Bad swim in Budapest = 22nd place

Hi, I had a really really poor swim today which resulted in a second pack chase bike leg. The front group of 40 rode faster than the 2nd group of 15 which I was in. My group had handbrakes with tactics going on, so there was no flowing everyone taking a turn to try and catch up scenario! This resulted in a 1 min 30 sec deficit changing to the run and I had no chance. I caught as many places up as I could but 22nd was the best I could finish. It is so frustrating, because I have had such a consistent run of results with good swims and good runs. I raced the best I could today, but with my 22nd place I dropped to 6th overall for the year in the 2010 World Championships.

Budapest Grand Final results

2010 World Championship Overall results

Tours French Grand Prix Sprint race

Hi, my final big hitout before Budapest! Tours is a small town 2hrs drive south of Paris. I arrived the evening before the race and was warmly greeted as always, by my Beauvais Triathlon team members and managers. We had a long late dinner which is always good too. Not so much the food, but the company I am talking about.
On race day, I slept til 9.45am, so good, and just in time for the end of breakfast. I then rested all morning before leaving by bike to do a lap of the course before entering the transition as a team. Aerobars were scrutinised, which I don't have - luckily because I have compact handlebars and aerobars go longer than the hoods.
We start on the pontoon in the current ranking position of the team. Beauvais was ranked 4th so I started about 20th position from the left hand side. Not a great start, but found Liz Blatchford's feet after 50m and then swam my way out next to Vicky Holland. I exited 3rd out of the water and in a good position to break away with Vicky, my teammate. But a bit of misdirection by not seeing the last swim buoy and some fumbling in transition cost me a few seconds and after 400m, there were some other girls with me and Vicky was 5 metres in front still. We couldn't get working in time before the next girls started catching. A sprint triathlon is half the distance to an Olympic distance, so there's half the time and reactions have to be spot on to make that break from the pack. But anyway, it worked out well for Beauvais, because by the end of the bike it was a large group of about 50. I got a great lead out off the bike by my french teammate delphine Pelletier. I ran hard out of transition 2 and made a 20m gap straight. It took until 1km for Barbara Riveros, Erin Densham and Vicky Holland to chase up. Then we finished in that order with a nice sprint finish! It was a great day for my team too, as we picked up the win with myself 1st, Vicky 4th and Delphine Py-Bilot 8th and we now have a shot at the overall Club title. We are in 2nd just behind Poissy.
Tours FGP results here

Kitzbuhel World Championship Series

Hi, I raced well in Kitzbuhel. It was a cool feeling because I gave everything I could and I felt I pushed at the right times during the race too. It was a hard race, even the swim. I felt like every 2nd breath I got a mouth full of water because we were swimming so tight together. I exited up front in the first bunch. The bike course changed this year, they decided to take us into the centre of town and over 200m of cobble stones. I enjoyed the crowds and the festival each time we rode through. Then onto the run , I didn't look back. I felt fresh. I could control the pace. But still, that final last km got to me. I really felt great up to that point, but the 2hr race caught up to me in the final 2 minutes which pushed me back to 3rd place, a few seconds back from 1st, Paula Findlay CAN . I was still completely happy, as I felt out of breath from pushing so hard. I had given everything.
Kitzbuhel WCS results
Kitzbuhel is a special race for me. 2010 made it my 5th time in a row and every time with a great outcome.
Then all I could think about was the reality of what had happened the day before. Laurent had fainted and lost consciousness at the 2km mark of the run in his race! He made a full recovery within an hour, which was the best news ever. But why did it happen? And how did it go that far was still the question? We flew back home to Sète in France and straight to bed for a few days rest before going to Marseille hospital for heart exams. All tests have showed normal results. So, with a lot of rest now, there are no medical reasons for Laurent not to continue sport. He will begin training when he is ready. :-)

Moved up rankings to 2nd in the World Championship Series

After racing back to back weekends with a 6th place and a 4th place, I have moved up to within 40 points of Emma Moffatt (AUS) with 2 rounds to go in 2010, the last being the Grand Final with 1 1/2 times the points.

Click here - Complete World rankings

I was 6th in Hamburg in a 7 way sprint finish within the final 400 metres. I actually felt as though I slowed down when I tried to speed up! But that's racing. After 2hrs my body had had enough and wouldn't go any faster when I wanted to. I'd had an average swim, exiting at the back of the first group in 14th place and with a little hestitation I was back 15 seconds in the 2nd bike pack on the first lap. I took turns for the first 3 laps of 8 and we finally managed to catch the front then we were a big group heading on the 10km run. I ran behind as Emma Moffatt kept the pace in front. Then to finish 6th was disappointing because we were only seperated by seconds at the end.

Click here - Hamburg WCS Results

In London, I set myself up with a good swim, jumping on my bike in 3rd position and straight into the lead of the race. There was good pace being rotated at the front with a lot of different girls mixing themselves around. I set the pace at the beginning of the run then at 5km could feel my calves getting tight from racing in Hamburg just 6 days before. I held on as long as I could behind the leaders but as the final U-turn approached I dropped off the pace then made my legs go a bit faster to get back in touch. And as that happened, Paula Findlay (CAN) surprised everyone by surging and opening up a 30m gap in just a few hundred metres, then she kept it. I was just managing to hold the pace we were running at, so had no extra gears to go faster. Like last week, my sprint wasn't there. I went for a spot on the podium but finished in 4th. Afterwards, I had 2 really bad blisters and I actually couldn't walk properly as my calves were like rocks. This continued for 10 days, really tight and painful calves are not fun.

Click here - London WCS Results

This weekend I am racing in Kitzbuhel in Austria. I must finish in the top 5 to increase my ranking points.
I have been training well in the French Pyrénées since being based here for 2 months already. After Kitzbuhel, I will be coming back up here at 1800m right up until Thursday 9th September, 4 days before the final in Budapest.

Bye for now,
Andrea

Watch Hamburg LIVE

The Triathlon World Championship Series event in Hamburg is next weekend 17th and 18th July.

Click here to watch it live

I have only raced once in Hamburg, 4 years ago in 2006. It was one week after the World Championships in Lausanne and after a good performance there finishing 10th, I went to Hamburg trying back to back races and back then I couldn't! I finished 45th!
So much has changed since then though. I have been able to run up front this year, currently sitting 8th in the World rankings.
For the past month I have been training in Font Romeu in the French Pyrénées at 1800m altitude. The riding is the best up here, that's only if you like climbing though. Everytime I go out there's always a climb back up. I run mostly at a bit lower altitude at 1600m, by Lake Matemale or at Pyrénées 2000 where the trails are more flat. I find breathing heavy hurts a lot, so I have kept that right out of my training. So with hardly any fast sessions, I hope to have saved it all up for during the race. I leave this Thursday and meet my Dad at the airport in Germany as he's coming over from NZ to watch me in Hamburg and London.

Remember to tune in on www.triathlon.org

Andrea

Des Moines HyVee Triathlon - 5th place

It's the richest triathlon in the World which makes this triathlon so special. The best come prepared for this race, of course; it makes it so so hard. Everyone vying for a share of the ONE MILLION DOLLAR prize purse!!
The course isn't tough, it's flat, there aren't many turns on the bike. There are 3 u-turns in the run which upsets the rhythm but being so flat makes it fast.
After the swim I was in the main bunch of 20 or so. There were 2 ex-swimmers in the field, so they were out in front but we had nothing to worry about as they wouldn't class themselves as runners. The only situation we were trying to prevent was letting Emma Snowsill AUS catch as she was in the small group 30sec behind. The bike situation didn't change much, so into T2 we took off on the run with a 30sec gap back to Snowsill. It wasn't enough. She caught the group of 6 I was running in by the 7km mark and then it was up to us to stick with her. I tried for a km but when Emma Moffatt AUS couldn't follow I overtook her to keep the pace high. I couldn't hold this pace and dropped back and back and back again to 5th place. I had no speed to follow anyone in the final 1km. It's ok, I know the feeling I had at each stage during the run and I know my pace dropped off a lot during the final lap.
Still, 5th place I am close again.
I have a month now before my next race in Hamburg in July.

Results:
1. Emma Snowsill AUS 1.59.35
2. Emma Moffatt AUS 1.59.51
3. Helen Jenkins GBR 1.59.51
4. Paula Findlay CAN 1.59.54
5. Andrea Hewitt NZL 2.00.01

Full results are posted HERE

European Extreme Sailing Series, 1st round - Sète, France

Yesterday Laurent and I were invited to the Extreme Sailing Series in Sète. We were invited onboard the crew speedboat of Red Bull Extreme Sailing.
The team had just warmed up and there were 5 races to come as it was day 4 of 4 of the competition. They were sitting in 5th place out of 8 teams. We went out on the support boat and they said we should put on the waterproof pants to stop our knees from being cut up. It was 15min til the days racing started and only then we realised, "We were going to be in the race!". It's crazy to think, but there is a 4 person crew, and each race they must race with a 5th man (weather permitting - if the winds are too strong the crew will race as 4, not to hurt the 5th man). The 5th man doesn't help to sail the boat but is there to distribute their weight around the boat. So I was given orders during the race to crawl from left to right and front to back of the trampoline in the middle of their boat. The picture on the left shows the 5th man in the red life jacket. My favourite part was when the boat lifted up on one side then crashed back down and made a huge splash. It's so amazing to see the control they have and how close the boats come to each other. I was 5th man in race 3 and 4. In race 4 at the first buoy we apparently cut off Groupama and we got a yellow card, had to do a u-turn as a penalty then continue.
My forearms are tired today, and I didn't even pull on the ropes. It's just from holding on!


Check it all out on http://www.extremesailingserieseurope.com/

1st - Dunkerque French Grand Prix

I arrived in France only 2 and 1/2 weeks ago but it feels like a lot longer. Settling in was really easy. We are living in the South of France, near Montpellier, where the sun is shining everyday.
I trained relatively easy for the first 2 weeks after Seoul and raced the first French Grand Prix for my club - Beauvais Triathlon, 8 days ago. I won which the team was really happy about, although my team finished in 3rd place. I was in the front group of 7 with my 4 team mates chasing in the the groups behind during the bike leg. Poissy triathlon had 3 in the front group, so I was told to wait for the run. This is tactically how it works in club style racing, as the 3 best positions of the team are calculated for the overall team result of the race.
What was different for me was during the run. I know I can match it and run up front but that's usually from running the pace up front. In Dunkerque, I felt like I ran a lot at my pace, which felt a lot more controlled. At some stages I didn't know who I was running with because of the tight turns it was single file most of the run. We finished with a sprint - surprise surprise! this time with Erin Densham AUS, it was very tight down the finsh chute. Erin overtook me going onto the carpet, then I managed to come back to cross in first!

1	Andrea HEWITT	00:58:17	00:09:31	00:05:59	00:17:44
2	Erin DENSHAM	00:58:17	00:09:24	00:06:05	00:17:43
3	Kathy TREMBLAY	00:58:38	00:09:23	00:06:06	00:18:06
4	Carole PEON	00:58:43	00:09:22	00:06:07	00:18:07
5	Magali DI MARCO	00:58:47	00:09:21	00:05:58	00:18:12
6	Jessica HARRISON	00:59:03	00:09:19	00:06:06	00:18:27
7	Anna Maria MAZZETTI	00:59:10	00:09:34	00:06:00	00:18:35
8	Barbara RIVEROS	00:59:39	00:09:46	00:06:00	00:18:01
9	Ainhoa MURUA	00:59:46	00:09:23	00:06:13	00:18:04
10	Maria Katarzyna CZESNIK	00:59:51	00:09:30	00:06:09	00:18:06

5th Seoul - Round 2 WCS

Hi, quick note to say I'm pleased with my race yesterday. Good swim and bike, then an up and down sort of run. I went from feeling bad to great but the worst feeling was when I was past twice over in the last couple hundred metres. Still 5th, so overall a good day in Seoul. I woke up this morning and surprisingly feel ok. After the race I really felt dehydrated and overall pretty sick. So, luckily all is actually fine.


Time to leave though, onward to France.
See ya
Andrea

Silver medal - Sydney World Championship Series

Hello,
I am so happy with my first big race of the year. It was a special race as my family and some friends were all here from NZ (and Sez from Dubai) to watch.
What a way to start the 2010 World Championship Series and what a close finish!
Yesterday, was the first round of the Triathlon World Championship Series. It was a warm day in Sydney, non wetsuit swim, hilly bike course and back up the same hill 4 times on the run.
There wasn't much spread after the swim which amounted in a large group of 30 on the bike. I felt the heat during the bike, I just sat in nicely though, there was no need to work as a group when the group was so big. With the final part of the bike leg being a long downhill, I couldn't make my way to the front for the 2nd transition to the run. The group strung out around the final 200m of the bike around some technical corners under the Sydney Opera House steps. I started in the middle of the group on the run up the first hill. I felt the pace change a lot during each part of the run course. We picked up the pace each time up the hill, slowed and recovered on the flat part on the bridge then took off again on the downhill section. The final few hundred metres proved the place decider for the race. I was in 2nd position just behind Barbara with 500m to go as we were running downhill. Then with a hundred metres to go on the roundabout Emma went past me which put me in 3rd position heading into the final straight. I managed to pass Emma but was 1 step behind Barbara as she crossed the tape in 1st. There was just 1 second between Barbara Riveros CHI 1st, myself 2nd and Emma Moffat AUS 3rd.

Full article and results are posted on www.triathlon.org

New Zealand and Oceania Champion 2010

Hi ,
In Wellington last weekend, I won my first New Zealand Triathlon Championship Title. It was my first Olympic distance race of the season, so I really had to concentrate on my pace and my nutrition. I also had to take care on the course which included a choppy swim in Wellington Harbour, a windy 5 lap bike course and a 4 lap run along the waterfront past Oriental Bay. I swam in the middle of the lead group, led out onto the bike, then rode in a group of 7 which formed. With 5km to go Nicky Samuels broke away and I chased and caught with Debbie Tanner then we opened up a 50 second lead heading out on the run. I lead the first 400m, then Debbie lead although at 5km slowed, and I ran a pretty evenly split 10km. I celebrated my first NZ Championships win by clapping hands with the crowds of supporters lining the way and congratulating Laurent at the finish line who won the mens race, ahead of a bunch of NZers and Aussies.
My 2009-2010 off season training has been consistent and good. I have spent the past 3 weeks at 1600m altitude at Snow Farm in Wanaka with a Tri NZ training camp. Before that, I raced the Takapuna sprint triathlon in Auckland which was a definite shock to the body. The run pace at the front pushed by Kate McIlroy proved my limit as I found out unable to increase it in the final metres to the finish line. I placed 3rd there behind my french club Beauvais teammate Vicky Holland GBR and Vendula Frintova CZE and 1 second ahead of Kate McIlroy in 4th who had lead the entire run.

Press Release from Tri NZ media "French Connection wins the day in Wellington"

Full Results

Photo: Sophie Corbidge - Takapuna triathlon