The day before the race, Wollongong hosted elite racing with many categories including para, juniors and senior ITU athletes. It was quite spectacular to watch, although the weather was far from ideal. I find it inspiring, although I didn’t sleep terribly well. Race morning I was in quite a good headspace though, and was excited to race. It’s been sometime since I’ve felt this way about a race. I was quietly confident I could string together a solid performance, but whether it would be enough to win.. with an Aussie AG title up for grabs I was keen to give it a crack! Swim Leg They starte ..read more

It’s been a long time since I did a sprint, about a year. However, I wanted world championship qualification points towards the mixed team relay being held next year in Wollongong. The night before the race the weather was terrible, heavy rains and lots of flash flooding made travel quite dangerous. My family and I stayed at my in-laws place, which meant we avoided the worst of the weather, however, we all had terrible sleep or maybe should say not much sleep at all! I got up nice and early to get to the Regatta Centre with plenty of time only to find out the race start was delayed. It happe ..read more

I was up at 3:30am, it was always going to be an early start when I had an hour drive to the race venue. My amazing wife travelled down to support me, and we arrived at Husky at 5:10am. Plenty of time to get sorted and ready to race. I even had time to do a short swim warmup before the professional race started. Swim Leg I was the third person into the water for the 30-39 AG rolling start. Straight away I managed to bridge to the lead two, and sat on one of their feet almost to the first buoy. I felt them slow far too much and went around to pick up the pace. I couldn’t find any good fe ..read more

I was quite relaxed leading into the Hobart 70.3. Although, training had been going well I’d been travelling + had some sickness in the weeks prior. I wasn’t as fit as I might have been otherwise, but on the upside I wasn’t really fatigued either. My focus was on getting a good training stimulus and seeing where my current fitness was at. No expectations, and no limits on what I was ‘supposed’ to achieve. I arrived Thursday before the event, which was a nice change from the usual arriving the day before. However, the weather had me a little anxious as I really struggled riding the course wit ..read more

Just after a storm passed, I drove to Canberra Friday evening with the family. The weather wasn’t looking good for the weekend, but although I was a little worried about bike safety, I was committed to racing. Saturday morning I got up and did my pre-race spin/run in light rain, and then the weather started to improve! At registration and bike check-in the weather looked great, until a heavy rain shower hit, but the forecast for race day was now sunny. Mentally I felt a little different than usual about this race. After absolutely smashing all expectations (and myself) at Western Sydney 70.3 ..read more

The day before the race during my pre-race spin and run, my shins were quite sore during the run. It had me quite worried, but I tried not to dwell on it and just prayed it would be okay on race day. I’m not a morning person. I hate early starts, yet I woke up before my alarm at 4:15 am race morning. I always try to organise as much as possible the night before to remove any thought process when I’m still sleepy. I mindlessly ate and prepared bottles etc. and it was then time to hop in the car and drive to the race venue. I arrived, signed in, racked my bike, and did my final prep. It’s amaz ..read more

Alp D’Huez is a bucket list triathlon to be sure. I arrived in Alp D’Huez the day before the race and picked up my rental bike. The biggest thing about the event is the spectacular scenery. Race morning started with setting up my run kit in T2, before riding (mostly descend) for 35mins to the swim start to setup T1. The ride was helpful to get more comfortable with the rental bike, and I also made a friend from Poland named Daniel I got setup and met my family before the race start. It was then time to hop into the freezing water for the mass start. My head hurt as I swam out into the fjord ..read more

I did this event last year in Canberra and it was the coldest race I’d ever competed in. It can be tricky packing the right gear when racing away from home, but this time round I was better prepared. 2 x base layers, arm warmers, gloves, tights, toe covers, and my tri suit. I woke to -3C temperatures and decent frost. I rode my bike to the start area, got set up and headed out for a 20min run in a tracksuit to warm up. I got back from my run for briefing and then it was time to line up and prepare to start. Run Leg 1 The pace was hot right from the start. Although I was focused on controll ..read more

Race morning. I arrived at the start area a touch after 5:30 am, giving myself over an hour to get set up and ready before the race started. I felt surprisingly relaxed, probably because my fitness wasn’t as good as it’s been, and I knew I could only do my best on the day. Whether that was enough or not I’d no idea, but a top 5 finish was the goal and I looked forward to having some battles to get the best out of myself. Swim Leg I made sure to get near the front of the swim start, and saw a face I knew, James lining up. Wished him luck and we lined up for the rolling start. Before I kn ..read more

I’m often out training somewhere and mostly solo. However, Ive really embraced podcasts as a way to learn something while training and also to be entertained. As such earbuds are an essential bit of kit when I’m heading out the door. The problem that plagues wireless earbuds is falling off, particularly when running fast. It’s even more frustrating on a bike and losing an earbud from hitting a small bump as you fly down a hill. So I started to investigate solutions, step up Earshots. Earshots Earbuds Specifications What’s Included? Left Earshot Right Earshot Charge Case USB-C Charge Cord ..read more