It has been a while between posts and so much has happened since winning the 70.3 in Canberra last year.

I had an amazing break over Christmas and New Year, mentally and physically ready to prepare for the 2012 season. My health was back to normal and I felt strong.

Starting back into routine is always hard after having a break, but I was enjoying what felt like ’starting all over again’.

I was in my 8th day of training and I was doing an easy run in an old pair of shoes. Within 40 minutes though I had what felt like a cramping pain near my ankle so I stopped to stretch it out.

It felt ok so I started to run again. The pain got worse. I didn’t want to do more damage so I walked home.

I have had stress fractures before and I thought that it could possibly be another. I made an appointment to see Ross McNeill who gave me a treatment.

It did hurt, but at the end of the treatment, my leg had more range of motion. He referred me to a physiotherapist who checked it out, and she said it was Peronial Longus Tendonitis.

She told me how to treat it and what exercise I should be doing and within 2 weeks I could walk without a limp.

I have been swimming and cycling back to normal for a week and I am itching to race.

I decided to do the 25km Time Trial in Calga on the weekend to try to break the record. I still hold the 43km Time Trial record that I set in 2007.

In other news, Daniel Roberts – my manager – has been very busy connecting me with new sponsors for 2012.

I will be back at full speed soon and intend to race my first triathlon of this year in March.

6^th Place

This was my first time racing in the spectacular South Island of New Zealand so Bern and I decided to make a holiday of the journey and took an extra week off work to travel around after the race.  We had an amazing week travelling to Queenstown, the truly mind-blowing Milford Sound, and then down the West Coast to Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers where we did some beautiful walks and chilled out after the race ..

Unfortunately we weren’t lucky enough to have conditions like these on race day, but you can see just how beautiful Wanaka is J

Wanaka is part of the beautiful Southern Lakes district in New Zealand’s South Island and Challenge Wanaka has a reputation for being one of the most scenic iron distance triathlons in the world, and believe me it certainly exceeds expectations!  Whilst the lake can be between 13-18 degrees, it is so clear that you are not afraid to take a gulp of the water.  The 180km one loop bike course whilst challenging, takes you through the full spectrum of amazing New Zealand scenery – alpine lakes, snow capped mountains, pine forests and beautiful farm lands.  The run is also one of the most scenic in the world.  Around 75 percent of the course is on hard packed trails along Lake Wanaka and the winding River Clutha.  The course is simply stunning, but I would have to say that looks can be deceiving as it was also the hardest iron distance race that I have ever done!

I knew it was going to be a challenging course but the strong winds and bumpy dead roads made it so much more difficult than I had imagined.  It was choppy for the swim and then the wind just built throughout the day and was really full on by the time we were out running. I really admire the slower athletes who pushed through an extremely tough day.

My swim was exactly what I was hoping for.  I didn’t get off to a great start but I don’t think anyone did as the start gun went off without a warning.  I felt really comfortable though and sat in a small group, coming out of the water with a couple of pro guys and in the lead with Gina Crawford.  I took awhile to get moving on the bike (as with it being 8 degrees I opted to put arm warmers on), so Gina got away up the road.  I was quite cautious not to push things early on as I knew it was going to be a tough long day and was surprised at the pace that some of the other girls were putting into the early stages of the bike to catch me.  I honestly thought they would blow up later in the race but they didn’t.  A few of the girls were working together which definitely ended up being in their favour.  Previous ITU athlete Julia Grant was storming along when she caught me at around 20km into the bike. Tamsyn Hayes and Candice Hammond were riding strong and got up to me at around 50kms.  The girls were working together which was tactically very smart.  I rode with them for a while but dropped off the pace which cost me precious time and was definitely the move which ended my chances for the podium.  I felt like I took the bike quite conservatively until the 110km mark at Cromwell which was where I had been told that the race really starts, as the last 70km of the bike leg is straight into a headwind and some sketchy crosswinds in sections.  Being a 1 loop course it was pretty lonely, so I was lucky to be able to pace off one of the lead age group guys for some of the way back which helped me to keep moving in those terrible winds! I think the kiwis are a lot more used to that kind of wind and the bumpy dead roads, which really took their toll on me and a lot of the other Australians.  I hit the run and I was told that I was about 17minutes down off Gina but I had faith that I had a strong marathon so I was confident I could make up some lost ground.  Unfortunately I only picked up one place on the run with 10km to go as the other girls all ran really strong.  That was a slow marathon for me but I just didn’t have anything left in the tank to go any harder.  My hat goes off to the Kiwi and German girls who were a very strong force to be up against.  The conditions did not favour my strengths as I would have preferred a hot day with no wind but that’s NZ for you!  It was so great to see such a strong calibre of girls racing, which made for an exciting women’s race.  There are not many races where you finish 6th female and yet 20^th overall, which really shows the depth of the girls. Whilst my day didn’t play out as well as I had hoped, it’s always these tough races that make you stronger and really appreciate the challenge of ironman racing.

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Heading out for lap 2 of the marathon  (photo courtesy of Melissa Urie)

Thank you to Victoria Murray-Orr, Felix and the rest of the Challenge family for making both Bern and I feel so welcome in beautiful Wanaka and for putting on such a wonderful event. Thanks to my coaches Chris and Bruce, husband Bern, my family, and all my amazing friends for your continued belief in me.  As always a huge thanks to my incredible sponsors for your continued support: Shimano, Trek, Scody, Nashys Pix, High 5 Sports Nutrition, Blue Seventy, Newton, Oakley, Turramurra Cyclery, Foot Levellers and Dan from DTR Sports Management. 

Looking forward to an exciting 2012!

Stay safe and keep smiling,

Nic J

Already 10 days into the New Year, and I am back into the swing

of things in Falls Creek, Victoria. I went home for a couple of weeks

during Christmas which was a lot of fun. Christmas is the one time of the

year our family manage to all get together, and this year we had over 20

people over! It was a fun and busy few days, however I am glad to be

back into the normality and serenity that is Falls Creek.

We are here for another 3 weeks, and the focus is again on running,

however this time we have brought our bikes and will be doing a little bit

of riding. We are still swimming 4 times a week down the mountain at

Mount Beauty, and apparently we will be doing a couple of open water

sessions in the lake here in Falls! We’ve been promised snow by the

end of the week, that’s something a little bit different!

We were lucky enough to have Greg Cox, who is a sports dietician at the

AIS, stay with us for a few days here. It was awesome to be able to have

individual feedback and also to have the opportunity to ask any

questions I had that cropped up during the day (which are a lot!). Greg

also gave us a few cooking lessons that took into consideration the time

& money limitations that athletes tend to have.

I am also very excited to say that I will be again riding a Giant TCR

Advanced W this year. I picked up my new 2012 model last week and it

is beautiful! I have already done a couple of rides in it and I can’t wait to

start racing on it. The women’s specific model fits perfectly and is so

comfortable.

My first race of 2012 will be Kinloch ITU Continental Cup on the 5th of

February. There is still a lot of work to do, but I can’t wait to start racing

again! 2012 is a new year.

Thanks for all your support,

 Hey All,

What a great start to the season. I have listed below a summary of my results.

Summary of Results this Season:

2nd Elite Female Victorian Championship Duathlon @ Richmond

1st Elite Female Ballarat Multisport Triathlon (Olympic Distance)

4th Elite Female XOSIZE Triathlon @ Brighton (Sprint Distance)

2nd Elite Female Gatorade Triathlon @ St Kilda (Sprint Distance)

1st overall female (including elite and age groupers) @ Coomealla Multisport National Series Race (Sprint Distance)

2nd Elite open water swim @ Coomealla Multisport (750m)

1st (20-24 female) & 4th overall Female @ Canberra National Series Race (Olympic Distance)

Everything is looking great and on track. I am right on path with these seasons’ goals of winning both National series (Sprint and Olympic distance) and getting as many podiums as possible in Elite races. With 2/2 wins in the National Series my ultimate goal of qualifying and winning a World Championship in New Zealand next year is looking positive.

The support and guidance from Daniel Robert (DTR Sports Management) and my sponsors has been awesome. I have been able to perform at the highest level knowing that I have full confidence in the products, equipment and nutrition that I am using. Thank you all very much.

Up-Coming Races in January/February:

-Gatorade Triathlon @ Brighton (Sprint Distance): Elite

-Australian Championships @ Canberra (sprint Distance): Age group

-Victorian Championships @ Sandringham (Olympic Distance): Elite

-National Series Race @ Geelong (Olympic Distance): Age group

-Victorian Championships @ Sandringham (Sprint Distance): Elite

Kind Regards,

Lyndal Dew.

Ten days ago my wife Tarryn, son Oscar and I ventured west to a quaint little town called Busselton to race the annual Western Australian Ironman. This is a great event and continues to get better with help from the continued efforts of WTC who run the event, but mostly because of the culture created by a bunch of quirky tri geeks (myself included) and the beauty of Geographe bay. We are all there to achieve a common goal and that is to place ourselves well and truly out of our comfort zone and take the challenge of getting the absolute best out of ourselves under massive duress.

1600+ participants took the plunge into Geographe bay, some there to try and win the race, some qualify for kona, some beat a personal best, or just hear those sacred words “you are an ironman”. I was there to achieve a top five or better finish. I had trained for this, it is a realistic goal and to cut a long story short I didn’t achieve it. I finished 9th in a time of 8.54 and was out of the race after the bike ride. I swam average, started the bike well but tried to stay with a bunch of guys who were far better than me on the day and I paid the price of risking too much early. I was beaten physically and perhaps later on mentally finishing the last 60km at an effort that wouldn’t even suffice for an easy training ride. I suffered despite feeling like I was doing everything within my power to ride at my goal pace. (Would I do this again? The short answer is yes! In order get what I expect out of myself I have to take risks, push myself to the brink and get through the other side, but to do this I need to develop my cycling further.) I then went about trying to salvage the race with a decent run. I did this until about the 30km mark, when the wheels fell of and my pace slowed significantly. My day in a nutshell swim 53min, bike 4hr57min, run 2nd 59min total 8hr 54min.

Now this brings me to the point of my blog, I had access to the best equipment through my fantastic sponsors, Trek bikes, Champion system clothing, Saucony runners, Ryders eyewear, Winners sports nutrition, Cecil Walker cycles and Nashypix. I had exceptional support from my awesome wife Tarryn, coach Kristian Mannietta, manager Dan from DTR. At the end of the day nothing was left to chance and I couldn’t deliver my expectations on race day. It is now time to look at the whole process, analyse my performance with honesty and integrity, then do what is required to achieve what I know is possible.

You may be thinking I am being hard on myself but I must add that I am exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to race ironman, I still embraced the day and in 10+ years I will look back at all my Ironman performances and be proud. I still immensely enjoyed crossing the finish line, the sound of my 20 month old son yelling “Go Dad” at the top of his lungs, seeing my wife each lap of the bike and run, the joy of being introduced to the start line as a pro, burger and chips post race and the camaraderie amongst fellow athletes pre/post race. I still enjoyed hurting myself, pushing myself and wanting to give up. We had a great 9 days in WA and I cherish every moment I get to travel and race.

Driving to the airport on the way home I was listening to ABC national (showing my age) and the lead singer of Gotye was being interviewed. A week or so earlier I had watched what I thought was a great performance ‘live’ at the Aria music awards from Gotye. I was even imagining how good it must feel to be able to belt out a tune like that at the top of your lungs having your fans, peers etc looking on in ore. In his interview he spoke of how humbling that performance was, he found it incredibly difficult in such a big venue (he was not used to performing in such massive spaces). He listened to the performance the next day and was ‘embarrassed by what he knew was a poor performance’. Despite me the tone death musical enthusiast thinking it was incredible. He was objective and spoke of having a lot of work to do as an artist to be able to handle gigs in such venues. This reminded me of my feelings on the race a few days earlier. Several of my friends, family and colleagues could not understand how I could not be satisfied with my performance. Top 10, sub 9, sub 3hr marathon, “your kidding that’s awesome”. My good mate Beau Miles even dedicated a space on his blog to what he described as a “laypersons take on elite performance” http://www.beaumilesfilm.com/blog.php . I am grateful for the experience and am grateful for anyone of those around me who might be inspired by not only my performance but my dedication to the process. For me however, the minute I am satisfied with repeating the same performance over and over (my last four ironman’s I have finished within a 4min window), stop challenging myself and ultimately tell myself to be content with a performance I know I can do a lot better than is the minute I should find a new challenge. Plus at the end of the day I just love to Swim, Bike and Run.

Yesterday I competed in my final race for 2011 at the Canberra 70.3.  It’s been a big year and as my major goal race at the moment is Challenge Wanaka in January, my focus was to get out and race strong from start to finish but enjoy the day, without placing too many expectations on myself.  Whether it’s a goal race or not though, when I get on that start line I always fire up and give it my best on the day!  The forecast was not great but the rain at least managed to hold off until after we were out of the water and about 5 minutes into the bike leg, when the downpour began.  I didn’t feel flash in the swim and came out in 2^nd place, but with 3 of the other girls hot on my heels.  It was a pretty long run out of the water and my transition was slow, so unfortunately I lost touch with the others when we hit the road. It was at about 20km that I finally started to feel good.  Something clicked and I felt fantastic for the rest of the bike and I got faster and stronger with each lap.  I hit the run leg in 4^th place and had 2 minutes to make up to put myself on the podium.  I felt really strong on the run and I made the pass into 3^rd at around the 14km mark.  In the end it was a great hit out and another successful podium finish, to give me confidence that my training is all on track for the New Year and my major races to come in 2012.  

It was fantastic to have so much support at the event; Blue Seventy, Newton, High 5, and DTR Sports management, thanks for your support on course.  Cycling legend, Michelle Ferris from Shimano, was not only there but was also competing in her first ever 70.3 event- congratulations Michelle on an amazing effort! It was also special to share the day with so many of my training buddies, many of them competing in their first 70.3 event.  I absolutely loved my new custom race kit, which was so comfortable and was a real hit, thanks to Scody.

Thank you to each of you for your invaluable support in 2011 to ensure that I have the best products in the market and all the support that I need to succeed in my triathlon journey.  Without my sponsors (Shimano, Trek, Nashys Pix, High 5 Sports Nutrition, Blue Seventy, Newton, Oakley, Turramurra Cyclery, Foot Levellers) and such a strong support crew (Energy Link Coaching, DTR Sports Management, Narelle Simpson Swim School, Bay Chiropractic, SJF Massage, The Body Coach and of course my husband Bern and my family), I would not be able to follow my dreams and achieve results.  I am thoroughly grateful for the investment that you all make in me and I look forward to continuing to share my journey again with you all in 2012.

Take care and all the best for a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Nic x

www.nicolewardtri.com