Wanaka Wrap

Sometimes you get a good result without a good performance and sometimes you perform well but don’t get the result your after.. Well Challenge Wanaka was both for me. I finally put together a complete race that I was happy with and came across the line first.

After a long tough windy day I crossed the line 10 minutes ahead of second place Jamie Whyte then Kieren Doe both from New Zealand. I barely had enough energy to stand and my body was aching all over but I couldn’t have been happier at that point, it was all over and I was the new champion.
After hearing about Wanaka for the past few years I decided this was the year to have a crack. From what I heard it was a tough course. Windy and hilly over rough roads and a fair chance of some cold weather- very similar to the races I went well at in the UK just a few months earlier.
I wasn’t disappointed. My first two days there the wind was almost strong enough to blow me over and it was pretty cold. What I didn’t even think of was the amazing snow capped mountains that surrounded us and provided a perfect backdrop for the race coverage that was beamed right across the world on Saturday. That really was amazing.

view from a walking trail just outside our house

I knew that if the wind continued as strong as it was, I wouldn’t be allowed to use my disc and I didnt have a spare wheel. So I organised a backup from the bikeshop that was going to be running a shimano cluster on a Campagnolo groupset. Not the perfect situation, I just hoped it didnt come to that.
As it turned out, the day was alot calmer to begin with and the technical officials decided it was safe enough to race on the disc. I have learnt my lesson for next year! When the gun went on Saturday morning I immediately tried to go with the two swimmers who were expected to easily lead out, I thought I was swimming quite well and if I could go with the leaders I might be able to open a good lead on the rest of the field straight away. That didn’t go to plan and both Kieren and Bryan opened a gap back to me then another gap back to the rest of the field.
I still wasn’t in a bad position. Two and a half minutes down on the leaders and about 40 seconds back to the rest of the field. My plan was to go solo and to my surprise after my first time check at 30km I was shutting the gap rapidly and increasing the distance to the guys behind. I was now 1.30 behind and could see the leaders on straight stretches of road. Pretty soon I was right behind them, Bryan blew a tyre and Kieren was clearly struggling to hang in there.
Kieren and I rode together until about the 150km mark when he must have gone through a bad patch and I came into the second transition with a slight 2min lead on him, another minute back to Jamie whyte then the rest of the field chasing behind there.
The 42km was a tough run with some exposed windy trails and lots of little ups and downs. For me it was just a matter of getting enough energy into my body to hold a constant speed and avoiding cramping. I hit a low spot for a few km around 21-25km but managed to get it back together and have a good run and stay in front of a chasing field.
It was quite satisfying to get it right and be able to race the entire race instead of simply getting through it. Even though I won IM UK last year I didn’t feel I performed as well as I could have, whereas after this race I was totally satisfied with my performance and as a bonus I got the win.
A massive thanks to the Challenge guys for putting on such a great event, my homestay Jonh and Jen from Wednesday until Monday for being so accommodating, everyone from Wanaka who helped in the event and my supporters and sposnors.
Its races like this that make the hard work worth it!
Cheers, Aaron

Head to the hills

Happy new year to everyone! Its been a while since my last blog so there has been many things happen.
Busselton didn't go as well as I had planned and I finished 5th. Enough to get a few more points towards Hawaii but not up on the podium which I was aiming for.
After that I headed home and spent the next week in our backyard. Mum and Dad came to help and within the week we had transformed our crappy old backyard into quite a nice living area. We made a new fence, laid all new grass removed all the overgrown plants and done a bit of concreting.
Then it was back into some light training and recovery before Christmas.
This year we spent Christmas with Danielle's side of the family in Canberra and we got to show off our new backyard with a family Christmas brunch at our place. Once again by the end of the day we were all so full of food that we never wanted to eat again.
As usual I have headed up to Thredbo for what has become our annual training camp over the new year period this time with Dave Dellow and Caroline Steffen. We arrived here on the 27th of Dec and I'll be here until I leave for Challenge Wanaka on the 17th of Jan.
This year has been alot colder than the previous years in the mountains but we are getting some solid training done and are all looking forward to the year ahead.
I am still deciding on many of the races I'll be doing in the new year but will definitely be starting with Challenge Wanaka in a few weeks time.
I have heard alot about how tough this race is and I'm really looking forward to the Challenge.
Wanaka is just a little town about 60km away from Queenstown and a scenic backdrop for one of the biggest races in New Zealand.
With another couple of weeks preparation I should be in good enough shape to give it a good shot if I dont get bitten by one of the snakes up here or attacked by a herd of wild brumbies!

Cheers, Aaron.
 

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.

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.

 

Settling back in

It been a hectic couple of weeks since getting back to Australia catching up on things that I've missed over the past few months away, now having to juggle training with work and family but things are getting back track now and I will be ready for my first major race at Busselton in December.
If I manage to finish well there it will earn me points towards qualifying for Kona 2012 which I am still undecided if I want to compete in but the best case scenario will be to have enough points to qualify and be able to choose myself mid next year if I want to make the rather expensive journey to the biggest race of the year without the pressure of doing races for points late next year.
After the big race last weekend it has given me a bit more inspiration to compete. Watching the Aussies go so well was great to see but at the same time once again I saw some great athletes have average races finishing outside of the top ten and wasting a hell of a lot of money.

Aaron

End of the road

Another week and another race report- this time from Challenge Henley in the UK.
After Ironman Wales I made my way over to Henley midweek and started preparations for one of the "Challenge" series new events.
After a few races over here this year I have learn t that there is always going to be two common factors in the United Kingdom  1. Bad weather 2. Terrible roads
I had accepted that before the race had started  so there was no surprise that I was almost vibrated off my bike in the pouring rain several times during the race.
What was a surprise though was the atmosphere of the race and the lengths that the organisers went to, to make sure the athletes had the best day possible and were looked after.
As with anything for the first time there will be alot of things to change or improve but for their first event I thought it was great and am hoping that I will be able to get back next year.

As far as the race went, I finished third and put some more experience in the memory bank for the next race.
From the swim start Steve Bayliss and I broke away.  Steve did all the navigating following the lead canoe through some thick fog at the front while I tried to follow his feet and just hang on.
Getting out of the water we had close to a 7 minute lead to the next group of pro guys which is totally unheard of, Steve and I didnt know what had happened to them but went about trying to extend that lead during the three lap 180km ride and managed to push it out to about 10minutes at one point on the second lap.
On the last lap I tried to open it out even further and started to push a bit harder for the last 50km which broke Steve and I apart but the others now in a 5 man group also had the same idea and I hit transition with a couple of minutes to Steve then about 5 minutes to the group.
400m into the run as I went past the first aid station I started vomiting everywhere, I'm still not exactly sure why but I managed to get running again and some nutrition into my stomach but had started to lose alot of time. I hung onto the lead for the first two laps of four to make up the 42km but was passed shortly after by the eventual race winner and second.
I still thought it might be possible to get some form back over the last 10km and catch up with them so fought on as best as I could, running with Steve for a good part of it and finishing about a minute behind second and two minutes behind the winner.

I was planning on staying on in Europe for another couple of weeks before Challenge Barcelona on the 2nd of October but after a quick chat to Brett and a good think about it have decided to head back to Oz later this week to have some recovery time and start to prepare for the Australian season later in the year.

Ironman Wales

Coming into long course racing I didnt think I would be in another sprint finish again but that was exactly where I found myself last weekend. After leading most of the race and getting off the bike with close to a 10 minute lead I crossed my fingers that I could hold on for the 42.2 km run. Frustratingly I was caught with 200m left before the finish and had to settle for second.
Anyway this was the first time that Ironman had been to Wales and the locals were so friendly and accommodating that I hope it will return for many years to come even if the weather was terrible! I have included a photo from our swim start at 6.30 in the morning where the crowd was lining the streets.
The swim was a rough ocean swim and I exited about a minute behind the leaders which consisted of a group of three including one of the local boys which got the crowd excited. Onto the bike we were hammered by strong winds and a very tough course. My garmin said it was close to 2500 verticle metres over the 180km! And I caught up to the leaders at about the 50km mark and soon after started to open a bit of a gap which turned into near 10 minutes when I got off the bike and began the marathon.
I started running pretty well and thoughts of my second IM win started to entertain me, but pretty soon I really began to struggle and at the 30km mark I was hardly moving faster than walking pace just trying to make it to the next aid station, once I made it there I got as much energy as I needed and soon got back into a good pace. But after such a bad period I had lost most of my lead and the gap was down to about a minute with 5km to go.
From there it was a footrace to the finish line and we were both flying. Unfortunately with about 200m to go I was caught and all my efforts to get to the line first were smashed.
Although that was a bit frustrating I had a great weekend and met alot of interesting people. Now I am preparing for challenge Henley this weekend and hopefully another solid result.

Aaron.