December 2005 Update
December for Julie comprised of a 10 day training camp with the other British girls in Aguilas in the south of Spain. This was a bike focused camp, were we all spent more time in the saddle than we ever had before in a 10 day period. With the help of Olympian cyclist Sara Symington, we used this time to build on our winters base, as well as to work on some technical skills. All in all it was good fun, and a good kick start for some into our last big training block leading into the Commonwealth Games in March.
Since then, Julie has just been settling into her normal routine in Bath, which allows her to focus more on her swimming and running. She is continuing to maintain her biking, but it is a little weather dependent.
Christmas for Julie and Mike was spent in the UK with Julie's family in Salisbury. It was as fun as always, but with Commonwealths only 12 weeks away Julie couldn't afford to have too much fun! She is now enjoying spending a little more time with Mike between the Christmas and New Year break,with Mike taking a few much needed days off work. 
Next for Julie will be a 5 day swim camp with the Welsh girls in Swansea, followed by more time based at home in Bath. Then in the beginning of Feb she and Mike will be off to celebrate her brother Justin getting married in Byron Bay, Australia. From their Julie will fly on down to Geelong, Melbourne where she will base herself for the 4 weeks leading into the games.
So with a little over 11 weeks til the games, all is looking good! Fingers crossed and Julie might actually get to the start line of this one still in one piece. And if that happens ....then well lets just wait and see!!! For those of you interested the triathlon will be on March 18th at 10am Aussie time.
To all those who have supported Julie throughout this difficult year, she would like to take this chance to thank you all again. Without you all her Olympic dreams would not still be alive.
and here's to a successful year in 2006! Bring it on.
On a side note keep on the look out for some new exciting sponsorship proposals, and for details of her new equipment for 2006.
November 2005 Update
No matter how many races you do over the year, November is time for downtime. It helps when you have the excuse to go back to the States to spend Thanksgiving with family and Friends. Since the race in St. Kildas, Julie has continued to train, but has just kept a relaxed approach to training that seems to be working well for her. Her main goal still remains to stay healthy, so she has backed off a bit in training to give her body a bit of a recovery, while still maintaining fitness. This is especially the case in her running. She pretty much proved to herself, with the lead up to the CWG trials race, that a lots of running is not necessarily the answer to a good run. She is also trying to keep some aqua jogging and X-trainer work into her program. Keeping these elements in her program will hopefully help to resist her from itching to do too much running during these winter months, where it is very easy to get carried away trying to get the winter miles in.. As far as her swimming goes, she is gradually building up the volume with the aim of doing about 30,000m a week by Christmas. And for the biking, a lot of it is weather dependent, but she is trying to keep at least 2 long steady rides outside, the main being a group ride with some proper “roadies” with the Chippenham Wheelers. The rest of her weekly biking will be done on a Computrainer working on Lactate Threshold development and maintenance sets.
Julie and Mike are currently in Houston spending time with some of Mike's Family. Whilst Julie is there she has very kindly been given access to the VERY impressive LifeTime Fitness facility in Willowbrook. 
I think there has to be about 100 treadmills in there, 3 swimming pools, free weights, machine weights, just to name a few. So a big thank you to everyone at the Willowbrook Lifetime fitness facility, as well as to Marilyn Franzen who helped set it all up. Bring on the LTF Battle of the Sexes 2006, and lets see if Julie can bring that big fat check home to Europe for the first time!!!!
Soon after Julies return to the UK, she will be off to Spain for a womens only WCPP camp. With the WCPP funding under review at the moment this could well be Julie's last camp under this program. So she would also like to take this opportunity to thank UK Sport and the Lottery for all the support they have given her over the last 4 years. She can honestly say that without their backing she would not be in the sport today. We will keep you updated as to whether she will be fortunate enough to stay on the program.
October 2005 Update
Well that was a bit of surprise wasn't it! 2nd place at the Commonwealth Test event, and qualification for Team England. Not a bad result for Julies first real race of the year! I think more importantly though, Julie proved to herself, and to her supporters (and doubters) that she can still race triathlon at the top level. Without jinxing her, it also looks like her foot problems may be behind her. Her foot may never be 100% but she has learned how to manage it and get as much out of it as possible.
A little about the race itself. St. Kilda, in Melbourne Australia, is a great setting for a triathlon. Despite it being a little colder than anticipated, the day turned out perfect, with blue skies and a light wind. The water was a just a little chilly (13-14degrees), and with the pontoon not yet being built it made for an interesting deep water start. With the help of her new Snugg wetsuit Julie handled the cold water well and led out of the swim. It was quite a long run up to transition, and being a little rusty on the transition front she lost a bit of time by the time she was on her bike. But this ended up being a good thing, as she managed to then power away from those behind her and bridge the gap up to the 3 leaders, Annabel Luxford (AUS), Laura Bennett(USA) and Liz Blatchford (GBR).
The bike course was pretty flat and undemanding, but had some nice technical turns, which was great for Julie to show off some of her bike handling skills on her Specialized S-Works Tarmac. Liz, who seemed to be struggling more than most due to the coldish conditions (she should try and live in england for the winter!!!) ended up crashing into a barricade quite early on, which left Julie Annabel and Laura to power away from the field and put as much time into the others as possible. Laura was working especially hard so as to help Annabel ensure her selection for the Australian team.....so things were turning out great for Julie. Going into T2 they had a two minute lead on the rest of the field, and more importantly for Julie, a 2 min lead on the next English athlete Andrea Whitcombe.
Julie's 2nd transition was just as bad as her first, and she went out on to the run already 15 secs behind Luxford (the eventual winner). While it was frustrating to lose valuable time, it was a good lesson learned and she will make sure she practices these a bit more going into the Games in March.
Once on the run, things continued to go well. Julie held the gap between her and the winner constant for quite a while. It was also obvious that she also wasn't losing much time to the girls behind. All she needed to do was to hold it together and finish of the 10k run strong.
the results were:
- Annabel Luxford (Aus - Brisbane) 2:02.54
- Julie Dibens (Eng) 2:03.39;
- Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:04.46;
- Debbie Tanner (NZL) 2:05.02;
- Evelyn Williamson (NZL) 2:05.98
Julie is now back in the UK and will base herself there through out the winter months. Another great opportunity to get some good use out of her excellent Skinfit cold weather garments. There will probably be a few camps that she has to go to between now and the games, as well as a trip back to the US to see some family and friends. Then Julie and Mike will head out to Oz in Feb to celebrate her Brother Justin's wedding and to train out there leading up to the Games. The race is to be held on Saturday the 18th March, on the same course as was the test event!
SO all she needs to do now is stay healthy!!! and anything can happen. Thanks for reading.
A photo of Julie and Coach Chris Volley after the race.
Commonwealth Qualification Race
Just a quick update. Julie finished 2nd place at the St. Kilda Triathlon, which hopefully has secured her Commonwealth spot on the English team, but I'll wait to see it in writing. She was the 1st English competitor, with the second placed English, Andrea Whitcombe, over 2 minutes down on the leader. She is very excited after what can only be described as an unbelievable comeback in a very short period of time.
more on the race to come later
Adventure Tri Update - Falkirk Scotland
Julie notched up another win on the weekend, coming home first overall in the Adventure Tri in Falkirk Scotland. She thoroughly enjoyed the slightly different format of racing, where each discipline is separated by a couple of hours and the cumulative time in all 3 events is taken to decide the overall winner. With the swim event starting at 8:45am and the run not finishing til 5:30pm, it made for a long day. By the time the run was about to kick off at 5 many people were wishing they had done a normal triathlon and would have been finished already. It was a bit of a challenge to get your self pumped up again for each segment, but I guess that is what makes it different and fun.
The day started well with Julie swimming well along side Welsh star Anneliese Heard in the 12 degree water.....brrrrrr!. Anneliese tucked in behind Julie for most of the swim, but then in the swim up to shore she came along side Julie. They hit land together and prize, with Julie 2 secs back. Importantly, they both managed to distance themselves from the rest of the field with the 3rd swimmer coming in another 1min30 back.
Next up was the 20km Mountain bike, and a chance for Julie to test out her mountain bike skills against some other triathletes. It wasn’t a hugely technical course, but it was made harder by some extremely muddy sections. Thanks to her Specialized Epic Pro Julie powered home first and in doing so became the overall Leader in the race going in to the run. Again she managed to put another 1min30 on the next competitor across the line.
Going into the run Julie had a 3min 30 sec cushion on her main competitor Catriona Morrison from Scotland who recently came 2nd at the World Duathlon champs in Australia. Catriona is an excellent runner, so Julie was a little apprehensive as to whether this lead would be good enough to get the overall win. Also the run was mostly off road, again with some extremely muddy sections to contend with. Julie’s nice new Pearl Izumi off-road running shoes were going to get a good beasting today! Catriona took off hard at the start, but Julie just got into her own rhythm and ran thru to a cross the line in second place and only 24 secs behind Catriona.
So to sum up..... Julie is so excited to be racing again! This is what it is all about - racing hard and fast! bring on Melbourne and the Commonwealth Games Trials!
Thanks again to all Julies sponsors, in particular Specialized, Skinfit, Total Fitness Bath, Snugg, and Pearl Izumi for their continued support throughout this difficult year.
Also, check out some photos from the race here.
September Update
Well it's official. Julie is back in racing action! There is a still a way to go until she will be back to full fitness, but it is just great for her to be back racing again. As most of you know, she has had a bit of a tough time since the Olympics last year, needing 2 operations on her foot. Things have progressed well since the 2nd op, which has allowed her to gradually start to get some fitness back running and cycling. So all looks well for Julie to continue in pursuit of her triathlon career! And she is psyched about the thought of racing properly again.
Since the last update Julie competed in her first Mountain Bike race (the 24hr MTB race "sleepless in the saddle") on her Specialized Epic Pro bike. Julie was 1 of 5 team members racing for the Specialized/Total Fitness Bath team, which came in 5th place in their Category. It was hard, but a lot of fun and we all hope to be able to fit the same race into our schedules next year.
She also competed in her first tri since the Olympics, racing in Perranporth, Cornwall. It was a perfect race for Julie to do as it was a really well organized race, but also was fairly low key and relaxed. It was also a perfect opportunity for Julie to test out the foot, as it was a pretty hard race with the run taking part mostly on the beach! It was also great to test out all her racing equipment that has been collecting dust over the last couple of months. Importantly the foot held up well and there was no soreness after the race. She won the women's race and was 4th overall (outsprinting legend Julian Jenkinson), and came home with some nice prizes, thanks to the local sponsors (Snugg, Cycle-Logic).
Next stop will be another new race for Julie, the Adventure Triathlon in Falkirk, Scotland. This is one of a series of exciting new races where the swim, bike, and run disciplines are separated by a couple of hours rest.
Also, the run and bike segments will take place off road, which will enable Julie to get back on her Specialized Epic, and allow her to show off any new MTB skills she may have picked up at Sleepless in the Saddle. She will also get to test out her new off road Pearl Izumi shoes
After that, she will be off to Australia for the Commonwealth games trials race for England in Melbourne. Obviously this has been Julie's main target since the Olympics, but looks like it may come a bit too soon for her liking. But as we have seen in the past, in triathlon anything can happen!!!
June Update
Since the last update in May, Julie's toe/foot continued to hold her back in training and racing. A couple of weeks ago she finally came to the conclusion that something needed to be done, as things were just slowly getting worse. After consulting with her faithful "support team" in Bath, she went back to see Mr Winson a highly respected Foot and Ankle surgeon (the same one she worked with back in Oct last year). After much thought and deliberation, we decided that our best option was to have surgery again and hopefully crack the problem once and for all.
Things happened pretty quickly after that and a few days later she was in and out of hospital having had the op. It all was reported to go really well, and with a relatively short rehab period predicted, Julie hopes to be out there racing again at the end of the season. However, because of timings, she will miss her chance to try to improve on her 8th place from last year, at this year's World Championships in Japan.
On a more positive note, she will still have a very realistic chance of qualifying for Commonwealth games next year in Melbourne, with the selection race being held in Oct this year.
As usual, Julie will take this time to continue to work hard on what she does best.... swimming and biking. The running will be built up slowly. Look out for her hitting some bike races in the meantime. If all goes well, she will make an appearance in the 24hr Mountain bike race "Sleepless in the Saddle", where she will be racing in a Total Fitness Bath team. Also, she may have a crack at the BCF national time trial to be held sometime in Sept.
One final triathlon related note. Julie just wanted to take the time to send out a big thank you again to all her sponsors, especially to Specialized, Skinfit, and Total Fitness Bath. Th ey have all continued to be really supportive of her. So thank you! She hopes to back racing, and more importantly winning, in the not too distant future.
On a non-tri related note, there has been an addition to the Dibens' family. Check out the photo of Lucky Dog Dibens. 
May Update
Julie has now just returned from her two weeks training in the sun and wind at Club La Santa in Lanzarote. She had two solid weeks training, taking this time to focus on getting some good riding miles in. Her foot is still giving her some trouble on the run, but she is able to do some running at least....just not really enough! She has some Time trials coming up soon, with the National 10mile coming up on the 22nd of May, so is staying positive by trying to focus on this. It also will help her to keep that competitive edge while the foot is not 100%. While out in Lanzarote she also got the chance to try out her new Skinfit race kit (see photo), and some of the other Skinfit products that she will be using this year. Check out some of the photos of her racing and training in Lanza. Click here
April Update
So the world cup season has kicked off with a bang, with a great result for Tim Don and GBR, after he won the season opener in Hawaii. Julie wishes that she could have made the trip over, but due to things not progressing quite as fast as she would have liked since her toe operation late last year she will start racing later in the year. This may be a blessing in disguise as all the major races in the year are towards the back end of the season. She is still in full training and has her sights set on trying to qualify for both the world championships (September 05) and the commonwealth games (March 06).
She has managed to keep that competitive edge by working on her biking and entering some bike races. A couple of weeks ago she did her first road race at Castle Combe (a local motor racing track), where she raced with the CAT 3 men. She stayed with the main pack throughout the race, spending her fair share on the front of the pack, however, she decided not to contest the sprint finish ;-)
On Sunday, she also did her first time trial of the year in preparation for the National 10 and 25 mile time trials later in the year. She won the women's and placed 12th overall on a hilly 23 1/2 mile course.
She has also been doing a bit of mountain biking this winter in Wales, improving her bike handling skills and getting some practice in before a possible appearance at the 24 hour mountain bike race "Sleepless in the Saddle" in August. This will be done in a team ... not solo!
Next up for Jul ie and Mike is a trip to Lanzarote for a two week training camp. It will be nice to get some sun on our backs and it will be a great opportunity for Julie to try out some of the new products that she will be using this year. This includes some lovely new Reynolds wheels to go with her full carbon Tarmac Specialized bike, some brand new Skinfit products and some Enervit bars, gels and drinks to help power her through the tough terrain and wind that the island of Lanzarote is known for. Bring on the miles!
New Sponsorship with Skinfit
For those of you watching Julie race this, you may notice a choice in raceware. An oportunity arose for her over the winter to try out a new brand of racewear to the UK, Skinfit. They are an Austrian based company that not only make a high performance triathlon suit, but also make clothes for many different endurance sports: cycling, running, swimming, mountaineering and ski touring to name a few.
Skinfit pride themselves on making products of the highest quality, teamed with an attractive design. So also look out for Julie training in some great new running and cycling kit. To check out some of the Skinfit products, go to www.skinfit.uk.com
Julie's favorite new product at the moment is the Pfafflar jacket, which is suitable for all outdoor activities in windy or cooler weather - so ideal for the typical English Summer!
Update - January 2005
Julie receives her first new bike of the season. And wow! what a beauty! 
This great new Epic Pro Specialized Mountain bike will be great to help Julie endure the cold and wintery days this winter. Due to all the traveling the last couple of years, she has decided to tough out most of the winter months at home. Having a a great new mountain bike will definitely help out. On those cold icy days, instead of risking sliding out on some black ice, she will now hit the trails, and hopefully pick up a few new biking skills on the way. Also watch out for her competing in some races this year on her Epic pro, at possibly a 24hr team Mtb race, and the great new Adventure Tri series of 2005.
Watch out for all the new Specialized products as well. Julie is also really pumped about using all specialized products such as the spanky new Transition Triathlon shoes, designed by none other than Ironman legend Peter R eid.
The new 05 Decibel Helmets and some of there new Optics eyewear which will be really great for biking.
Later in the year you may also see Julie showing off some of the new Specialized Womens products, as they start to inch their way into the women's market.
Read some archived news
December 2004 - December 2003.