Back Home from Australia

Things are getting back to 'normal.' I was out this morning at 3am in the lovely, brisk rain attempting to shield Bella as she searched for the perfect place to do her early morning 'potty time'. The rain was coming down so heavily that I wondered if she might need to doggie paddle across the puddles in the yard. After a failed attempt to go back to sleep, I settled in and worked on reading one of my raising puppy books. It's been several days since I returned from Australia and I haven't quite re-acclimmated time wise. Fortuneately things are mellow and I am allowing myself a brief respite from training. Not unlike a pre-Ironman taper, I seem to be feeling every ache and pain. It was so bad this morning that I was very, very tempted to head out for a long run. Those temptations were short lived as Zola and Bella began to frantically vie for my atttention. Today we worked on sitting inside a circle (in the center of a hula hoop), shake, sit and wait, up on hind legs and other general commands. Lots of treats and praise were given!

In between the dog training, taking care of the cats and watching our every expanding population of fish (at least two groups of 10 or so guppy babies and 10-15 platys!), I've started to think a bit about 2007, my goals and racing with great anticipation. Closing out 2006 with two unplanned major races was a double edged sword. I had a rough go of the first race, the ITU Long Course World Championships. The race was on 11/19 in Canberra. Canberra is on the east coast of Australia and south of Sydney. My week leading up to race day was a bit on the rough side. I really don't know why, but small irrirations and bumps in the road rattled me quite a bit. My body was rebelling and mentally the stars were not aligning. I had some terrific help from Katie and John from USA Triathlon as well as from Jack of the famed Jack and Adam's Bicycles of Austin, TX. (Thanks Jack!)
Still when race day arrived the demons were flying and that made for a long day. The biggest accomplishment for me was staying with the race to the very end. I finished 19th after struggling with back and knee pain through 100% of the swim and bike. I was unable to turn the cranks the pain was so bad and was relegated to spinning when I should have been flying up, over and down the awesome hilly and technical 130km bike course.
Experience is experience and proves invaluable. And certainly once again, a less than perfect race is no indicator of the outcome of the next race.

Unlike the lead in to Canberra, my two weeks prior to Ironman Western Australia were fun, positive and I felt quite settled. I was welcomed into the home of fellow athlete, Louisa Stefanou and by the local Bussellton community. Thanks Lou!
When race day came, I felt at peace with my body and what I had to work with. I swam 7 minutes faster over the slightly shorter 3.8km course (vs worlds 4km) and rode a 5:15 bike. I was pretty pleased with the bike considering that including a completely unplanned stop at special needs to retrieve my bottles when a volunteer began removing them from my bag.
5:15 is a PR and I am confident a sub 5hr bike is well within my reach. I finished in 13th place in 10:43 which matched my '03 IM debut time and was an hour better than my performance at both Ironman Hawaii '05 and Ironman Canada '05.

Now I a enjoying a brief respite from training while I prepare to work with my coaching clients in 2007. Of course I'll be spending a lot of time having fun training Bella and Zola - they will be two well behaved chihuahuas! In another post I will share my non-race highlights of my trip to Australia.

In the meantime, enjoy the early December days and the anticipation of the holidays.
As always, many thanks to my team of sponsors and supporters: Dr Jung, Van Pounds at Pro Gold, Blue Competition Cycles, Jason and the gang at Jagwire, Julie, Scott and Chris at oomph!, Powerbar, Craig and the crew at Cane Creek, Coach Phil and so many more folks who make it happen for me.
:) Rachel