Nutrend Supplements

Three blogs in a week is a clear indicator that I have way too much free time on my hands and that limited training is being undertaken.  While this may be the case as I am recovering not only from a fall earlier in the week but also a nasty flu that I have just not been able to shake, I do come bearing more interesting news than just my progress in terms of recovery.

Anyone paying close attention to the details of this blog may have noticed a few alterations in the layout of late and while I have further plans to enhance the viewing pleasure, there have also been a few changes to the sponsors, suppliers and supporters section, as well as a new addition :).

I am pleased to announce that I am lucky enough to have Nutrend Supplements supplying me with all my nutrition needs from now on.  I recieved my first care package just the other day and with all the great flavours available I am having a hard time narrowing down my picks for future requirements!  I have enough fuel in terms of gels, electrolytes and powerbars to keep me going through whatever training sessions even the toughest coach could dream up and with these dreams likely to come into fruition over the infamous holiday period at DAT Racing that always intales a period known as "Hell Week" thats length began at 12 days some 3 years ago and continues to grow in a similar fashion to the average person's waistline over the festive season.

Once again my thanks goes out to Nutrend Supplements for their support and I will have more details about their products up here very soon.  Be sure to check back here soon for more details on the specifics of what they have to offer and how it is benefiting me and how it can benefit to you.  But if you can't wait any longer, their online shop is up and running Nutrend Supplements so there is nothing to stop you getting on there now and not only reading a bit more but getting yourself some of the great products on offer!

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Monday misfortunes

This isn't exactly the kind of post I'd like to be posting at this stage but never the less, this is how my week started off... 

Following the race at Robina on the weekend I headed out for an easy hour run through the forests of Brookfield.  I regularly run through these trails and greatly enjoy the change of scenary it brings from running around the roads that can become somewhat dull and mundane and for the first 40min of this run I was thinking how great it is to start a morning off like this and how good it is to be able to do what I do.  Unfortunately things came unstuck after that and I took a pretty bad tumble after tripping on a rock while heading down one of the hills and was unable to regain my balance.  I still had another 20min to jog/ hobble back to the car and must have looked quiet the sight with gravel, mud and blood all over me.

About 2.5hrs later I finally got out of the doctors surgery with 5 stitches in my arm and my knee, hip and chest covered with bandages from the grazes.  Needless to say not much training will be happening for at least the next few days and I'm going to be taking this opportunity to give my body the rest it is probably crying out for and to also kick this flu for good well and truly before I get back out there training for the next race.

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Robina Tri

Yesterday was race 2 of the Queensland Triathlon Series down at Robina on the Gold Coast and after my mishap on the way to race 1, my first goal was to just make it to the venue in one piece!  Obviously this wasn't all I wanted to achieve out of the day and I went into the race determined to post a top result and had made my intentions very clear to anyone that asked that I was focused on winning the race and honestly believed I had a real shot at achieving this.  The race was held over the supersprint distance of a 400m swim, 15kim cycle and 4km run so the pace was bound to be on from start to finish and the open category had attracted a solid field with several athletes having represented Australia at Continental and World Cup level.

As the race started I got off to a good start and found myself within the first 6 or so athletes and managed to settle into a comfortable rhythm while still maintaining a good position.  This is something I normally struggle with in races and tend to start to loose positions after my good starts but today was a different story and I stayed on the feet the whole way and exited the water in a good position.  With all the rush that comes in any transition zone and in particular in a race of this distance, myself and a few other athletes just missed the lead break onto the bike and found ourselves just off the pace. 

Fortunately, of our group  myself and Dane Robinson were committed to chasing down the group while a few other athletes were satisfied to just sit there and watch.  This turned out to be their loss because they found themselves dropping off the pace as we caught the main group with 3-4km to go.  The pace dropped dramatically when we crossed the gap and we dropped back to a frustratingly leisurely 30km/hr as some of the guys in the group were happy to just sit and let anyone else behind catch up and leave it down to a running race. 

Reviewing the Bryton Rider 50T data after the race, the Malvern Star Oppy C7 Team performed magnificantly and I managed to post the fastest bike split for the day :). 

I made sure I stayed as close to the front as possible coming into transition and had a quick change over and was one of the first out of transition but unfortunately after putting myself in such a good position to win I just didn't have what was required to get the job done as I was quickly shown the back door by most of the guys in the front group with me and had to be satisfied with a 7th palce finish on the day.  All in all it is a bit of a disappointing result but can take the positive that I positioned myself well in the swim and posted the fastest bike time and after spending the majority of the week with and was probably still feeling the side effects of the flu.  But not to take anything away from the winner on the day, Taylor Cecil who ran an amazing race and clocked an amazingly quick sub-12min run for 4km off the bike.

I couldn't possibly finish this blog without making mention of the womens race where one of my training partners, Holly Grice had an amazing race and won the open womens race by chasing the two leaders down out of the water to post the fastest bike split in the field by over 1 minute and equal fastest run time.  And with her 3 races this season leaving her with a 4th, 3rd and 1st there are definitely big things ahead for not only this season but well into the future!

Here's the media release posted by USM Events about the race:
http://www.usmevents.com.au/Triathlon___Multi_Sport/Gatorade_Queensland_Tri_Series/Media___Gallery/Media_Release_-_Cecil_steps_up_claim_for_under_23_selection.htm

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All that is the Noosa Triathlon

The Noosa Triathlon and Multisport Festival has been and gone for another year and in a similar fashion to every year not only was a great event put on by USM Events but a thouroughly enjoyable time was had by all.  We arrived at Noosa on the Friday to what wasn't exactly the best weather and as much as I wanted to get down to the beach to soak up the atmosphere and cheer on the swimmers in the Eyeline 1000, staying dry and inside was the preferred option.  There is always plenty to do at Noosa so the smarter option involved checking out all the new gear on offer at the expo.  I had a great catch-up with Neville from Ryders Eyewear and picked myself up a pair of the brand new Cadence sunglasses to make sure I really stood out come Sunday.  These glasses and all of the sunglasses these guys make are great and it's great to be able to work with them and I'll be sure to put up some more photos and details on their products in the near future.

Come Saturday morning the weather had cleared and we were met with sunny conditions for the standard pre-race ride to the top of the infamous Noosa hill and back followed by a relaxing breakfast and coffee at one of the many coffee shops along Hastings St.  The remainder of the day was spent busying ourselves in our room or as we renamed it, the DAT Dungeon by watching DVDs, listening to music and unfortunately spending some time with our heads in the books doing some uni work among other shenanigans.  Making sure not to miss out on everything the festival has to offer we were out spectating for the 5k Bolt and the Crit in the afternoon.  No pre-race routine would be complete without a quick swim around the island and a 15-20min run and an early dinner with the DAT crew before getting to bed nice and early before the big event on the Sunday morning.

Sunday is what Noosa is all about and starting in the first wave at 6:30am it was an early start to the morning but after setting everything up in transition and doing the standard warm-up I was over at the start line ready to go.  The start was chaos as could be expectedand it wasn't until well and truely after turning the first turning bouy that everyone settled down and could get some clean swimming underway.  I was sitting in a good position just in touch with the front group on Chris McCormack's feet (which is a bit of a thrill in itself) but unfortunately someone up ahead lost contact with this group and we lost a bit of time by the end of the swim. 

I knew the chase was on by looking at the numbers that I was being shown on my Bryton Rider 50T and were catching some of the guys that had dropped from the front group and at the top of the hill we were only 45seconds down on the leaders.  The half way point on the bike must have had some significance because not only is this where the front group split and the top 4 spots on the podium were decided but our group also split and luckily I made the front split and rode the rest of the way back in to town with the likes of Chris McCormack, Sam Betten and Josh Maeder.  On a side note, this was also my first race on my new Malvern Star Oppy TT7 and it performed brilliantly and there is a review coming in the near future! 

Starting the run I still wasn't entirely sure of how many guys were up ahead and it wasn't until the turn around that I counted myself in at 16th position and having finished 16th in 2010 I was determined to improve on this position.  In the end I finished in 14th position and although I had set myself the goal of finishing top 10 and looking back if a few things had gone my way I should have been able to achieve this, being my first race of the season things are looking good.  And as my coach put it my first race of the season is usually one of my worst so if that is the case then I'll take that result!

Other notable stories from the weekend include:

• the sheer noice that comes from the DAT supporters tent at every single race and especially Noosa where you can't help but smile and give a few high fives no matter how much pain you are in when you run past, whoever says triathlon is an individual sport obviously hasn't experienced this atmosphere and I'd like to thank every single one of them!
• the results of all of the DAT crew that competed over the weekend, in particular Ryan Fisher finishing 5th overall and collecting the Luke Harrop Bursery and Brayden Tucker, Tom Ryan and Luke Farrell finishing 2nd, 3rd and 5th respectively in the open category and Elyza Codner smashing a massive 30min off her previous best over this course after only training with us for the past few months
• the marketing tactics of Chris and all the guys from Nike who bombarded Noosa with fluro yellow 'WE RUN NOOSA' shirts as well as putting on one of the best VIP after parties in recent times

So that is Noosa wrapped up for yet another year and for anyone that missed out this year be sure to get yourself organised for 2012 because I will certainly be back again to not only soak up the festival atmosphere but most importantly to continue on what I'm sure is high on many people's priorities to win one of the best races in the world.

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