DECember
Happy New year everyone! Hope you’ve had a
great Christmas and New year.
I started December with a training camp in
Club La Santa, Lanzarote. It’s a great place
to train, the weather was nice and sunny and
apart from being battered around by the
consistent wind which you always get in
Lanzarote, you couldn’t have asked for much
more at this time of year. It was a British
Tri camp, so nearly the whole team was
there, it was nice to train with different
athletes and I think everyone found the camp
really enjoyable. I got home a week before
Christmas which was perfect, plenty of time
to put up my Christmas tree and buy some
presents!
I had a really relaxing Christmas, training
continued as normal but it was quite easy as
we had just completed a hard two weeks in
Lanzarote. I ate my way through a lot of
Christmas chocolates and Christmas dinner,
so now its January it’s time to burn off all
the extra food I ate! I haven’t made any new
year resolutions this year, I usually do and
fail, so this year it’s keep on doing the
things I’m doing that have worked in 2011. I
finished the year with my best triathlon
season ever so ‘more of the same’ is the
resolution!
It’s exciting to finally be in the year
2012, I feel like I have been waiting for
this year for a long time. I’m looking
forward to the next few months
Helen x
November
I’m feeling a bit fitter at last! It take a
while to get back into the swing of training
but gradually I’m starting to feel a little
bit faster and everything feels a little bit
easier.
I recently went to visit an exhibition that
is touring around Wales called ‘Following
the Flame’, it celebrates all Welsh
Olympians from the very first Games up to
the present. I felt very honoured to be
included in the exhibition along with some
amazing athletes and it was so interesting
to see information about athletes I had
never heard of but were Gold medal winners
for Great Britain and also Welsh. The
exhibition is in my home town of Bridgend at
the moment and they have made it really
interactive and fun for local school
children. As an athlete I get wrapped up in
my own world of training, competing and I
see the Olympics as just a race, so going to
the exhibition and seeing kids go round made
me realise that although the Olympics is
about the racing and competing, the London
Olympics is also about the Olympic spirit
and inspiring young kids. There has been a
lot more sports development in my area since
London won the bid and hopefully that will
inspire and find the talented athletes of
the future.
I’m currently training quite hard and
looking forward to heading off to Lanzarote
with the British Tri team in a few days. It
will be a good break from the usual routine
of training and allows a focus purely on
training. Hopefully there will be some sun,
training in the sunshine is always nice for
a break from the usual grey skies!
Helen
October
I’ve had my end of season break now and I’m
back into training, all in the space of a
month! It was great to have some time off at
the end of the season it allows me to relax
forget about training and racing for a
while, I felt like a normal person whilst on
holiday. No worrying about finding the
closest swimming pool or if I could find
somewhere relatively traffic free to go
cycling. After my last race in Buffalo, USA
myself and my husband went to Boulder,
Colorado to see some friends. Boulder is a
famous place for endurance athletes and many
triathletes have made it home so it was
interesting to go and see what all the fuss
was about, it was a stunning place and I’d
definitely like to go back and train there.
After a few days in Colarado we headed to
the beach! We went to California for a few
days of surfing - I haven’t surfed that much
but improved on our trip – and then it was
on to Vegas for the last few days. I had a
great holiday but after being on the road
for almost a month with Beijing, Japan,
America it was a relief to get home and
catch up with friends and family.
So now its back into the hard work. Getting
fit feels unbelievably hard, you go from
being super fit to a twenty minute run
feeling like a marathon! My fitness is
coming back now and I’m enjoying the
training again. Next stop is Lanzarote in
December for a training camp with the
British team.
Helen x
September
It's finally the end of the season! The
triathlon season goes from early April until
September, but you can race all year if you
want to as there is always smaller races on.
This year I started racing in March in
Florida and just finished my last race in
America too.
After Lausanne World Sprint champs I had
moved to number one in the world series
rankings, so moving into the World series
final in Beijing I wanted to hold on to that
ranking position and win the world
championships. The world champs used to be
decided over one event but for the past
three years it is a points event where you
accumulate points through the year.
I was quite nervous going into Beijing, I
had bad memories from te Olympics where I
didn't perform well. It was really strange
to be back at the Olympic venue, nothing
much had changed! On race day I was very
motivated and inspired by the GB team. The
Under 23 men had swept the podium and the
Elite men's we had Gold and Silver in the
world championships. we had good
weather conditions, an I had a great start
in the swim, I lead the swim for about two
thirds of the race then my teammates Kerry
and Liz passed me and we exited the swim as
the first three athletes, on to the bike we
ended up in a group of 14 and everyone was
working really hard on the hilly course, our
hard work paid off and we gained a 2 minute
advantage on the chasing group which
contained lots of fast runners. I had a
shocking transition, my bike fell out of
it's rack and I had to pick it up or incur a
penalty, so I lost about 10 seconds messing
around in T2. I ran up to the leaders pretty
comfortably and myself and Andrea Hewitt
from new Zealand ran away from the other
girls. We ran together for the whole race
and she broke away from me in the last
kilometer and won the race, but my second
position was enough to win me the world
championship!! To be world champion again
was an amazing feeling! I still can't quite
believe it!
After Beijing the temptation was to stop
racing, but my focus is the Olympics next
year so I knew a few more races would just
extend the race season for a few more weeks
and make sure I had my break from training
at the best time. So I continued to Yokohama
in Japan to race. I finished 6th in very
humid conditions. The Japanese people were
so friendly and welcoming to all the
athletes and It was a relief to see blue sky
after a week in smoggy Beijing! I then had
one last race in Buffalo, America. The main
reason for me racing was to visit Niagara
falls! It's only 30 minutes from Buffalo.
The falls were amazing! The race less so! I
swam and biked really well, myself and my
good friend Laura Bennett broke away on the
bike and put four minutes into the rest of
the field! By the time we got to the run I
was pretty tired from the effort on the bike
and the previous two weeks of racing and
Laura just beat me for the win. So now I'm
on holiday! I'm still in America and will be
home soon, I'm looking forward to having
some time off at home!
Helen
AUGUST
If you have been reading any of my recent
blogs, all of them mention Hyde Park World
Champs Series, the race had been the main
goal of the season. It was the Olympic test
event and Olympic selection was at stake. I
had to finish on the podium to meet the
selection criteria, and I won!
I knew going into the race I had the
potential to win, my last two World Champs
series races had been silver medals and my
training had been going well, but triathlon
can be a bit of an unpredictable sport
sometimes. The week leading up to the race
didn't go well! I got a cold, it was nothing
major but I felt blocked up in the head and
had a headache for about 5 days, I was
annoyed with myself as I hadn't had a cold
all year and it seemed typical to get it
right before the main race of the year! I
tried to put it out of my mind and just did
really easy training all week.
On race morning I did my usual warm ups,
which were a little bit unusual as we were
told by the race directors it was
a wetsuit swim,
after being told all week it was not
wetsuits, so I put my wetsuit on headed to
swim warm up where we were told it was non
wetsuit again! This was 30 minutes before
the start of the race. So I did my warm up
and felt awful! I felt like I couldn't lift
my arms and came out of the warm up almost
in tears. I told myself to start and just
see what happens, nothing I could do about
feeling bad now!
The swim start is probably the most nerve
wracking part of the race, we line up on the
pontoon ready to dive in for about 5
minutes, it feels like the longest 5 minutes
ever. My swim was ok, it wasn't great but it
put me in the top 15 so that was fine,
although I did get a bit battered round the
first turn buoy.
The bike was one of the most tactical races
I'd ever been in, there was a big pack and
no one was willing to work hard, a lot of
athletes had Olympic selection at stake and
were quite cautious. I still didn't feel
great on the bike, usually I like to work
hard on the bike and take my turn but I
really felt like I couldn't push too hard as
my legs were hurting so much. I had a good
second transition and on to the run I was at
the front, usually I have to work my way
through at the start of the run. The run was
strange for me, I just ran as hard as I
could, I didn't look back I just ran!
Normally I feel a lot more aware of where
everyone else is, but the new Olympic run
course didn't have a huge amount of places
to see where the other girls were. At 7.5k
with one lap to go I had a 20 second gap, I
was suffering but knew I had to keep pushing
on, the last lap was probably the most
painful 8 and a half minutes I've ever run!
I saw an American girl in second when we did
the small out and back section and I knew
she was a strong runner so I had to keep
pushing to the line, I had so much support
on the run course people were shouting for
me and it lifted me in the last lap.
The whole of the last 600m I kept thinking
of the finish line as I could feel my legs
getting a bit wobbly! I didn't really enjoy
the finishing straight, I just wanted to get
over the line! It was such a relief to cross
the finish in First! My first World Champs
Series win! The crowd support was fantastic
and the stand was full by the end of our
race. I think all the British athletes
enjoyed the home crowd.
I then went on to Lausanne World Sprint
Champs, I had been feeling tired leading
into the race as Hyde Park had taken a lot
out of me! I was so happy to come away with
4th place in Lausanne as I made a break in
the swim and did half of the bike on my own,
it didn’t end up to be the best move
tactically but it was worth trying to make a
break. It also moved me up to number one in
the world rankings! The following day I took
part in the World Team Triathlon champs,
this event involves four athletes, two men
and two women, each athlete completes a mini
triathlon then passes on to the next
athlete. The British team of myself, Jodie
Stimpson and Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee
won! It was an amazing experience to race in
a team and was an exciting new format.
I now have one big race left, Beijing World
Champs Final on Sept 11th - I really want to
keep my number one ranking and end up World
Champion!
Helen
JULY
After all the racing last month, this has
been a quiet month! Pretty boring really,
all I have been doing is training, eating
and sleeping! I decided to miss the next
round of the World Championship series in
Hamburg as I really wanted to focus on Hyde
Park WCS, which is our first chance of
Olympic selection on August 6th. Its pretty
exciting as we are racing on the full
Olympic course, we are lucky a year out to
get the opportunity as shutting down roads
in London for triathletes probably isn’t the
easiest thing to do!
I did have a bit of excitement though, going
along to the Jones Lang LaSalle property
triathlon. I raced in the morning, sprint
distance so I had a good hit out. Eton has
changed so much since I first raced there as
a Junior years ago. There was a good turn
out (ie it was full) as usual from the
social and competitive surveyors
I didn’t go away this month for my training
block, the weather here has been pretty good
and I’ve done some lovely rides in the sun
up the local hills and valleys. I have had a
really good routine and nothing too much has
gone wrong! I had a weekend where I thought
I had overdone the training, I was very very
tired. I went for a run on a loop which
normally takes me about 55 minutes and it
took me 1 hour and 5 minutes! So I had to
ease up a bit on the training and get myself
back on track; it’s really easy when you
have a big race coming up to keep on pushing
the training, you always want to be
improving and can sometimes push too hard
and do too much, so I recovered for a few
days and felt back to normal again! I’m
looking forward to getting back to racing,
the training can become monotonous after a
while so it will be great to race. The next
race in Hyde Park kicks of a busy racing
block for me, I’m going to race the World
Sprint Champs in Lausanne and World Team
championships then off the WCS Final in
Beijing.
Helen x
JUNE
Lots of news
this month! I competed in two World Champs
Series races in Madrid and Kitzbuhel and
came second in both!
With having our World Championships as a
series where we accumulate points throughout
the season it means there is no easy races,
the top girls are at every event. So going
into Madrid I was not thinking about the
overall result but trying to concentrate on
the course which is a very tough one, with 8
laps on the bike with a big hill each lap. I
had a bad start to the swim and got a bit
beaten up, I swam through the field on the
second lap and as we turned the last turn
buoy I saw the lead group in front of me on
the swim with a gap to them! If I didn’t
make up the gap I could end up in the second
pack of riders on the bike, I swam as hard
as I could for the last 100m of the swim,
ran really hard through transition and made
the front group, after this effort I found
the first couple of laps on the bike hard
but got into it and then felt great and
pushed the pace on the bike. On to the run I
made a mistake in transition and was pretty
slow out on to the run, I eventually reeled
in the leaders and ran with another two
other athletes for almost the rest of the
run, on the last lap the Canadian athlete
Paula Findlay put in a surge and we pulled
away from the Kiwi Andrea Hewitt. I was
running as hard as I could to keep up with
Paula and she pulled away from me in the
last 300m. I was so pleased to be second as
Paula is World number one at the moment but
at the same time to be only 3 seconds behind
winning is hard! So close! I gave it
everything though and that’s all you can do
on the day.
Two weeks later was Kitzbuhel and I had felt
really tired from Madrid so wasn’t 100%
confident I could reproduce my form from
Madrid. For the first time this year I had a
good swim! I exited the lake in second place
20 seconds down on American athlete Sarah
Haskins and I then had a lead of 10 seconds
over the rest of the field. We quickly
joined up on the bike and worked hard to try
and put time into the chasing athletes. It
was great to be in a break with Sarah as she
is such a strong rider and we had a break in
Vancouver World Champs in 2008 when I won
Worlds, so I was thinking this is a good
omen! Unfortunately we got caught on lap
four of six. We put in a huge effort but the
girls in the chase pack were riding hard to
catch us. When we were caught it started
raining really heavily and then it hailed!
It got very cold quickly. So heading on to
the run I felt dreadful, I had put in a big
effort on the bike and my hamstrings and
calves felt very tight from the cold. They
loosened off and I started to feel better
and it ended up myself on Paula on the last
lap again. After coming so close in Madrid I
was determined not to let her get away from
me, I picked up the pace but again at the
end she was the stronger runner and pulled
away over the last few hundred meters. My
legs went and I couldn’t go any faster.
Again I was so close to winning but at the
same time second wasn’t too bad! I then had
a really easy week of training and a few
days off. And now it’s back into training
for my next race in Hyde Park. It’s on the
Olympic course and a chance to be nominated
for the Olympics (if I get on the podium),
so a big one! I’m looking forward to it but
at the same time nervous!
It’s going to be a busy few weeks of
training getting ready!
Helen x
MAY
After my bike
crash in Sydney I had to miss quite a bit of
training. I had almost two weeks without
swimming and very little running so I wasn't
feeling the most confident about my current
form.
I decided with Marc that I needed another
race before my next big one, the Madrid
World Champs series. I chose to compete in
Strathclyde Park Sprint Tri, which was the
first race of the British Super Series.
However, I quickly started regretting this
decision when I landed in Glasgow airport
the day before the race. It was howling
wind, rainy and pretty cold and the water
temperature in the lake we were swimming in
was said to be 13 degrees! On the day of the
race it was pretty much the same weather. I
was a bit worried about the conditions but
in the end it wasn't as bad as I thought.
The water was cold but manageable and the
sun actually did come out once I was on the
bike, but the run was horrific as it started
pouring with rain! Despite all this, I came
away with a win! I got away on the swim with
a junior athlete Lucy Hall. We worked
together on the bike and I had a good run,
managing to pull clear over the 5k. It was a
tough race and everyone who took part did
really well in the conditions. Huge thanks
also have to go out to all of the officials
and marshals who stood out in the conditions
to make the race possible.
I'm now back home preparing for Madrid,
expecting it to be a little warmer than
Scotland!
Helen x
APRIL
Unfortunately my race in Sydney didn't go to
plan as I was involved in a crash on the
bike….
The race started ok, but I picked the wrong
side of the pontoon to start on and had to
swim very wide on the first lap of the swim
so I came
out after one lap pretty far down the field.
I didn't panic and tried to swim through as
much as possible in the second lap. I got
myself back into contention and came out
about 14th.
On the bike I was comfortably in the front
pack, but my legs didn't feel great, very
achy and heavy. I took a turn at the front
and felt awful, so I made the decision to
sit back in the pack for a lap to let my
legs recover, but unfortunately this was a
mistake. I normally try to keep in the front
couple of riders out of trouble, but at that
point I was about mid pack next to the
barriers with no one in front of me. I was
about to move up nearer to the front when
I'm not sure what happened. I sensed the
movement of an athlete to the right of me
and then I hit the floor. I remember hitting
the floor thinking ‘that wasn't so bad', but
then felt other girls land on top of me!
I got up and tried to sort out my bike,
which was still in working order. A few
other girls couldn't continue as their bikes
were too damaged. I got back on and started
riding without really thinking. I missed the
second pack that came past and ended up
riding on my own for a bit then ended up in
the last pack of riders. As I was riding I
looked down at myself and I could see how
badly injured I was! I was thinking I should
stop but as I was on my bike and riding I
thought I may as well carry on.
I ended up with a really good run time, I
know it doesn't count as I finished in 33rd
position, but at least it gives me
confidence moving forward that my running
has been going well.
After that I travelled to Japan for a race,
which was on Ishigaki island, about 3 hrs
from mainland Japan. It was good to go and
support the Japanese people at this time and
we were a long way away from the Tsunami hit
areas. The people of Ishigaki are so
welcoming and supportive and I really wanted
to race but my injuries from Sydney were too
sore and my cuts became infected, so I had
to travel home. I missed about 10 days of
training which was very frustrating, but I
consider myself lucky I didn't break
anything.
I'm now back into full training and can't
wait to get back out racing in the next
World Champs series in Madrid
Helen x
March 2011
I'm feeling pretty lucky at the moment. I'm
writing from the Sunshine Coast in
Australia! I am getting ready for the first
World Champs Series of the year in Sydney. I
have spent quite a lot of time in this area
before and its perfect for my last few weeks
training before the first big race of the
year. There is a great 50m pool close by, a
good cycling group which have really been
testing my legs! And there is a national
park close which I have been doing a lot of
running in, also spotting the local
wildlife, a lizard crossed my path the other
day and it was almost a meter long. Normally
they scurry out of the way pretty quick but
this guy looked at me and slowly walked
across the path! He was like a mini
dinosaur, I ran a bit faster for the rest of
my run after the shock!
My final preparation before coming out for
this training camp was a Sprint race in
Florida which I wanted to use to blow the
cobwebs away after winter training. I had a
really enjoyable trip to Clermont, I won the
race and had a fun few days with the GB guys
who also travelled out to race. The race was
pretty hard as it is a short distance and
full on all the way but I felt good and won
by a comfortable margin in the end. The day
after the race myself and the GB athletes
had a 'holiday day'. It started with a long
run but then it was pancakes for breakfast,
a day in a water park and some shopping at
the outlet Mall, it was probably more tiring
than the race!
So the race is only a week away, my training
has been going well but I have learnt not to
expect too much from myself in the first
races. I tend to get faster as the season
goes on but I'm hoping to put in a solid
performance in Sydney! so fingers crossed!
Helen
February 2011
I’m heading off to my first race soon! It is
great to have a focus away from all the
training and reminds you why you are doing
all of the training! I’m off to Clermont,
Florida for my first race of the year. It’s
a Sprint distance, which is half of the
Olympic distance, so a bit of an easier
route back into racing.
The first race of the year is always a shock
to the system so I’m hoping that the Sprint
distance, being half the time, although
probably more intense, will be fun! After
this trip I’m going to be heading to
Australia for a few weeks training before
the first bigger race of the year the Sydney
World Champs Series. I’m excited to start
racing again but not expecting too much from
my first few races, I always seem to start
the season quite slow and get better as the
races progress, that doesn’t make my nerves
any less for the first races.
Other than training I haven’t been up to
much. I have had a few days with some of my
sponsors over the past few weeks and spent a
day at the TCR show and did a question and
answer session. I was quite relieved that
lots of people showed up to ask me some
questions! I really enjoyed the day and
enjoyed my run around and down the Thames,
it’s nice to run somewhere new and I didn’t
get lost thankfully!
For the next few days it’s about getting my
last few days solid training before heading
off to Florida!
Helen
January
2011
Winter miles = summer smiles!’ That is what
fellow British Elite triathlete Tim Don
tells me! And that is the plan at the
moment, just getting the good consistent
winter training in and hoping all the miles
pay off in the summer at the big races! It
can be boring at this time of year, race
season still feels quite a long way off, I
set myself small goals through the month or
week to keep a good focus and not let
training slack off. I hope to do a few
running races and cross country races soon
too, this will help break up the training.
I have escaped to La Santa, Lanzarote again,
avoiding the British weather. It has been
hot here and windy as usual. The pool can
get a little cold though. Marc joined us
after his successful trip to South America
but until then Kerry and Vanessa were my
training buddies.
I have been dealing with a niggly knee for a
few months; I have been training at full
volume but haven’t wanted to risk putting my
knee through a race yet. With the help of
the staff at the Welsh Institute of Sport,
my physio Dan, strength and conditioning
coach Martin and British tri Doctor and
physio my knee seems to be on the mend and
hopefully I’ll be able to do a few running
races soon. I’m really lucky to have a great
team of people behind me to help keep me in
one piece!
Helen x