Natalie Van Coevorden- Australian Triathlete

I have described the last 12 days as a “working holiday“ to many. It might sound funny and I know you can’t be, but I felt jet lagged from New Zealand with my body so out of whack with the time zone changes. Although Queensland doesn’t allow a holiday sleep in with a 5.30am sunrise, we headed to Mooloolaba with a job to do after Wellington. From Wellington to Mooloolaba, it was important to recover and I had an easier week working into the weekend. We all enjoyed the down time and a few short sharp sessions to get the body back into race gear. The night before the race, instead of the normal pizza and pasta, we went with what Erin Densham did last year to win Mooloolaba, with pre race Thai. I think I will be having thai more often now ;).       USM events and ITU made the decision earlier in the week to change the swim to the canal rather than the ocean due to dangerous surf conditions. The decision didn’t ...

  Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, the first draft of this report is clocking up some frequent flyer points. Hopefully, it is an enjoyable read for the next customers reading the Qantas magazine who want to know “What you should do in Newcastle” and obviously, how I went during this race.   Often known as the place that is windy, wet, cold and hilly, Wellington lived up to its reputation on race day. When the sun rose on Friday morning, after getting in quite late Thursday night, it was a nice surprise to wake up to a beautiful autumn day. Wollongong earlier in the week had not seen the word “taper” and I enjoyed 3 full days of hard but meaningful training towards the weekend race. Friday was a bit of a hit and miss with how I felt and having a banana smoothie before our pre-race run probably was not the best idea. I am sure the girls agree!   A perfect start time of 10:30am, we woke up to what We...