After another month training with the team on the Sunshine Coast and a quick trip to Koh Samui I have made it back to Canberra for a little recovery before the build up continues for the rest of the season.
Our camp in Mooloolaba was great, there was about a dozen athletes there and after the first two weeks we had some reasonable weather to get through some good training. I stayed with Dave and Caroline while I was there so I got to see their final preparations leading into both Melbourne and Koh Samui and learn from that. Dave finished 5th in Melbourne and won Koh Samui while Caroline won both!
Hopefully some of their success rubs off on me!
I'm sure most people have read the blogs from Koh Samui so I wont go into much of that. The highlights were Dave and Caroline won the race and Carrie finished second in what was an extremely hot and humid race. Congratulations!
I finished 5th but was bumped back to 6th with a penalty I could write another blog about.
I've attached a youtube video link of the race below.
Samui Triathlon 2012
So now I am back in Canberra for a little while, my trip to Europe will be a little later this year as we are waiting for baby no.2 around the start of July. If all goes well I should be heading over some time after that. Its the latest I have stayed back in Canberra for a few years so as winter gets closer I am really feeling the cold weather. Its such a contrast after being on the sunshine coast and Koh Samui to come back to some cold weather. We have already had one sub zero morning and some miserable days.
Next race on the agenda will be Ironman Cairns on the 3rd of June which will probably be my last race in oz until next season. I'm hoping to put a good race together there before some more major races in Europe.
Aaron.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
World Champ Camp
Part of the deal when you train under Sutto is if you win a world championship you get a training camp in your backyard as a reward for your success.
This year was Caroline's year after winning the ITU Long distance worlds back in 2010, so we've set up camp on the not so sunny, Sunshine Coast at Mooloolaba.( Carolines adopted home!)
I arrived 13 days ago in preparation for three long course races in the next few months starting with Koh Samui in mid April.
Possibly the worst time I could have arrived! The usual perfect sunshine coast was anything but! I almost never saw the sun for the first eight days it rained so much, ending last Thursday with one of the biggest falls I have witnessed. We had 400mm of rain in one day causing flash flooding throughout the town, I attached a clip below showing what the rain was like the whole day.
Luckily it doesn't get to cold up here and the rain is almost insignificant. Training goes on as normal.
It seems like the results are speaking for themselves with some awsome racing over the past weekend both in Ironman Melbourne and the ITU World cup.I'll let the other athletes expand on their results over the week.
About half our team are here at the moment with some of the Swiss national kids. Our new additions for 2012 have been welcomed and finding their place in the team while we have been grinding out some solid training.
If all goes well most of us will be here until mid April when we start splitting off to our separate races all around the place.
My mindset before I came up here was that Mooloolaba would be a really tough place to train but it has been great. We have heaps of riding options, if we head inland there are some awesome rides through the hills or along the coast for some flatter easy rides.
The pool we use is immaculate and hasn't been open for long, so basically brand new with very few people using it. Perfect for us.
Hopefully the weather stays like it has been the last couple of days and we see just how nice the Sunshine Coast is!
We are already looking ahead for who in the team might be the next world champion and where we might be heading next. I think it might be a little while before I get the team back out to the farm at Peak Hill but it would be funny!
There has been talk of South Africa next year.
Would be nice but unlikely. If Caroline can keep racing like she is I reckon we might be right back here again in another twelve months doing exactly what we are doing now!
Cheers, Aaron.
This year was Caroline's year after winning the ITU Long distance worlds back in 2010, so we've set up camp on the not so sunny, Sunshine Coast at Mooloolaba.( Carolines adopted home!)
I arrived 13 days ago in preparation for three long course races in the next few months starting with Koh Samui in mid April.
Possibly the worst time I could have arrived! The usual perfect sunshine coast was anything but! I almost never saw the sun for the first eight days it rained so much, ending last Thursday with one of the biggest falls I have witnessed. We had 400mm of rain in one day causing flash flooding throughout the town, I attached a clip below showing what the rain was like the whole day.
It seems like the results are speaking for themselves with some awsome racing over the past weekend both in Ironman Melbourne and the ITU World cup.I'll let the other athletes expand on their results over the week.
About half our team are here at the moment with some of the Swiss national kids. Our new additions for 2012 have been welcomed and finding their place in the team while we have been grinding out some solid training.
If all goes well most of us will be here until mid April when we start splitting off to our separate races all around the place.
My mindset before I came up here was that Mooloolaba would be a really tough place to train but it has been great. We have heaps of riding options, if we head inland there are some awesome rides through the hills or along the coast for some flatter easy rides.
The pool we use is immaculate and hasn't been open for long, so basically brand new with very few people using it. Perfect for us.
Hopefully the weather stays like it has been the last couple of days and we see just how nice the Sunshine Coast is!
We are already looking ahead for who in the team might be the next world champion and where we might be heading next. I think it might be a little while before I get the team back out to the farm at Peak Hill but it would be funny!
There has been talk of South Africa next year.
Would be nice but unlikely. If Caroline can keep racing like she is I reckon we might be right back here again in another twelve months doing exactly what we are doing now!
Cheers, Aaron.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Race wrap- Ironman NZ
Originally the race was set to take place on Saturday, though on Friday afternoon the race organisers were left with no choice but to cancel the event as weather warnings rang out over most of New Zealand. And Taupo braced itself for some cyclonic conditions, with winds predicted to gust up to 140km/h!
I rode on Friday morning when the winds were around 60km/h and almost got blown off my bike, so I was a little worried things were going to turn bad at that stage.
Everyone was called into a briefing on Friday evening and updated about the situation. We were told to collect our bikes and if the weather was alright on Sunday the race would go ahead as a 70.3 (Half Ironman).
Luckily the weather cleared for a race start on Sunday morning and we were able to get into it.
It was a bit of a cold start with the air temp around 5 degrees and the water temp claimed to be 15. That didn't really worry me and I got off to a good start exiting the water with the lead pack. All the players were around me including Cam Brown, Merino Vohnacker, Terrenzo Bozzone and Tim Reed.
There was only one guy in front of us all and that was Marko Albert, a great swimmer that had opened a 90 second gap.
Once on the bike we headed through a few little hills in the town and onto a reasonably flat course for the next 80km. Being so flat it was hard for anyone in our group to break away from the pack, although a few attempts were made we rolled back into T2 as the same group that headed out with the inclusion of Marko who we had caught at the 50km mark. It was going to be a running race!
I hit the run quite stiff through my lower back and took a couple of km to get into a decent stride but by that time I had lost more than a minute to Tim Reed, another Australian who was absolutely tearing along in the lead then Terrenzo, Cam and Merino all had spaced themselves out on the road in front of me.
As the race went on it seemed like Cam and Merino got stronger. Tim led the race until about 17km before being caught by Merino, and Cam ran into third place. I was caught by Romain Guillume with about 4km to go and had to settle for 5th place.
My trip to New Zealand was certainly an experience. It wasn't an Ironman like I had planned but I am extremely grateful that the race was able to go ahead as a shortened version and we were all able to have a race.
 | |||
| Hukka Falls in Taupo |
After this I am back home for a few days before heading up to our team camp on the Sunshine Coast later in the month preparing for whatever may be next.
Cheers, Aaron.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Taupo. Oh-ooooh
Got some wild weather heading our way for Ironman New Zealand this weekend and there is talk of possibly turning it into a bike run again.
This is the forecast I got a few minutes ago.
This is the forecast I got a few minutes ago.
Today
Thursday 1 Fine and cloudy periods. Cool southwesterlies, strong and gusty.
Issued: 4:43pm 1 Mar
Tomorrow
Friday 2 Fine at first but becoming cloudy during the day and some rain developing by evening. Southwesterlies easing, and tending northerly at night.
Issued: 4:43pm 1 Mar
Saturday 3
Morning rain, briefly heavy, easing to a few showers.Strong northerlies turning strong gusty southwest, gale gusting 110 km/h in exposed places.
Issued: 2:09pm 1 Mar
Yes the race is on Saturday when they are predicting 110km/h winds... Could be interesting!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
2012 Ready to rock!
With the start of 2012 we welcome some new blood into the team for what is going to be a huge year.
Most of the new athletes we have trained with previously or known in some way and I’m excited to be joining them on the team this year. As Brett has said the athletes have been chosen because they are tough, willing to work hard and have shown ability rather than just having raw potential.
One of my most memorable moments last year was when I went to Thailand to meet the rest of the team and sponsors. One of the days was a cruise around some islands and some photos for the sponsors, at some point we were all sat down as a group and were told that the critics didnt think the athletes in the team were any good and we were not going to get any results. I remember Sutto said ” This happens every year, and every year we prove them wrong”
And we did! Though looking back at the new members in the team last year I can see it from the critics side, it was a huge gamble. New to the team we had Mary Beth, Dave Dellow, Dan, Dianna, Christian, George, Felicity and myself among others. None of us really had any great results.
Dave had been plagued with injury for years, got some solid results but never able to train long enough to reach his full potential- By the end of 2011 he won the biggest race in Australia at Noosa raced 2 Irondistance races and had a list of great results in some of the toughest races, without injury.
Mary Beth had taken the Ironman world by storm with three wins in the space of two months, after looking like she might have been washed up before joining the team.
Dianna went from battling for top 10 results to fighting for podiums at every race she attended.
And I had my best year by far winning my first Ironman tittle and some other solid results in the UK and Europe.
We look forward to what Bella,Mathias, Carrie, Matt, Ali and the Hairy man from Gran-Canaria Bayliss have got up their sleeves for this year.
The season starts for us as a team mostly around Australia/Oceania from January through until about May with a Camp on the Sunshine Coast and lots of races here and there before the Aussie winter kicks in and we head back to Switzerland for the European season and off coarse the big dance in Hawaii.
Look out for us around the races!
Cheers, Aaron.
Most of the new athletes we have trained with previously or known in some way and I’m excited to be joining them on the team this year. As Brett has said the athletes have been chosen because they are tough, willing to work hard and have shown ability rather than just having raw potential.
One of my most memorable moments last year was when I went to Thailand to meet the rest of the team and sponsors. One of the days was a cruise around some islands and some photos for the sponsors, at some point we were all sat down as a group and were told that the critics didnt think the athletes in the team were any good and we were not going to get any results. I remember Sutto said ” This happens every year, and every year we prove them wrong”
The talk!
Dave had been plagued with injury for years, got some solid results but never able to train long enough to reach his full potential- By the end of 2011 he won the biggest race in Australia at Noosa raced 2 Irondistance races and had a list of great results in some of the toughest races, without injury.
Mary Beth had taken the Ironman world by storm with three wins in the space of two months, after looking like she might have been washed up before joining the team.
Dianna went from battling for top 10 results to fighting for podiums at every race she attended.
And I had my best year by far winning my first Ironman tittle and some other solid results in the UK and Europe.
The big fella wins Noosa!
The season starts for us as a team mostly around Australia/Oceania from January through until about May with a Camp on the Sunshine Coast and lots of races here and there before the Aussie winter kicks in and we head back to Switzerland for the European season and off coarse the big dance in Hawaii.
Look out for us around the races!
Cheers, Aaron.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
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.
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
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
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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.
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.
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