CANBERRA STINT

In the final week of our training camp in Canberra, I saw some temperatures very close to zero, so I wasn't too upset to be packing up! In saying this, it has been a really valuable experience here with my training group the ‘Wollongong Wizards’.

The main reason for us being here is to take part in a nutrition study looking at the effect of manipulating our carbohydrate intake so we either sleep low ‘CHO’ or high ‘CHO’ and look at the effect on bone and iron. This is a very broad description as we were able to see first hand in to what goes in to publishing a formal paper like this. In return for being ‘lab rats’ we were able to stay at the AIS and use all the magnificent facilities while exploring new training locations around Australia’s capital. Thanks to Greg Cox for being our ‘go-to’ guy and being awesome at it along with the whole team who looked after us during the study!

Swimming sessions were in a world class training pool with underwater camera’s giving us instant feedback on technique.

Photo credit: facebook.com/witsup

Bike sessions were split between the ergos (for testing reasons), the Narrabundah velodrome and exploring the bike paths and quiet country roads of Canberra. The downside of leaving Australia will be we can’t take our track bikes with us. I find the velodrome a really challenging session both mentally and physically as it broadens my cycling vocabulary immensely and it also allows us to put in some good sessions without any traffic disruptions!

In terms of our run sessions, I loved every single run I did here. Not only because of the endless trails and Stromlo (a beautiful grass 2.5km loop), but I had four weeks of consistent running which finally included some quality sessions. As part of the study we had three ‘Performance Test’ days that involved a 40min bike session on the ergo then straight in to a run session on the track. I haven’t run on a track for a couple of years so I was pretty thrilled to be running around in circles. This year is all about consistency so I am looking forward to seeing progress as I move in to the European season.

This leads me to my next movements. I’ll head back home to Wollongong for six days and get organised to head back to my second home, Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque country. This will be my fifth year in Vitoria and I am so appreciative of the effort my coach Jamie has gone to in order to create a great relationship with the community.

The first three weekends over there will be jam packed with racing. First up will be a French Grand Prix in Dunkerque with my team ‘Issy Triathlon’, then on to Italy where I will be racing Calaponte Triathlon in Polignano a Mare then on to Cagliari ITU World Cup also in Italy! I’m looking forward to seeing where I’m at and building a successful season from there!

I’m sure there will be a lot to say after all this so looking forward to updating you again soon!

Adios,

Grace