Keep on moving!

Well its been a while since my last update, I guess I've got some catching up to do.

 It's been a pretty busy few months of training and travelling, starting with a fantastic trip down to Wanaka to help our good friend Andrew out on the HTFU training camp. We were appointed camp 'mothers', keeping the place in order whilst having plenty of time to take advantage of the beautiful lake and mountains for some quality training. This definitely has to be one of the most stunning places on earth.

 Next up was a last minute 'holiday' to Sydney...you know when you just get the urge to spend Christmas day on Bondi Beach (?!) So we rocked up to Sydney on Friday evening, took a quick look at the map and headed out to find a backpackers. After a couple of nights backpacking in Kings Cross we upgraded slightly to our friend James' New York style apartment, the central location was perfect for exploring the city. And James was a fantastic tour guide showing us the nicest beaches, getting us guest passes to one incredible gym and introducing us to rock jumping! For our second week we moved to Coogee in the Eastern suburbs, house sitting with some lovely Irish folk who were great company for the xmas bbq. The run from Coogee bay to Bondi beach featured regularly in our xmas training program and we managed a few good open water swims in the beautiful bays as well as at Bondi Icebergs.

 As much as I enjoyed Sydney, I have to admit it was great returning to Christchurch and our training routine. But not for long as a day later I was off to Queenstown to see in the New Year with Andrew, Lydia and Karin. NYE started with a long and very hard mountain run followed  by a swim in Lake Hayes (perfect morning!) before we headed back to the campsite to sit under a tarpaulin in the pouring rain whilst seeing in the new year. After 2 days of solid downpour we were able to start our tramp up the Reese - Dart track. This was my first experience of tramping and boy it was tough! In those four days were put through every kind of weather possible - rain, snow, sun - only in NZ! Walking for 6hrs + a day certainly gives you time to think and I was emotionally drained by the end. Thankfully after our heroics we were whisked off to Glenorchy for the annual horse races, a dip in the lake and a barbie as by now heatstroke was more of a concern than hypothermia!

 Coming back to Christchurch I was more motivated than ever but was slightly worried about my fitness levels considering how flittery my training had been in the past few weeks. Swimming was the usual shocker for the first week back but the tramping proved incredibly good for maintaining run fitness. So I managed to stay put in Christchurch for a good 3weeks before Maddy and I embarked on another spontaneous road trip...

 This time it was just out to Akoroa, a lovely Harbour town on Banks Peninsula. The cycle from Christchurch to Akoroa is pretty straight forward but when do me and Maddy ever take the easy option?! After 3hrs of cycling over the Port hills, round the bays and up one hell of a climb we came up against a 12km steep gravel track (we didn't notice this wasn't an actual road when looking at the map). Eventually we reached Akoroa at 7.30pm having walked half the gravel track, getting a lift for 15k in the back of a farmer's sheep van and crawling over the last few hills. A good feed was much needed that night. Akoroa is a beautiful place and we'll definitely be returning for some kayaking and swimming with the dolphins and penguins.

 So training has been going swimmingly for the past few weeks and we're now enjoying our new location right next to Bottle Lake forest with surfing featuring in the recovery program.

Alex

Life on the Highway

Meeting people with a certain attitude ‘my way or the highway’ is the worst if you let them intimidate you, but allowing it to flow in one ear and out the other allows no time for over-analysing a situation. Getting criticised for asking too many questions is ridiculous, as what is the point of doing something if you do not know the reason behind it. Sometimes we choose the easiest paths in life; Maddy and I decided that a motorway tunnel was easier than riding over the hills again, although we were completely unaware it was out of the question for cyclists to enter the tunnel. A quick chat to the police and we were well on our way back home….or another detour! Getting lost is far too easy nowadays and so is popping to MacDonald’s; you really know you have hit an all-time low when you exceed your daily data allowance in a fast food restaurant. To be fair the internet is not working in our new house and we do get our daily fix of fluffies, while checking very important things such as the types of cakes Eli Thorogood is making on a daily basis via twitter.

Well, we do share our house with two med students who are very respectable people, as when they are not studying or working in the hospital they are attending church or completing voluntary work. Not like the med students I know back in the UK who enjoy going out 5 nights of the week, it is scary shit to think who could be operating on you if something went wrong. I love how independent you can be when you are away from home and meeting new people, coaches, training buddies etc. all the time pushes you out of your comfort zone; I have never understood people, who grew up in Norwich, then go to university in Norwich and then get a job in Norwich. Where is their ambition  to experience life and the world; going out and getting ‘trashed’ isn’t my idea of fun if I do it 5 times a week every week.

Living with your training partner day in day out is great, having a like minded person to get you up for swimming at 5am is so handy and the singing on the way is just the icing on the cake! And it is fantastic to be out of a certain bubble of people. At school you were friends with a certain minority while you always get the ‘sheep’ that are just there and never stand out. People can say what they want about me from my character to my body shape because I know what I want and having heart surgery earlier this year has made me more determined than ever to reach my individual goals, not for anybody but myself. In my opinion, there is nothing worse than someone who says they do something for somebody else when they obviously do it purely for their own sole benefit.

Reading Chrissie’s autobiography has been great as it shows the challenges she faced in everyday life to overcome negativity and criticism during her transition from a ‘FAG’ to a world-class athlete who any women is yet to match. I might take my time reading it but banter and a bit of dancing helps burn off the excess raisins I consume during the day.

This blog is such an anomaly for me, but maybe it is because I am looking for something more complex in life like a functional relationship with a burger boy from my regular shift in the fast-food van, as I cannot seem to even make a decent coffee these days.

Alex

x

Nomad no more...

Finally moved somewhere with a swimming pool, a gym, a university and a shopping mall all within a few minutes of cycling. Not forgetting the sushi restaurants, fab coffee and the credit card needed to make the most of these facilities! So after some time in Napier Maddy and I decided it just wasn't quite the training hub for us. After a weekend in Auckland consisting of fine dining, watching the world champs and making the most of the social scene (!) we knew we needed to really get down to some hard work. The next day we  packed a rucksack and hit the road again for a couple of days of stunning mountain biking and running in Taupo. Luckily we were able to stay with some friends of Maddy's Dad who put us up in their holiday cottage and provided us with some fantastic food, company and entertainment for our mini break. Headed back to Napier and unpacked ready to pack again (fully this time) as we were leaving for Christchurch.

 We arrived at the airport and were greeted by Andrew - a triathlete and physio who drove us to the coast where he and his girlfriend Lidia kindly put us up in there house for a week whilst we found some accommodation. The week kicked of with a 3.5hr ride in the porthills, it was so lovely of Andrew to take me on one of the hardest climbs in Christchurch the day I arrived, it was a 'Bastard' of a climb! But this really set the tone for the week as we cracked on with the early morning swim sessions which were made slightly more bearable by the non stop karaoke to Electric 6's 'Gay Bar' that seemed to be constantly booming out of the car Andrew let us borrow! Having Maddy chauffeur me around was a delight although cruising round a new city with me on the directions did lead to a few heated episodes. The beautiful forest trails and beach were just on our doorstep and meant getting out the door for a run was no problem especially when there's delicious homemade paella cooked for you afterwards :)

 There really was no hanging around this week as by Tuesday we both had interviews and on Friday we started work. For the first shift we happened to be waittressing at the Canterbury sports awards, inevitably I ended up serving drinks to our new swim coach whilst wearing the most hideous uniform! After 6hrs on our feet serving drinks with no break after a full days training we thought it would be reasonable to take 5mins for a drink...apparently not! The next day was a slight contrast as I ended up flipping burgers in a van at a concert, still just as fun in my opinion.


 So we've finally made it to the new pad which is perfectly located in Christchurch. Eat, sleep, train and have fun were our main intentions before coming here and I think that's pretty doable!

From island to island....

So me and Maddy Winzer have embarked on our Kiwi training adventure and I've pretty much settled in to life in NZ after our epic journey to the other side of the planet...

 After some pretty emotional goodbyes at the airport and a smooth but extremely long journey of 30hrs with about 3hrs sleep we touched down in Napier, Hawkes Bay on Friday...pleased to say our bikes arrived safely too (thanks to Roofbox Company)! Then I think the excitement carried us through the day as we explored the town. We've put the beach side open air pool to good use since being here and had a few good runs (hills galore!). Today we'll hit the road for a ride and hopefully sample some of the local mountains :)
 We've also both bagged a job each already and budgeting on food isn't a problem when you've got fresh veg and oranges and lemons growing in the garden!

Life is looking goood!

Alex

Fast and Furious at Canary Wharf

So pleased to have made the final at the GE Canary Wharf Triathlon on Thursday  and find myself on the start line for my second super sprint race of the evening (!) alongside Liz Blatchford, Katie Hewison and Gillian Sanders as well as a bunch of Aussies and Americans. Canary Wharf definately delivered the most exciting atmosphere with big crowds enjoying after work drinks while we sweat it out on a fast, flat course.

 I didn't get off to the best start in the qualifying heat, missing the pack out of the 400m swim. This meant I head no choice but to put the gas down on the bike and blast it alone around the 9 tightly cornered laps of the 10km bike course. I pretty much caught the bike pack heading into T2 but with some awesome runners in the pack there was no time for easing off. I ended up fighting for 15th place (the final qualifying spot) and snatched it in the last 100m. I finished in 30.11mins.

The final was about 90mins later when I had to do it all over again! This time I had a much stronger swim and came out almost in contention with the group. However the smash up in round one had taken its toll on my legs and I never managed to quite bridge the gap. I finished in 15th after a close finish on the run with 13th place just 10seconds ahead, I didnt quite match my qualifiying time but given that I did both bike courses solo and personally prefer a much longer course I feel this was an encouraging result.

All in all a fantastic evening of top notch racing in an amazing atmosphere.

British Champs

 Hallelujah! Finally a result to make me smile. This year the Blenheim triathlon doubled up as the British Youth and Junior triathlon champs and I'm pleased to say I came 5th junior, 8th overall. After a bit of a bleak winter I was so pleased to be able to deliver a good performance when its really needed, in my first elite race of the year. As always it wasn't  perfect and there are several obvious areas for improvement.

 The swim was the usual brutal mash up but I managed to exit in a time I was pleased with, enabling me to make the chase pack out of T1. With Jodie Stimpson leading the front pack we had our work cut out and never really closed the gap. In my mind this was because despite being a decent sized group we couldn't get everyone to work together and it was left to just a few of us to tow the group around. I made a few hopeless attempts to get a breakaway but obviously need to learn how to crack this. I led the chase pack out of T2 but was quickly overtaken by Maddy Winzer and Sophia Saller. I was neck and neck with Emily Mcloughlin for most of the run but managed to pull away on the second lap to secure 5th Junior in a time of 1.10.55.

It was great to see Jodie Stimpson put her Olympic disappointment to one side to pull out another powerful performance, winning in a time of 1.06.12.

I managed to continue my form through the week with a strong performance at the Lotus cycle race league on Wednesday evening and then again on Saturday at the Fritton lake sprint triathlon which was the Eastern Region Junior championships. Fellow HPU race team member Connor Delaney and I took both the male and female titles. I came in with over a 7minute lead on the next women and chicked the entire male field except Connor who beat me by 4seconds! The women were set off first which meant I had the novel experience of leading out of the swim and throughout the race. Its good to know I can deliver after a tough week and I'm just loving being back on the race scene!

British Age group sprint triathlon champs

Started the season with the British sprint champs at Emberton Park. The first race is always a bit of a wake up call and Im glad to have it in the bag. There's nothing like racing to really give you a measure of where you are really at and what you need to do.

 I came 5th overall with a time of 1.06.30, 1min, 3seconds behind 1st place. My swim was slow, it was a real vicious mash up and my goggles where knocked off. I recovered to exit the water in second but I wasn't happy with my time. A quick T1 enabled me to grab a small lead heading out onto the bike which was a nice 1 lap loop in the undulating Buckinghamshire countryside. I put my head down but didn't seem to be able to really get into a good pace. I was caught by about 4 chasers about 1mile from the bike finish and we stayed in close contention heading into T2. I manage to open up another small lead through T2 but then really struggled to settle in to the first lap of the run. I was overtaken by 4 women on the first lap before I settled into a slightly quicker pace and manged to maintain my position.

It was an okayish result but really not where I wanted to be. There are some clear lessons to take away, most obviously about getting my run speed up.