into the race to pre-write some of it but that never eventuated.  The reason for this is mainly due to the fact that for myself personally Geelong was one of those races where nothing went to plan and I am very disappointed with my result and it wasn't until I read the above quote that I have stopped thinking about what I did wrong and started thinking about what I can  and will be doing in the coming weeks leading up to the next series of races to make sure I have a better result.

However in recent times many of my blogs have had more of a team centered theme to them and the achievements of the entire DAT Racing squad and Geelong is no different in that sense with several athletes making the trip down to compete in the Olympic distance race to try to accumulate as many points as possible to go towards selection in the Australian age-group team to compete in the World Championships later in the year as well as Brayden Tucker and myself to compete in the ITU Premium Oceania Cup that also doubled as the National Sprint Distance Championships.  As seems to be the trend of late there were several outstanding performances whcih gives me some great stories to share instead of only being able to share my individual race stories.

There was only a small contingent of us flying in to Melbourne on the Friday as many of the other athletes chose to organise their own travel arrangements but 5 bikes and 9 people still required a bus to get us from Melbourne to Geelong and as you can see it was somewhat of a puzzle to fit all of us and our luggage in!  Luckily no one's bike recieved any damage from the airlines or our own handling of the bikes!

Melbourne is well known for producing 4 seasons in one day and Saturday was a perfect example of this with the day beginning with an easy run instead of the usual bike ride because of the overnight rain and continual drizzle that greated us upon wakening followed by glimpses of sunshine and heat throughout the day before our afternoon run ended with what could only be described as an absolute downpoor!  It was very reminisant of 2011 when our Saturday race had to be postponed until Sunday because of the gailforce winds.  With the race scheduled for Sunday this year there was no worry of that and the day was very leisurely and even included an unintentional tour of the sights of Geelong when our 2min drive to Anaconda so Dan could get himself a rainjacket ended up taking us halfway back to Melbourne because our backseat drivers were too scared to interupt the conversation to let us know we were going the wrong direction.  And the day was not without more drama with the afternoon downpoor making its way inside Elyza and her mum's room through a not so ideally situated leak that proceeded to saturate their suitcases, not exactly the preparation you want the evening before a big selection race when you have already had a minor crash earlier in the day on the way down to rack your bike!

The morning of the race was not too different from Saturday evening with the age-group athletes waking to cool conditions and rain not too far off.  Never the less the entire DAT crew are never phased by a challenge and with all of them starting within 30min of each other there was plenty of spectating to be done.  Having to save myself for my 3pm start time my spectating was limited but with the run going straight past our hotel I couldn't help but find myself a shady spot on the side of the road to help keep my mind occupied while cheering them on.  Robbie, Courtney, Elyza, Lotte, Kate, Geoff, Simon, Dave K and Dave S all had great races and are well on their way to representing Australia later in the year and without going in to too much detail on each of their races I must point out a few special stories:

• Courtney had an outstanding race to finish 4th in her age-group just off the podium and in her first big race in who knows how long she is bound to improve out of sight from here and also managed to catch Robbie in the swim who was unable to shake her throughout the 40km cycle leg in what was described as painfully hard rain.
• Anyone at DAT Racing will be able to tell you how hard Dave S pushes himself at training and racing is no exception.  Unfortunately the weather gods had a good old time with Dave who came unstuck not once but twice out on the bike course but to his credit he continued on, battle scars and all to not only finish the race but to finish inside the top 10 in his age group!
• Unfortunately injuries are part of the game and it looks like Lotte will need to undergo ankle surgery following the race and as much as this is a major dissapointment we all know she will be back stronger but this still didn't stop her from finishing the race in a very respectable and impressive position.

With the age-group race done and dusted, Sunday afternoon was all about the National Championships for the pros and with Brad Kahlefeldt not taking the start line a new champion was going to be crowned.  With close to 60 guys taking to the water for the start of the race the start was crucial and unfortunately for myself I got stuck right in the middle of the washing machine of arms and legs and struggled to find any clear water and was still struggling to get going by the time I'd made it to the far end of the course.  As I exited the water the majority of the bikes were already up the road but still managed to get myself into a pack with plans of pushing as hard as I could to make up lost ground.  Throughout the very technical 20km our group did catch a few of the groups ahead of us but all the main players were still ahead in the first few packs.  It was only about half way through the ride that I first spotted Brayden who had swam well and positioned himself well within one of the bike packs further up the road.  I was still hoping for a solid run off the bike to take something away from the day but unfortunately it was not to be my day and although I had periods where my running felt good there were also periods where it didn't, resulting in anybody I'd caught passing me again.  I finished the race in a disappointing 41st position while Brayden finished in a very pleasing 26th position for his first big race in a pro field. 

But rather than kicking myself for what I could've done differently I'm learning as much as I can from the experience and moving on and with the next race scheduled for next weekend at Raby Bay before heading down to Devonport 2 weeks later there is not only plenty to learn but plenty to gain from these races.

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Caloundra Enduro

It was a bit of a last minute decision to race in the Caloundra Enduro Tri this morning but one that I am very pleased to have done.  The result itself might not necessarily reflect that but there were plenty of positivies to take away from the morning and with a firm eye on the bigger picture and the more important races coming up very shortly that is definitely what I am focusing on.

The race was a very unconventional format, being held over a 400m swim, 7km cycle, 1.8km run, 200m swim, 7km cycle and a final 1.8km run.  There arn't many events around similar to this but it reminds me very much of the older F1 style of racing that used to attract so many people to the sport and something that I remember watching back when it was regularly broadcast on tv.  I'd love to see and compete in more events like this because as hard as they are they are also great fun.  This style of racing has the tendancy to be action packed right from the start and today was no exception.

It was a relatively small field with only 5 girls and 10 guys competing but what it lacked in depth it definitely made up for in quality with every athlete having represented Australia in at least an ITU Continental Cup level and numerous World Cup, World Series and World Championship starts and wins within the field.  The girls were given a 4:50 headstart and an extra $500 was on the line for the first male or female to cross the finishing line.  With only 10 of us on the start line you would think the chaos would be at a minimum but with everyone still aiming to be the first to the first turning can there were arms flying throughout the swim.  The pace was quick and after one of my best weeks in the water for some time I was pleased to have positioned myself in with the main players as we exited the water.  Being just on the back of this group I was pushed to the absolute maximum for the first 2 laps of a 5 lap bike course before I was able to get myself settled in the middle of the group containing Courtney Atkinson, Ben Shaw, Cam Good, Ryan Fisher, Josh Amberger, Drew Box and Jack Hickey.  The first run was where it really split up with the combination of the pace on the bike and the pace at which Courtney took out the run seperating the field.  Personally I didnt have the best of transitions and was left behind before I even left transition to start the 5 lap run.  The remainder of the race played out with little to write home about but essentially Courtney, Ryan and Drew maintained their lead to finish in that order but were unable to chase down Emma Jackson who not only won the womens race but claimed the battle of the sexes to be first across the line.

http://www.usmevents.com.au/Triathlon___Multi_Sport/Gatorade_Queensland_Tri_Series/Media___Gallery/Media_Release_-_Positive_start_for_Olympic_hopefuls_Atkinson___Jackson.htm

Of course this wasn't the only race of the day and as much as I enjoyed the rather abnormal feeling of not waking up at the crack of dawn to drive down to most local races with our race scheduled for a 10:00am start I still made sure I was there in plenty of time to show my support for the other DAT athletes racing.  And as usual there were plenty of notable results but it is hard to go past the open womens race with Sarah Deuble claimed first place with a blistering run and Emily Bevan backing up from her outstanding 2nd place in the ITU Junior Elite National Championships down in Canberra the week prior to again be in that second position on the podium.  The girls are certainly giving us guys something to think about when it comes to race results at the moment but on the guys side of things Jake Freeman certainly showed he is capable of doing just that after leading the open mens field through the swim and bike portion of the race before having to withdraw with an injury.  And thanks must go out to these guys and everyone from DAT who stayed around for the enduro event and especially to those who made the trip to Caloundra even though they weren't competing just to show their support.

With many of the clubs junior athletes using the race as a final hit-out before they head to their school state championships in the coming weeks things look like they are well and truly on track and with myself heading down to Geelng next weekend accompanied with Brayden Tucker to compete in the Elite National Sprint Distance Championships and several of the age groupers making the same journey in search of those valuable World Championship points there are sure to be many more posts to come in the near future!

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