The “DItch” is the slang term for the Tasman Sea, the 1340 mile expanse of ocean that separates Australia from its cousin New Zealand to the east, or Kiwi’s as we call them.

Last weekend Ali and I flew across the Ditch to Auckland, then drove via Tauranga and Rotorua to Lake Taupo, the picturesque location of Ironman New Zealand, the longest running Ironman in the world after Hawaii.

The trip had originally been planned for Ali to compete in IM NZ, but after several viruses in quick succession Ali’s coach sensibly pulled the plug, and she will now focus on IM Coeur d’Alene in June.

With everything in place to go over, it was a daunting task to “unscramble” the omelet, not the least was Ali’s brother Tony who had for months been planning and looking forward to “relieving” our summer responsibilities where we caretake a ski lodge at Thredbo, Australia’s premier ski resort.  Thredbo provides good altitude training, hills/mountains, and a first class Olympic pool not 100 yards from where we live.  What is does lack is the heat and humidity that we love at home in Darwin.

We decided to head across the Ditch anyway, and do a detailed reconnaissance of the course for competing there in 2011,  and squeeze in a bit of Ironman spectating and cheering.

The drive to/from Auckland (around 3 1/2 hours) is through bucolic New Zealand countryside, mainly sheep and dairy, with some dramatic mountain backdrops.  In the distance behind Lake Taupo is Mt Ruapehu, an active volcano that occasionally reminds locals that they live on a tectonic plate boundary.  Fortunately the earth did not move for us during our visit, thank goodness.

Rotorua is famous for its thermal activity, and whilst we did not actually visit any of the theme parks/geysers, we came across bubbling mud and steaming hot springs in many places downtown, where it is fenced off to save the unwary from themselves.  Just the stuff of an everyday run around Rotorua.

There was an excellent IM Expo at Taupo, and we met and talked with Peter Buckleigh, better known as Mr Timex New Zealand, and his enthusiastic sales people.  He warmly welcomed his antipodean Team Timex members, and was keenly interested in my favourite toys, the Timex Global Trainer (on the right arm) and my Timex WS4 Expedition (on the left arm).

Ali, of course, was cowering silently in embarrassment to one side, partly because she is so very shy, but also because she was actually married to this anthropoid who walked around with a huge watch/computer on each arm.  It was nice being part of the Timex world family.

The Expo also led us to Aquanaut New Zealand, the distributors of Aqua Sphere products in this patch.  We borrowed several wetties (Oz slang for wetsuits) and tried them out in Lake Taupo.  Very soft and comfortable, giving lots of shoulder flexibility, and really easy to get on and off.  And Lake Taupo has pristine clear water, drinkable I am told, so no need to carry drinks on the swim!

The race outcome is now history, with Cam Brown posting a record 9th win in a row in his hometown race.  He trailed slightly off the bike, but his beautiful running style quickly took him to the lead and he never looked back.  We shared a high-five as he turned into the finishing shute.  Well done Cam!

We also cheered a number of fellow-Darwinites, who revelled in the cool conditions, and other friends whom we know on the Ironman circuit, in particular Kate Bevilaqua (Perth, Western Australia), with whom we were staying.  Kate had a day from hell, but toughed it out to the very end.

No report on IM NZ would be complete without recognising Event Manager Janette Blyth (whom we call “Big Bird” - after the NZ Kiwi, which is a small bird).  Big Bird always has a huge cheeky smile on her face, is always full of bubbling enthusiasm and energy, and has that happy knack of always being everywhere all the time, helping everyone in any way possible. (Photo coming)  IM NZ was very well organised.  We would recommend IM NZ as a really nice race to do.

We are looking forward to returning and competing in IM NZ next year.

I am so excited to write about my first ever snow shoe race!  For the past couple of years, I have wanted to try this but didn’t have snow shoes to just drop in whenever.  So for Christmas, the big box under the tree… was a pair of running snow shoes! 

I registered for the Beaver Creek Snow Shoe Series which is the largest snow shoe series in the world!  It is about a 2 hour drive from Denver.  Well, registering was the easy part.  I needed to get my running shoes mounted and the person I found to do this was at Pedal Power in Vail.  So I trekked up there 5 days before the race to get my shoes mounted.  I had planned on trying them out afterward, but I wasn’t able too because of the mounting process.  I thought oh well, I guess I’ll be trying them out on race day!

Race day came and as I was packing up to head out, I mentioned to my Sister and Bro-in-law, “Don’t try anything new on race day!” as I chuckled.  I had yet to be on these snow shoes let alone attempt running in them.  After heading over to Beaver Creek, I got my number and got over to the start.  I started about 1/3 of the way back as to not get in the way of anyone “more experienced”!  The gun blew and we were off.  It took me about 2 miles to get comfortable in my shoes… to the point where at some times, I looked down just to make sure they were still on my feet!  These Northern Lites Elite Racers are amazing! The thought kept crossing my mind.. this is like the mountain biking of running!  I loved it!!!  My lungs felt like they were going to explode then my legs would feel like they were going to collapse; just a darn good workout!! 

I was about 4 miles into the race when a 13 yr veteran of the series, Tom Moorhead, turned around and yelled at me.. “Is anyone behind you?” I said that I thought so… and he said “Nope, I think we took a wrong turn… we are heading back in”.  I thought, there is no way!  I saw the blue flags and arrows.  He stopped, came back past me, and was confident we had headed the wrong direction.  Well, honestly, at this point, having never been to this resort, I had NO IDEA where I was or even where I needed to go.  I figured I better follow! Sure enough, Tom had figured out where we had made the error and we were back on track.  I must say, the wind was taken out of my sails a bit.  I couldn’t eat my frozen power bar and for my first time out… it was turning into a long adventure.

When I finally crossed the finishline, I had logged 7.25 miles running in snow shoes with 1,864 elevation gain for my first Snow Shoe race.. (yes, they had a 5k race too but I didn’t feel that was long enough).  I was sooo happy to be finished and am so excited to PR my next race!! ;-) 

I am hooked! Get out there and try something new! www.tristafrancis.com

Enjoy your training =)

This is WAY overdue, so I’ll (unusually) keep it brief!

Challenge Barcelona is an ironman distance race and was held for the first time this year in the first weekend of October. And it ROCKED! With a deep European pro field, and a flattish but windy bike course, this was going to be a lot of fun.

The swim was steady and pleasant. A bit of time out of the pool due to injuries from Trans Rockies hadn’t been the end of the world: rib was absolutely fine on race day, and ankle flexibility returning well. As ever, the Aquasphere wetsuit was a joy to swim in and easy to get off in T1, so I have no excuse to explain how I spent nearly 3 minutes in transition, except to say that the volunteers were very friendly! I’d managed to finally work out what was up with the bike at IMUK, and having fixed the brake/dodgy tire side wall combo (with a rather overdramatic but well timed ‘BANG’ at the doorway to the CMR bike shop a few days earlier), the Trek TTX was riding like a dream again. The aid station drinks were a little weak, and there was no evidence of coke, so I was riding a little light on calories and caffeine free, but put in a solid 4:46 split. Into my Newtons and onto the run (again caffeine free!) I put in a 40min 10km on the first loop, but then started to slow up a little… 42 mins on the second, I’ll not go into the next two - needless to say, I had to walk a couple of aid stations towards the end to get in food and fluids and ended up finishing a little disappointed at being a couple of minutes over my 3 hour marathon ceiling.

8:53 put me 19^th in the pro race (over 40 MPROs), but its good to be consistently seeing solid times again. Other pleasing things about the race: I got over my issues with two piece tri kit - the Sugoi two piece fits me perfectly so no tan belt/burn at the end of the day J ; Octoberfest tent was right next to transition… perfect planning from the organisers!

Thanks to Chris and Wookie (and Carli) for being great travel partners!

Next up: IMArizona!

This was my first trip to the Big Island and it lived up to everything I imagined, both good and bad :)  I had high expectations for myself going into this race, but since I had never been there or experienced ‘Madame Pele’ I tried not to think too much about time goals.  I was lucky enough to get out to Kona 11 days before the race to get used to the weather, scope out the course, and get comfortable.  I’ll get right into the report:

 Pre-race:  Woke up at 4:30am, ate bowl of oatmeal and i was out the door w/my special needs bags.   I put up my thumb to hitch-hike my way to race start and (luckily) was picked up after a few min by a pickup truck.  Got to the start with plenty of time to check out my bike, top off the tires and relax a little.  As usual I felt fairly calm before the race and was ready to get started on a good long day of suffering.  I ran into some friends and Timex teammates before the race which was very comforting considering the huge crowd.

Swim:  BRUTAL!  The start was crazy and the first half was actually dangerous!  I think I must have started a bit to far to the inside because whenever we came to an orange bouy I was smushed between like 20 bodies trying to fit through the same 3ft space.  I was at 32 min at the turn around and thankfully found a good line of people for a fairly easy ride back to transition with only minor bouts of nausea.  Time: 1:01

Bike:  I was excited to get this ride over with:)  I knew I would be okay once I was off the bike, so I just had to be steady and not go crazy.  It was exciting leaving transition and it was going well…my legs felt real fresh.  I got out onto the Queen K Highway for maybe 1 mile and ‘pssssshhhhhh’ FLAT TIRE!!!???? What?  Alright, I thought, no big deal.  I had practiced for this kind of thing just the day before the race, but as you may have read in Eric’s blog about this, I somehow managed to break the valve stem.  I just stood there for a bit, waving down anything that looked like race support, and eventually one came (12min total lost from time of flat).  For some reason I wasn’t really upset or anything and just went with it.  I had a little snack and some drink while convincing the race support guy to just throw on another wheel rather than screw around changing the tubular.  He put the wheel on and I was off; cruising away witha crappy front wheel with a SWEEEET blue tire :) and no more computer.   It was actually nice not having a computer.  I know my body well and going by feeling and perceived exertion have always worked well for me….sometimes having the data messes with that.   So the ride went by fairly quickly, I was usually grabbing 2 water bottles and 1 gatorade about every aid station.  One full water went on my body and I drank the other.  I only ate POWERBAR gels and POWERBAR gel Blasts (awesome!).   I noticed the wind, but didn’t dwell on it.  I kept my effort consistent and just kept picking people off.  I figured I had no idea how fast I was going, but if I was passing people I couldn’t be going too slow :)  Bike came to a close before I knew it and I was sooo happy with how it went.  I came close to my goal of 5:30, so no complaints.  Time: 5:39

Run:  I dismounted the bike with a little discomfort and walked through most of transition to try and give my legs a chance to get ready to run.  And after a couple minutes, I was off.  I heard from enough people to be careful not to go out too quick the first few miles, so I was cautious not to go crazy here.  With all of the people and excitement it would’ve been easy to go faster, but I’m glad I held back.  The splits for my first few miles were right on and I made a little plan for the day to try and keep it under 8 min miles for as long as I could (and maybe even the whole marathon).  I was smiling and having fun for all of Ali’i drive and was mentally preparing to keep it going for the Queen K.  I was passing alot of people and trying to keep my spirits up by talking and saying good job to everyone.  Soon I started to wonder ‘Where is my half way bag?’  Of course i should have figured out before the race that we don’t see the special needs food bag until mile 18!!  By mile 15 I was sick of Coke and jonesin’ for my Red Bull!  Miles 15-18 heading to the energy lab was a tough section for me…not close enough to the end to think about it and far enough into it to be hurt (I was over 8 minute miles at this point for sure).  I even got the the point where I started saying ‘one foot in front of the other’….it eventually worked and soon I was at the Energy lab turn around!  I grabbed 2 cups of Ice, got my food bag, and poured that delious energy drink into the ice.  Red Bull does crazy things to me, and I think part of it is mental, but I don’t really care because it works.  I chugged as much as I could and decided it was time to pick it up and push it into the finish.  I hadn’t just trained all year to bite the dust.  At this point I could no longer say good job to anyone because I was doing all I could to make it to the end.  Thoughout the run I walked every aid station and took in a mix on water, gatorade, ice and coke.  I think I ate 2 bags of the POWERBAR energy blasts and MAYBE 3 gels and a bite of bannana.  I was litterally running on caffiene and sugar…but I didn’t want a relapse of my HORRIBLE stomach sickness at Ironman Wisconsin in 2008 so I was steering clear of too many solid foods.  Anyhow…all in all the run went well and I managed to bring the last mile home in 6:51.        Time: 3:28  

Overall time: 10:17.58,  10th Amature, 40th woman overall, 4th in agegroup (25-29)

This was by far the toughest race I have ever done and for sure the hardest I have pushed myself.  It was fun, painful, awesome and an even better experience than I could have hoped for.  I am so thankful to my friends, family, and sponsors (Team TIMEX, Aquasphere, Trek, Elements Massage and Powerbar) for allowing me to be involved in this crazy sport and do what I love.   As always, I can’t wait until the next race :)

So I have gotten behind on my blogs over the past month and I’m working on catching up on race reports.

The Waupaca Triathlon is a small sprint race held in Waupaca, Wisconsin. This is my second time racing at this event. Friends of mine, Gerrard and Julie have a lake house nearby, so we make a weekend out of the race every year.

800 yard SWIM: The day began with perfect weather, clear blue sky and barely any wind. I raced in the elite wave, which they combined men and women. There were only about 30 people in this wave. We began with a gun shot and I was off with the lead guy swimmers. Half way out to the first buoy I was cut off by one swimmer and in turn lost the two lead guys. I continued around the first buoy and finished the second half of the swim between two male swimmers, swimming neck and neck. I ended up ahead of them out of the water, first woman and thrid overall. I passed one of the guys running up to transition putting me in second out of Transition 1.

20 mile BIKE: Just outside of transition the remaining guy ahead of me fell off his bike (I later found out the cleat on his pedal broke). After calling to him to ensure he was ok, I took off on the bike. I felt good and enjoyed following only the motorcycle for the first 5 miles. At mile 5 I was passed back by the biker that fell, he had somewhat fixed his pedal. I continued on, keeping up with the lead guys, a few more passed me on the bike. There were a few hills and false flats but nothing too steep to climb. My average speed was fairly decent for me. I entered into Transition 2 tenth overall and the first female.

5 kilometer RUN: I took off on the run, knowing it was only a 5k I tried to pick up speed for the shorter distance. We ran through neighborhoods with spectators and volunteers cheering us on.  I passed back one of the guys that had passed me on the bike. I ended up 9th place overall and the 1st place female by about 5 minutes.

After the race we went back to Gerrard and Julie’s house for a day filled with boating, tubing and celebrating.

Followed by a nap in the sun.

On Sunday I took advantage of the hills in the area and went on a 100 mile bike ride to prepare for my upcoming Ironman.