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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

From Wagga to Busselton


Last weekend I headed out to a small race in Wagga, regional NSW to get a race in my legs before Ironman Busselton this weekend. It was just a short trip from Canberra and a mid morning, Saturday start helped make it a relaxed weekend. It was great to go to a race just turning up an hour before, putting the bike in transition, warming up and waiting for the gun, not worrying about prolonged race briefings and whether or not you bike will still be there in the morning.
The distance was very similar to the race I had in Alpe Du' Huez earlier in the year 2km Swim/ 120 bike/20km run, only the weather was a little better and we didnt have to climb a mountain to finish the bike!
I took the lead in the swim and headed out onto the bike solo with 35km/h winds and a couple of storms ensuring our day on the bike wasn't to easy. It was the first time I had used the Campagnolo disc and after that all I can say is that it was amazing. At one point I had a huge tail wind behind me and I looked down at the speedo to see  that I was sitting on 65km/h on the flat!
By the time I got to t2 I had close to a 20minute lead back to the rest of the field which was great, that meant there was every chance I was going to win, but that wasn't the reason I was there. I still wanted to put a good run together after a hard bike. I went out pretty solid into a huge headwind by that time and ran well, over the 20km.
At the end of the day I achieved what I wanted from the race. I won and I was able to have a good solid race before Ironman this weekend.
If your interested the results are on the link below:
http://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/RaceTecResults/Results.aspx?CId=1&RId=623&EId=8

Tomorrow I head over to Busselton for Ironman. It will be a new experience racing the distance over a flat course and its going to be a tough race with some really good guys on the start list. I am recovering well from the last race and looking forward to this weekend!
Will let you know how it goes.

Aaron.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Trip North


It was a bit delayed but last week we headed up to far North Queensland for our "Honeymoon" and a chance to check out an interesting part of the world neither of us had seen before.
We spent our time in a small coastal town called Port Douglas which is about 60km away from Cairns and where Challenge has expanded with its first Australian race.
 
On a very flexable schedule we got to see most of the major attractions from the surrounding areas including a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, a cruise along the Daintree river, a swim at Mossman Gorge, trip to a crocodile farm and a spot of fishing. (I did catch some good fish!)



We had a great time up there and left feeling refreshed and fulfilled that we made the right choice for our break.
The people were friendly, it wasn't over crowded and the countryside was just amazing. After this experience I am definitely going to make the trip back there again and have penciled Challenge Cairns on the calendar.
Trying to fit training into a trip away like that was quite a juggle but I managed to get something done everyday and came back ready to rip into a few good weeks of preparation before Busselton so we'll see how that goes!

Aaron.