Watching and tracking the athletes over at Cairns 70.3 lived up to my expectations. I am very chuffed.
I had four athletes racing at Cairns this year, all with quite different goals. I had Tim who lives in Cairns, knows the event well and always wants to do well there. I had Owen and Hayley who were using Cairns as a lead up race to their first IM next month and so really were out for good solid days and I had Nadia, who came into the event off about about a month of training and really was looking to reach the finish line. All up I think we helped them all achieve their goals.
Tim had a screamer of a race. The 70.3 in Cairns is an Age Group only race and so without the pros there Tim had the joy of being the first out of the water and in the lead on the bike for about 80 of the 90km. The thrill of being near the front maybe got him a bit excited early in the run, but even with a bit of a fade in the second half he was 5th over the line and 1st in his age group. Actually he was 5th only by 2 seconds after stopping in the chute to kiss his girlfriend, so lets call it very nearly 4th. Absolutely awesome, I have known Tim for years and when he asked me about coaching this is just what I was hoping we could achieve. Well stoked.
Hayley and Owen had pretty solid days out, about reflective of where they are in their IM prep. They have done loads of work and are very, very fit, but they haven't done anything 70.3 specific, so are maybe missing a bit of top end speed. All the same they were both close to their PBs, which is saying something because by all accounts the weather was pretty unpleasant and today was not a quick day. 10th in the AG for Owen which is a really great result for him (possibly his best ever). Hayley came in 12th, which is also great going, but I suspect she was on track for an even better result and her race may have been a little derailed by a nasty crash she had last Thursday. Still Hayley was keen to punch her ticket to the 70.3 Worlds later this year and her 12th place did that, so that was the that goal met. For me the big take away for both of them was that this result indicates they are right on track for the IM in a month, both travelling very well. Just a bit of recovery, a bit more work and they will be just about spot on.
The final athlete for me was Nadia. Nadia had been preparing for Busselton 70.3 in May earlier in the year, but a few injuries meant that she wasn't able to make the start. After a bit of time off to heal up she came to me a month ago and asked if we could do a program for Cairns 70.3. Given the time frame it was always going to be hard to get ready and as a result we were realistic with both our race plan and our expectations, with one of the main goals really being getting to the finish line. Goal two was getting to the finish line via a solid but steady run. In the end I think we are able to tick off both of those goals with a result that may not have set the world on fire, but was satisfying all the same. To top the day off Nadia ended up securing a slot to the 70.3 Worlds too.
What I would call a successful day out.
No comments:
Post a Comment