What a holiday..!

Well I'm happy to say for the first time in a while I actually went on holiday after the end of the Series .

Normally, after the last race of the season, I'm happy to head home  and catch up with friends for a bit of socializing etc ... however it's always the time of year when everyone seems busy with studies or work and I hardly end up socializing at all .

This year  I joined Al and Jonny and a few other friends on a trip after La Baule . Heading south down through France .. camping in the Ardeche and also a  wonderful  4 days in Rome .. Amazing to say the least !
It was great to forget about tri for a while , relax and enjoy ourselves.

After 2 weeks travelling we returned back to Leeds and the past week I have gotten back into a little bit of training .

Thursday I stayed in London and was grateful for the chance to see Rhianna " live"  at the O2 . 

Friday I boarded the long flight back home to Aus . Sad to leave but looking forward to seeing my family and friends after 5 months overseas .  6 weeks home to soak up the heat !

Back in Aus for  training and  the  Olympic Shadow squad Camp to be held on the Gold Coast  in November. 


Hopefully  I may catch up with some of you at Noosa?                                            


Cheers

Flicka

Back to Europe ..

I've been to Beijing twice before but neither time have I ventured out to experience the famous Great Wall . What great fun ! Can proudly say that was my workout for the day ...

Then spent the night in Beijing city at the Hyatt Hotel .  Very luxurious ! After a bit of' "recovery" and chill out in the jacuzi and 60 m indoor tropical pool, we set off for another walk .

Ventured into the "real'" Chinatown and down to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City . Then back in time for a traditional Chinese dinner with the famous Peking duck . May have went over board on the duck skin but only in china ;)  yum yum.

An early start and farewell to the parents and  I'm on my way back to UK . A few days of relaxed travel to La Baule on the west coast of France for the French Grand Prix final this Saturday . Its the first time this year I get to actually race for Team Parthenay and I am  looking forward to it .

Cheers,
Flicka

World Champs Grand Final Beijing

Phew! Glad that's over but enjoyed every moment of the build up and the race !  I love racing and more importantly I'm proud to represent my country and to wear green and gold .. I feel ever so lucky !

I finished 13 th yesterday in the Grand Final race of the World Champs Series . My second best of the season . Disappointed I missed the front group,  but pleased with dual fastest run split of the day :)   
I know the year isn't quite over yet and I'm still yet to probably race a few  races in late Oct/Nov  but I feel I have to thank everyone who has supported me through this 2011 WCS  . Its very much appreciated and doesnt go unoticed at all . Most of to all to my parents who made the trip over to watch and do anything to make my  life as easy as possible with what I do . I know I have much more left to achieve but couldn't be where I am right now if it wasn't for my coach Brett sutton . Your advice has been invaluable . Thank you :)
Thank you also to the AIS , to my team  Team TBB and main sponsor 2XU .

Ok I'm off to explore some of Beijing . Might  hurt a little I'm quite tired and getting sorer by the hr ! I'm sure a late night party doesn't help either ;)

Cheers,
Flicka

Bye Bye Leysin ..Hello London ... .then "finally" Beijing !

Early Tuesday am I  departed my Swiss home in Leysin . It's been over 3 month since I arrived there in May and  I have loved every moment .

Who knew it would be such  a long journey .. the joys of travelling !  My flight from Geneva was delayed a very very long time ... which consequently meant I missed my connecting flight to Beijing. The rescheduled flight was  24 hours later  - and meant that I got to spend a whole extra day in an airport hotel with no luggage , or training gear! Luckily the sofitel hotel was brilliant and meals were all taken care of . It just meant I only arrived in Beijing on Thursday afternoon , after no training for 3 days and on a completely different time zone . It  didnt really bother me at all  -I  just get frustrated from boredom more than anything and just felt tired from doing nothing ! I didn't mind doing no training  - as I've always run well off rest and went I went for my first short jog after 4 days on Friday morning my legs felt  fresh  ( not a common feeling !)

It's Saturday and I race tomorrow at 1.30pm . I've just returned from watching the men's  race in the cold and rain but wouldnt miss it and of course it was great to watch Ali win in style again . Also gives me a few excited nerves for my race .  

Ok time to chill out and rest up more :)
Flicka

Lausanne

I love this place ! I have  some great memories from 2006 when I won Bronze in my  2nd Elite  World  Champs . I came 5th last year and so was excited to be back in Lausanne !

I placed 10 th . I was happy with the running form returning finally -  as I was in 6th place till the last little straight . But this time I was actually able to hang on for longer than usual ! So that was a positive!

Short train trip home to Leysin and back into it before I fly out to Beijing in a few weeks time .
Flicks

London

 Well , I can't say I'm happy with my race here in London on Saturday.
Training the last few weeks had been good and I was disappointed .
An 8 am race meant a cooler start but still no wetsuit . I made the stupid mistake of not warming up in my wetsuit and by race start I was  literally shivering  my @#*! off  on the start line . Cold body , crappy swim , couldn't get moving = not a great race start .  I was left with a lot of catching up to do on the bike and by the last lap had just caught the leaders . Obviously still not fit and strong enough to run my best off a hard bike , I ran on to finish 22nd in a very competive field.

Of course it's not all over yet in terms of Olympic selection . None of the Aussies have automatically qualified yet . We have Beijing WCS final in 5 weeks time with an opportunity  to step up and perform .
I 'm now heading north up to Yorkshire for a few weeks training before returning back to Switzerland to race Lausanne world sprint champs and spend my last few weeks in Leysin and Team TBB camp for the year .

Flicks

Hamburg WCS Race


After a restful 5 or so weeks and a bit of a hit out at Kitzbuhel race , I was feeling a lot better and ready to put a good solid block in before the next WCS race in Hamburg .


I'd done some good and positive sessions with training partner Nic Spirig . Brett didn't exactly ease me up for the race as more importantly I have London WCS race in 3 weeks on next years Olympic course and set up .

For the first time in a while I made front pack in the swim . I stayed at the front during the bike , probably doing a lot more work than I should have but I felt good and wanted a strong hard race . With not so fresh legs, I hopped off the bike and ran solidly but not my best -  and finished up 16 th .

So now after 5 days in hamburg I'm back in my swiss home, Leysin  and looking forward to what seems to be the most important race of this years series ..  London :)

Flicks

So I have just arrived home ( yes I’m caling it home because I really love this place ) back to Leysin after 6 days away  . Last Thursday I took the journey to the gorgeous ski town of kitzbuhel in Austria for the 3rd round of the Dextro WCS series .  It would be fair to say that in all reality I was nowhere ready to raceafter the last 5-6 weeks of interruption and very limited training . However I’m not one for missing out on opportunities and even If I wasn’t fit I still felt well enough to line up on the start line , plus  I  just love to race .

A long days travel of a train , plane and a bus trip got our team aus there in enough time for race briefing  at 5pm . Then lucky enough for me I was straight into doping control for some bloods . No arguments from me , its great they are trying to keep our sport clean :)

Friday and Sat I did some easy training and Sunday arvo was race day for the us girls.
For the first time in a while I was actually nervous pre race . Nervous because I hadn’t done any intensity training and to line up at a World Champs race underdone is not that easy to get away with . Also nervous how I’d react to getting the  heart rate up .

After a very easy week of training and plenty of rest I actually coped a lot better than I thought I would . It was only the last 5 km of the run I panicked with a very sharp stomach pain which I'd normally run through but given the circumstances I forced myself to relax and jog the rest thinking of my health and recovery for the more important race in 3 weeks time.

So If anything It was a good training day in varying conditions . Cold  , overcast  warm ,and sunny , hail ,and rain !  All in a few short hours !

My coach let me stay a few extra days in Kitz to have some fun and on Monday I was fortunate enough to paraglide over the town from the top of  Hannakenham  , a famous downhill ski run . It was bloody amazing ! we were then catered some great Austrian food for lunch at the restraunt on top .  A ride through some quiet roads of Kitzbuhel , dinners out through the fancy little town  and a few trips to the casino I have to say I’ll definitely be back again next year . Just hopefully with a better prep and race ;)

I’ll now see how I recover and pull up after the weekend  and then try and get a decent training block in before my next race in Hamburg which is now less than 4 weeks away .

Cheers ,

FLicka

I finally made it to Leysin .  One of the downsides to being an Aussie is the travel to Europe ! 3 flights and a few train trips later , well over a day of travelling  to get here but well worth it

I’ve only been here a few days  and I’m loving the change already . Fresh air , mountains and no sound of cars on highway  ( grrr Gold Coast ! ). I have a great apartment with everything I need . The weather has also been a bit freaky too . Perfect days and not too cold at all . But I have been told not to get my hopes up !

My last few weeks in Aus I was hit with a little hiccup . A few weeks ago I felt a bit off for a day or too . I had a few easy days . Routine blood tests to check everything before I head over here came back a bit abnormal . Not the best news this time of the season .  I was told to stop training , if not do very minimal until further tests and I was also advised not to even travel over here . But I still stuck to my plans . I had more bloods before I jumped on the plane and got out of  Aus asap (Because I really felt fine !) So the last few weeks have been a lot more of rest and recovery  then training .

It’s all a bit frustrating when everyone is saying to rest  even though I feel ok .I know  they all  have my best interests  at heart .  It could be worse and shit happens  ! I’m lucky to be able to call Switzerland  home for a while now and I’m sure I’ll be back in full training in no time . I’ll just listen to the Doc … our Doc

FLicka x

Yesterday I had a win at the Byron Bay Triathlon .

A very relaxed race with a 12pm start  .It was a beach swim , very bumpy road on the ride & even some x-country on the run . Then presentations are held at the pub later in the evening . Good fun !

Byron Bay is a pretty big tourist spot but luckily it wasn’t too busy this weekend . The headland adjacent to the town, is the most eastern  point of mainland Australia.. I love the little run up to the lighthouse so I tried playing photographer on my iphone . Here are some snaps …

Flicka x