Natalie Van Coevorden- Australian Triathlete

  One of my favourite cities on the World Triathlon Series circuit, Stockholm is a beautiful and unique place to hold a race. Some of the busiest bike paths, everyone commutes on bikes and I feel like we are understood. The feeling of being underdressed, surrounded by plenty of men in business suits, lots of coffee shops and a buzzing atmosphere in the city. Having a day off on Thursday when we arrived, I took the opportunity to stretch the legs in the central of Stockholm, do a lot of window shopping and put the feet up at local coffee shops. We stayed in a perfect location this year with the swimming pool being 300m, running trails alongside the water and still close to race sight. I wanted to come back this year with more confidence in my ability to ride this type of course and see where I am at before London in a few weeks time.   Race morning was pretty relaxed with a morning swim in the pool as I didn’t plan on getting into the water at race start. A chill 14...

My third year back to Tiszaujvaros, my third year competing in the semi and final format, I was excited to get racing. Our trip started with a little overnight stay at the Adams family Budapest airport hotel. A very cute, yet creepy place, everything from the staff to the style of the room to the playing of the theme song as soon as we got into the bedroom, it was an interesting experience to say the least. Arriving in Tiszy, it once again turned on the heat when we arrived and it felt just like Vitoria has been over the last few weeks- nothing different to us. I was pretty lucky with our room having air conditioning, which was nice to get a good night sleep every night. I couldn’t figure out why everyone was complaining..Tiszy only being a small place has a great atmosphere and it was awesome to still see a triathlon to put them on the map. Semi Final I was ranked third going into the semi and I knew it was going to be tough to get through. This heat had very strong swim/bike...

One year ago, 55 women and 55 men from 37 nations were lining up on the pontoon to start in the most important race of their life. Millions of eyes around the world and thousands of supporters lined the course to watch a race to gold. My eyes were glued to the TV here in Vitoria as I waited for who would be the new Olympic champion for triathlon in London. Who would have thought after 2 hours of racing three women would be sprinting down the blue carpet? I can remember every session from that day, probably because it was pitch black and 9.30 at night when my day concluded and I couldn’t be any more motivated with an Australian and a hometown girl, Erin Densham receiving a bronze medal. In 39 days time, I will get my chance to go to London to represent Australia in the Under 23 team for World Championships. I am very happy the team was announced earlier than expected as I can not only physically but mentally prepare for the demands of race day. This is my third year on the Austr...

Thank you, Danke, Gracias, Merci- I still don’t think I knew what country I was in or what country I was from. Hamburg is spectacular with beautiful buildings, the best shopping (window shopping unfortunately), an awesome place to run around the lake and thanks to the organises for mapping out the 45km training ride loop. The country side of Hamburg was something different to the inner city life and was perfect for pre and post race spin. I actually got really tired with no traffic lights to let me take a breather ;)   After Palamos World Cup the weekend before, the week leading into Hamburg was all about soaking up abit of R and R or “mad chilling” as I like to put it. After racing Hamburg last year, I knew what was coming for me- fast swim, faster bike and an even faster run. I made vital mistakes last year that I didn’t want to make again. Speaking to Jamie I knew I needed good positioning from the front end of the race to get more near the front at the end. A late...

As we are driving away from the sea breeze of the Mediterranean sea, Palamos invited us for the first ever world cup in the coastal town. A little different from what I was expecting, the course was quite demanding especially with the heat. The place was beautiful but pre race I was definitely making the most of the air conditioning in our rooms. Although Palamos does offer ultimate people watching. My first ITU race back since Madrid when I had to pull out with my ribs, I needed to prove more to myself that this month of training has got me back in the game. With all things, training provides its ups and downs- the confidence boosters, the "oh that was okay" and the "well that was rubbish wasn’t it?". Always keeps you on your toes for a race with a high quality of field. An earlier start to race morning to beat the heat, I felt pretty relaxed or I tried to put a chilled face, nerves are always around. Now that I look back at race start, I had so much choice...

I am sure as you read the heading, The Sound of Music’s lyrics "My favourite things" started playing in your head. I am sorry if it is now stuck in your head the whole day. Mine don’t include "Raindrops on roses and Whiskers on Kittens, Bright Copper Kettle and Warm Woolen Mittens" but June in Vitoria has made me realise my favourite things over here. We are well and truly settled in now and I couldn’t ask for a better environment to be in. So what does Vitoria have to offer? Favourite food-Menu del dia To end a hard week, on a Sunday, our training squad gets together once a month and we create our own menu del dia. Everyone is on a different food item, that we bring and share. Sometimes I can’t believe how we can eat it all but everyone always puts there masterchef hats on and make delicious dishes. It’s perfect for a Sunday as a food coma makes it easy to lie down and catch up on some sleep after having such a big lunch. I am in my element and enjoy t...

If only the ground was a trampoline and when you fall you bounded back up. If only things healed with a click of the fingers. If only patience was so easy. Even the last few weeks of getting out of bed in below 5 minutes was a record. Life would be a breeze.   Medical May, I am going to call it. I learnt I have 24 ribs, intercostal cartilage inbetween and when you fall off your bike on land of these it’s quite painful.   Travelling from Yokohama to Vitoria, I was excited as I couldn’t wait to start training in our second home and get all settled in. Diving into the pool Tuesday morning, I couldn’t do one arm stroke without a shot of pain due to the extension of the rib cage that happens during swimming. This was a reality check that it was time for an xray. Riding home all blurry eyed, I can barely see as it and telling if the lights were red or green was becoming one more battle for the day. To be honest I don’t know that many words in Spanish, but hearing the word...