It’s getting to that time of year, in the Northern Hemisphere at least, when the triathlon ‘events’ list starts to look as sparse as the toilet paper in a porta potty on race morning; snow/rain and other such precipitous delights feature in the forecasts; your clothing has the words ‘long’, ‘warmer’, ‘fleece lined’ in the name and the lycra you have worn every day for the past year has started to reveal cracks that shouldn’t be made public. Yes, it’s autumn, or ‘fall’ for those North America readers.

For many athletes this means only one thing – ‘having it off’. Any wife/husband/partner reading this might jump for joy at these three (rarely used in the life of an exhausted triathlete)…

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Every once in while you are blessed with a very special day when history is rewritten, records fall and you surpass your own notions of what is possible to achieve. On 8 October Craig Alexander broke the long standing course record to take his third World Championship win, age group records fell, athletes overcame personal struggles and finishers finally grasped their own personal holy grail. I am so proud to have been part of that historical day.

This blog reiterates, and adds to, the messages I tried my best to convey at the Awards Ceremony. I apologize for my tardiness in putting fingers to keyboard, but there were some serious celebrations to take care of, some luxuriating to be done…

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“Its not a race. It’s war”. Those somewhat macabre words were among the first that the amazing, multiple ironman champion, Bella Bayliss ever said to me. Back then, in 2007, I didn’t have so much as a triathlon vest – let alone a bullet proof one. “Once more unto the breach” and welcome to the frontline of professional sport. Indeed.

Don’t get me wrong, I am as fierce a competitor as you will find. Competitive with myself. Competitive with those around me. But the closest I get to actual warfare is calling shotgun to get extra legroom in a car. Top Gun is my idea of studying military strategy. I took up triathlon because I loved it, because of the…

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Last year saw a change in the way in which professionals qualify for the world Ironman Championships in Kona. The new policy, including the Kona Pro Rankings (KPR) System is outlined at the following link. http://ironmanpromembership.com/kpr/. As you will see 31 August marked the deadline for qualification, and thereafter the full set of Kona Qualifiers were announced.  Given that a year has passed since the new policies were instigated I thought I would outline my key comments on the system, with suggested areas for improvement. In addition to the KPR system, I have also added some thoughts on other issues, including prize money and timing/scheduling.

We have a unique opportunity to make sure our sport grows and expands, and benefits all…

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I thought i would post the recent column i wrote for 220Triathlon Magazine about my attempts to speed up by slowing down  

……..I lie face down on the ground, tears of relief, pride and joy dripping onto the carpet, the clock over my head reading 8.18.13. I stand up, wobble, embrace those I care about most, and prepare for the deluge of photographs and interviews. Cameras, microphones and dictaphones, mobile phones and old fashioned notebooks are thrust under my nose, and within seconds the question is asked ‘Chrissie, can you go faster?’ Part of me wants to respond with ‘there are always areas of improvement, so yes, of course!’, but the other half thinks ‘please, just slow down, let’s…

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In January 2007 I went for a trial week with a certain Mr Sutton. Simple question ‘Do I have what it takes to be a professional triathlete?’ His slightly macabre answer being: ‘Physically yes, but I need to cut your head off’. Wishing to avoid decapitation I asked him to elaborate. ‘You don’t know how to relax, you are like a bull at a china shop, living at 100miles an hour. You don’t know how to rest your body and mind. Unless you can learn to do this you will never be a successful athlete’. Headless? He was right. I was that proverbial chicken. Given that ‘rest’ only entered my vocabulary as the beginning of a word ending in ‘aurant’…

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Last years Challenge Roth was one of the most special days of my life, and one that I have replayed in my mind over and over again. I didn’t need to be asked twice to return for my third time, and on the 10th Anniversary, of this amazing race.

I arrived in Roth on the Sunday afternoon, and settled in with my wonderful homestay family, Gunter and Doris Mollinger, and Einstein the dachshund. Which didn’t actually dash anywhere. He ate and slept. A bit like me really.

As with previous years, I was presented with an amazing Audi Q5 from Feser Joachim (www.autohaus-joachim.de) to drive around in. Driving in the loosest sense of the term, given…

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We all religiously fill in our training logs. They have swim, bike and run on top of neat little columns. They might even have another section for any extra comments… Like ‘I was like Michael Phelps in the pool today; Chris Hoy eat your quads out, or ‘a plank of wood could have run faster than I did’. These logs make clear that our sport comprises three disciplines, but this triad would fall over like a drunken sailor without a few more pillars to hold it up. I am not talking about the greatest race wheels or the newest go faster lycra with added anti chaff, I am talking about rest and recovery, and one of these extra curricular activities…

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With the wide variety of races on the triathlon circuit it is hard to decide which ones to do. But after about a 10 second deliberation I decided to return to the wonderful town of Lawrence for the Kansas 70.3 to attempt the three-peat victory run down the yellow brick road, hand in hand with Dorothy and her sparkly red shoes. Of course, I also wanted the opportunity to get back together with the brainy scary crow, the hearty tinman and the courageous furry lion.  Despite having had three years in which to practice my singing skills, my warbling rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ still left a lot to be desired though (in fact, on that note – or…

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