Kirsten Runs Craig Down
IF bloody-minded determination translated to success, Kirsten Sweetland would already be a triathlon world champion.
Having defied science and the repeated knockbacks of one of the world’s leading triathlon coaches, the Canadian finally got her way and will have Craig Walton in her corner at the Mooloolaba ITU World Cup race on Sunday. Sweetland, 22, had been chasing Walton, the Gold Coast-based former coach of Emma Snowsill and Emma Moffatt, for more than two years only to be politely turned away at each request.
The word ‘‘no’’ does not sit well with the diminutive triathlete and she persisted until Walton caved in.
‘‘I contacted him in 2008, before Beijing (Olympics), and I’ve asked him about five times since then,’’ she said.
‘‘Then I got this message from him last year saying he was happy to take me on. Sweetland said she loves her summer
base at the Gold Coast’s Nobby Beach and plans to come back every year.
‘‘It’s tough. He’s hard on you but it’s good to train with a bit of fear,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ll go wherever he goes. If he was
coaching in Iceland I’d go there. ‘‘His general approach is exactly what I was looking for. You train hard, there’s
no fluff or gadgets.’’ That Sweetland is lining up again at
Mooloolaba, the race she won in 2009, is an impressive feat on its own.
As a teenager she was told by doctors that poor biomechanics meant she could never train at elite level.
This is why she wears a bumblebee necklace to remind her of a creature that, through sheer will and strength, can defy its aerodynamic shortfalls and fly.
Damien Stannard
I almost cannot believe I am writing a post about another DNF. When I got up off the pavement yesterday I actually started to laugh in disbelief. There is no way that just happened… I'll rewind a bit and share some details of the line of events that lead me to this point.
2 weeks ago in Mooloolaba I had my first crash since 2004 and the first thing that went through my mind was "Will I be ok for Sydney?" When I saw my doctor a few days later he was amazed at my rapid recovery. "Someone really wants you to race in Sydney" were his words to be exact. Apparently someone wanted me to START in Sydney.
Looking at my Mooloolaba crash in a more positive light, the time off gave me an opportunity to recovery from a few solid months of training and coming into Sydney I was feeling fresh and snappy and ready to go. I was relaxed at the start and poised to show off my hard work. Ranked 65 out of 66 I was a bit nervous about my position on the pontoon. Luckily I had a fairly clean start and was headed straight toward the first buoy in good position. Unfortunately, as we rounded the first buoy everyone from the left side came over top of me and chaos began. I am working on holding my line and being a bit more aggressive when things start to get rough and I felt like I did a good job of avoiding the fighting without losing time and positions. But when I looked up and saw a sea of white in front of me I thought I was having a bad swim yet AGAIN. When I exited the first lap I noticed I was beside Paula and that there weren't actually that many people in front of us. I had a much better 2nd lap and made up a few positions, I was delighted to see my bud Dannie Ryf beside me because I knew if I started the bike with her I would be safe.
When I hopped on my bike I saw names like Norden, Luxford, Ryf, and Jenkins, almost all of the strongest cyclists of the sport and breathed a sigh of relief. We caught up to the leaders quite painlessly. I was so happy to finally be comfortable in the lead pack! The course was really dangerous and it was a bit chaotic to say the least. I avoided a few close calls and was making an effort to stay near the front without pulling more than my share. Coming down the hill leading into the roundabout everyone was jockeying for position. I always tried to stay on the outside so I would have somewhere to go if anything were to happen. I was avoiding the sketchier riders and was in a solid position when the rider in front of me, Helen Jenkins yelled "Woah!" and the next thing I knew she was on the ground and I had only 1/2 a second to react. With the barriers on one side and the rest of the pack on the other, I didn't really have many options. I tried to jump over her but she was still tumbling with her bike in the air and I went flying over the handle bars. I somehow ended up with a big chain ring cut on my upper/inner thigh on my left side….not sure how that happened, perhaps Helen's tumbling bike? I also had a tyre mark down the front of my face, over my nose down onto my neck with chain grease under my chin. Also unsure how that happened. I cut my elbow (again) pretty good and there was a fair amount of blood but I honestly didn't feel any pain like I did 2 weeks ago. My first reaction was to get back up and hop on my bike. I was trying to get my chain back on by switching gears but my shifter was broken. I then tried to do it with my hands but it was jammed. As all the packs went by and my chain refused to budge I finally realized it was over. At this point I began to laugh. Unbelievable. I watched as the other girls rode away and Sarah Groff and myself were taken off the course.
Anger is not an emotion I experience very often but I have to say, I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life. I have put in so much work over the years, especially this year and I just can't seem to express it. I know you make your own luck but seriously…this is getting a bit much!
I got myself cleaned up at the medical tent and my spirits lifted thanks to our physiologist, John and Kelly, a lovely Aussie junior who hung around with me. I had a great chat with my dad on the phone from the side of the road. He always has the right thing to say. I was not as injured as I was after Mooloolaba and was able to go home and shower and change in time to watch the mens race. Unfortunately for the men, rain showers were added to the already dangerous course. There were crashes left, right and centre. The crowd was loving it! As my friend Rares says "It's like Nascar without the fire!" …Glad we could provide some amusement ;) Javi Gomez was an inspiration, crashing and bridging back to the group twice and still came away with the win.
During the men's race I talked to my coach, Craig on the phone and he advised me to go for a little jog. I was feeling more motivated than ever after this crash and was really excited about this jog for some reason. As soon as the men finished I ran home to the hotel in my Birkenstocks and jeans, quickly changed into my run gear and headed out the door. I started out jogging towards the course. I noticed that I felt really really good. This made me angry thinking about how I missed out on one "those days," the kind that don't come around often. The more angry I got the harder I began to run. By this time it was pouring rain. I didn't have a watch or anything, my shorts were too big and falling down as they got heavy in the rain haha. I just started running laps of the course as the volunteers took everything down. I ran all 4 laps for the full 10k building to a near sprint. I got a little lost on the way home and jogged it in feeling much better. I needed that. Part of me was angry about how good I felt, feeling like I got robbed and getting frustrated about the fact that so much of our result can depend on other people in our sport. I felt cheated and started to think about the "why me?" type thing.
BUT when I look at the big picture there was a lot of positives. I finally got the monkey off my back in the swim, from an awful start position at that. I felt strong on the bike, I did everything right. I know where my running is at and I now know I can still get myself in the position I need to to set myself up for the podium. The first 1/3 of the race is the hardest and most important and I finally nailed it. So in that respect, I'm happy. Another positive thing to take away from this experience is my elevated level of motivation. I've never been so hungry in my life! I have done the work, everything is there…I just want to get out there and run again! And I think that will be sooner than later! I am trying to get organized to fly to Ishigaki, Japan this wednesday for the World Cup race this weekend. I'm going to run off the bike if it kills me! So fingers crossed that everything works out for that. So far my luck hasn't showed any signs of turning, I started a ride and immediately flatted and it began to rain while I changed it. I proceeded to have 2 more flats...now I think I may curl up in a ball on the couch...maybe I should buy myself a bubble. Obviously that's a joke, I'm off for acupuncture and an attempt at swimming! Hopefully with 2 arms :)
More photos coming!
After returning from Sydney on monday, I booked a flight to Ishigaki on tuesday morning. Tuesday evening I received a call from my dad that my grandfather had passed away. I was standing on thin ice and this news really affected me. Looking at it in a positive light, it takes something like this to put racing into perspective and suddenly my crashes seemed minor. My Pop was my biggest fan. I don't even want to think about how many hours were spent hunched over the computer on triathlon.org over the past few years! He was the one who taught me to pick myself up and dust myself off when I was a kid. A lesson which has proved to be most useful in my career thus far! ;) I decided I would dedicate my race to him and in wanting to win for him so bad I pushed aside my aches and pains from 2 hard crashes and was hoping for a miracle mind-over-matter type performance like in the movies. I went for an hour run the next morning, bawling the entire time, quickly packed, got on the plane and didn't really give myself any more time to think about anything.
As for the race; I was called out last due to my extremely late entry and was stuck dead in the middle of the pontoon. I know I have said this before but this one trumps all the other races and was by far the roughest swim I have ever had. After the start we didn't separate like normal and we swam in one giant horizontal line for a good while. It started with one girl pulling my shoulder, then the next girl pulled my shoulder and proceeded to basically stand on my shoulder (horizontally) and kick me backwards and another pulled on my shorts and before I knew it I was at the back. Within the first 300m I went from being 38 people deep to the far right just to get clear water. Once I got to the outside I swam up to the front pack where I was again sandwiched and clobbered for the next lap. I was angry at the lack of sportsmanship and ethics of the girls I was racing against but it proved to be good energy because my frustration made me swim really hard and get back up to the front of the main group. I understand it's going to be rough with so many girls going to the same point but intentionally grabbing and pulling people backwards when going in a straight line is just unnecessary and not fair play. Anyway, I could rant about that forever but it's going to stop any time soon (it's only getting worse!) so I guess I just need to HTFU ;)
I had a good T1 and I thought I was one of the first onto the bike. I didn't realize until we got to the first turn around that there was a lead group of 4 about 20 second up on us. After a few laps of chasing we eventually came together. I stayed at the front or 2nd wheel the ENTIRE ride because I was so nervous of being behind anyone after being taken out last week. In hindsight it wasn't the best idea because I smashed my legs a bit. Usually once the packs come together the pace slows to a crawl but not this time, the pace was on! I had a bit of a rusty start to the ride but I felt pretty good towards the end, was first into T2 and on a mission.
It only took a few meters to realize my legs were not "my legs." Sluggish and zapped of energy I was forced into a jog. I just couldn't get out of that one pace. I wasn't breathing hard or even hurting but I could not go any faster. The only pain I felt was my cramping shoulder girdle, QL, hip and hamstring. Lovely little left overs from last week. :) I never panicked and I just kept chugging along. Chuggin is really the right word for my pace, it literally was nearly the pace of our 2hr Sunday runs at home!
I have no explanation for that performance. All I can say is that is definitely not what I train for. I am looking forward to another good block of training before the next WCS in Madrid in June. First things first, I need to get my body back to normal…I'm on my way home now and ready to be back into a routine. I've had quite enough white rice and strange rubber-pastry bread! Today Ash and I got adventurous and tried so miniature dried fish. As you can see Ash was a bit more enthusiastic than I!
It's been a long time since I raced a WCS…well finished a WCS. 2 years actually! I've only completed 2 Olympic distance races in those 2 years as well….scary facts! But true nonetheless. I know my fitness is not where it was before Sydney but I also know it's better than what I showed out there yesterday. I raced a French Grand Prix last week and felt pretty good but this week I just felt flat and off….It is unfortunate but there are some positives.
1. I didn't crash!
2. Nothing else freaky happened
3. I had a good swim with a bad ranking
4. Held my own in a super fast and technical bike
5. Pushed through some discomfort (cramping)
6. I finished! :)
Quite weak positives I know (especially the latter) but I'll take away what I can! I did make some mistakes and learned some lessons. I am still very nervous in a pack after my crash and I was too timid to get to the front coming into T2. I had a bad T2 and started the run from the back. I also got a bit of a scolding today for my altitude timing. Coach thinks some of my flatness and cramping could have been from poor timing at altitude but you never know. Altitude seems to be a trial and error thing…
All pro's and cons aside I was just happy to be out there racing WCS again! It is the highest standard of racing and it feels great to be a part of it again! The bar has been raised in the past 2 years, I can tell you that! I know I can do better next time and I can't wait for the opportunity to improve on yesterday. A small % makes a huge impact on your placing in these things and I think yesterday was a good place to launch from. Not good by any means but also not a complete disaster. I wouldn't go as far as to say I am satisfied but it's a start I guess.
Now I'm en route back to Davos to join my Suisse family. I have to give a quick shout out to the Suisse team for their hospitality this weekend. When the Canadian team left before my race, Iwan and Dominic, the Suisse team coach and manager were there for me. They went above and beyond. They invited me to meals, gave me a race briefing and schedule of race day, carried my backpack to transition, checked over my bike, pumped my tires…you name it! To Nicola Spirig and Melanie Anaheim for letting me tag along in your preparation….thank you! And of course my race day "coach" Reto Hug. You are the best! I can't wait for the chance to pay you all back in some way.
Now it's back to the grind for me. I got work to do and I know it. Can't wait. :)
