Winter Training (November 2006)
It's been a while since the last update. A couple of months in fact, but that doesn't mean things haven't been busy! Julie is now back in full training after her toe operation back in October. Everything on the toe front is fine, and as Julie likes to say...."it is still there!". She has been enjoying some steady training, and despite a somewhat rather wet and windy few months is full of gusto and ready to tackle another winters training. After reviewing the 2006 season next year she plans on still tackling a wide variety of races, but will try to plan it a little better and focus more on a few big races. Julie was disappointed not to be able to make it over to Hawaii for the Xterra Worlds and looks forward to hopefully making it there next year.
Other news, we have both been working hard on setting Julie up for some coaching. Some of you may have already seen her triathlon coaching website but if not check it out at Driventotri.com Triathlon Coaching and Triathlon Camps.
Check back in a few weeks for an updated race schedule for 2007. Hope you are all well, and looking forward to a Happy Christmas.
Sucessful Op (Sep 2006)
Good news, the operation went to plan. The bad news, Julie is no longer the bionic woman. The titanium plate was removed with no problems and Julie was able to leave the hospital later that day on crutches. If all continues to go to plan, it will be two weeks and the stitches come out. Once that happens, Julie can resume swimming and cycling.
I'm slightly worried Julie will be trying to run with with her crutches this week, so I'm going to chain her to the couch. Joking aside, hopefully she will be able to start running after 3 or 4 weeks.
Well, I just had to post this photo on the web site. This is the metal plate and two screws that were removed from Julie's second toe. Click the photo to get the BIG version.
Julie calls and end to the season!
Due to unfortunate repeated bouts of illness and infection Julie has decided to call and end to her successful 2006 season. All in all it was a pretty successful year for Julie, which start out with a solid performance at the Commonwealth games in March, and finished with a win in Denmark at her 2nd ever Xterra. It was a throroughly diverse season where Julie showed her strength in all three disciplines by competing in World Cup races, Xterras, and some of the biggest non-drafting races in the world. The fact that not many other athletes try this shows how hard it can be! The only thing that was missing for Julie was that outstanding performance of the year. All her results were solid, and good, but there was no truly standout result. This may have been due to mixing up the races, and poor planning. The fact that Julie was healthy for most of the year allowed her to do what she loves most and that is race. She hopes to learn from this for next year, but hopes to be able to continue to race in all kinds of races all over the world.
In the meantime Julie will be back in to see the surgeon to have the metal plate in her toe taken out. This was put in last year to help stop her toe from dislocating, and in recent months has been the source of repeated infections. It has now served its purpose and so will be removed, so as to prevent any further infection. While it is never nice to "go under the knife" we feel that this was unavoidable. Julie hopes to be back training again soon after the stitches will be removed in 2 weeks time. and yes for her these 2 weeks will feel like an eternity!
Thanks for all your continued support.
Julie withdraws from Chicago due to illness
All good runs have to end at some point, right? For Julie it happened this weekend. She was forced to pull out of the race in Chicago after picking up the Flu after her win in Denmark. In hindsight she probably never should have flown all the way out there in the state she was in. But as per usual she was ever hopeful that she could turn things around. That was not the case and despite putting in a decent swim, she decided to pull the plug after the bike segment. It is never fun to pull out of a race, but she decided that she was not going to get anything positive out of it, and could have potential extended her recovery even further. Despite everything it was a good experience which she hopes to learn from and she will be back in Chicago next year! A big thank you must go out to her family out in Chicago who were fantastic hosts.
Julie will now sit down and make some tough decisions about the next couple of weeks. Those that have seen the schedule will see that there are a few more races planned, but as she has learned there is no point racing unless 100%. At the moment her current thinking is to skip these, take a few days off and get rid of this bug, good and for all. And then she will focus on getting ready for the World Xterra Championships in Hawaii in October.
Thanks for all the continued support, and good luck to all those racing at the ITU World Champs this week in Switzerland.
Julie wins Xterra Denmark and makes a little Xterra History! - Aug 2006
Three weeks racing back to back is never easy, so Julie went into Xterra Denmark feeling a little flat and tired and not really sure what to expect. The course suited her, being not to technical on the bike, and pretty much flat, which made for a fast bike. What did shake things up a bit was the torrential rain the night before and then during the race! But hey thats what Xterra is all about, right?
The bad weather also made for a somewhat challenging swim, with some seriously choppy water to contend with. This played in to Julie's favour allowing her to exit the water 1st, and in doing so was (as she has been told) the first women ever to beat all the men out of the swim in an Xterra. This also set her up for a good race, and she never looked back. The bike went pretty smoothly, and she came off the bike with a 7 min lead. It was then just about getting to the finish line without having to dig too deep.
So all in all despite the weather, it was a great day. Xterra races are a lot of fun, and definitely a challenge.
Julie will now have a weekend at home before heading back Stateside for the Chicago triathlon. This will be another non drafting race, and so hopefully will enable Julie to use her bike strength to full effect.
Thanks for reading
4th Place at London
Triathlon can be a frustrating sport at times! One of the biggest challenges is being able perform well in each of the three disciplines all on the same day. This year Julie has managed to do well on the swim and bike segments, only for her run to let her down a little causing her to fade through the field. London was almost the opposite! By Julie's standards she had a poor swim, exiting in about 8th. This meant she was in a pack of 9 on the bike, including some fast runners. She then decided to just do her share of the work on the bike, and see what she could do on the run. This was a bit risky as, to be fair, it was always going to be a challenge to outrun some of the fastest runners in triathlon. Julie came into transition in 2nd and then attacked the run leading out for about the first km. She then went on to have her best run so far this year, and finish 4th behind Andrea, Sam Warriner and Liz.
All in all, it was a great weekend. The London Triathlon, is an amazing event now, with about 11,000 athletes competing throughout the weekend. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with her sponsors from Taut, Skinfit and Total Fitness Bath.
Julie now has a few days trying to recover quickly, and to clear the cobwebs off her mountain bike, before she heads of for Xterra Denmark. Doing so many different types of races is certainly fun and adventurous, but is also quite a big challenge. And it certainly wouldn't be possible without the backing of such a great bike sponsor Specialized who have provided for all her biking needs.
Salford World Cup (July 2006)
Julie finished 13th at the Salford World Cup in Manchester. She was disappointed, not so much with her race but with the fact that she narrowly missed out on World Championship selection (which needed a top 10 finish). She was 3rd Brit across the line, which means that out of 6 available slots GBR have decided only to use 2 of those slots sending only Liz and Andrea to fly the flag. On a positive note this means that Julie can now crack on with some more races which should allow her to use her bike strength to full effect.
The exact race plan is still being decided but will see Julie race in London this weekend, and then Mrs T's Chicago, and the UK Xterra.
Probably most importantly Julie is still thoroughly enjoying training and racing, and still feels that there is more to come especially on the run. So those family members and friends will have to wait a little longer before any little Mikeys are running around!!!
LifeTime Fitness "Battle of the Sexes" (July 2006)
Hunter Kemper had a great performance in the stifling 98 degree heat in Minneapolis to take home the big $200,000 check. The men have now won the last two years bringing the tally to 3:2 to the women. The men also managed to place 9 in the top ten this year, with Emma Snowsill being the only girl to finish in the top ten, coming home in 9th place. This could bode well for the women getting a bigger head start for next year!!!!
Julie was happy with her 7th place (in the women). She had a great bike and came into T2 with Becky Lavelle, and with a 1:30 min lead over the next girls. Julie then struggled on the run mostly due to the heat. She still managed to take some good scalps, and came home with her biggest check of the year so far. She was extremely satisfied with her Bike leg, as this is one of the only times that she has really managed to show her true potential on the bike, with only Gibbs-Lavelle, who is one of the best non-drafting triathletes in the world, able to stay with her. Never the less, the run still needs to be improved on, and is frustrating Julie, as she just has not been able to run to her potential for whatever reason in her last few races. But that i suppose is why Triathlon is such a great challenge. One of the hardest things to do is to get all 3 disciplines firing at the same time.
Julie would like to Thank everyone at LifeTime Fitness, Gear West, and a special thank you to Braham Akradi for whom the whole LifeTime Fitness series could not exist without.
Next for Julie are 2 races in the UK. First up is the Salford World Cup, which will also act as the qualification race for world championships. The following weekend Julie will then race in the biggest triathlon in the world in London.
Thanks for reading, and for those that are interested please register to receive an email to let you know when the site has been updated.
Adventure Triathlon in Aberdeen (July 2006)
This weekend saw Julie compete in her second "Adventure Triathlon" held in Aberdeen Scotland. It is basically an off road triathlon similar to the X-Terra format, but with the 3 events separated by a few hours.
The day started with a chilly (12.5 degrees.....brrrrrrr) short 1500m swim....with a fairly long run in the after lap one! (so they probably only actually swam about 1000m!). Julie came out first after battling it out with fellow TeamBath athlete Emma Davies. Julie managed to just out sprint Emma to take the swim bonus, and set her up with about a minute lead over her main rivals heading into the bike.
Next up was the Mountain bike race, held a couple of hours later. The course was well designed with a few technical singletrack sections mixed in with some gradual climbs on gravel tracks. At the end of each lap was a series of jump sections, which, if you had the skills, would have been perfect to show off some good tricks and get some "big air"! Needless to say survival was the name of the game for most of the girls! We'll have to wait for the TV coverage later in the year to see if anyone was actually brave enough to even get off the ground! Anyway Julie came in 3rd in the Bike section, but still went into the run with 1min30 lead over second place.
The 10km trail run, again was not your typical run, with it being held along side a beach. The first 3km were just about manageable. But then things just seemed to get worse and worse. Pretty much the rest of the course was then held on the beach or over sand dunes. The name of one of the dunes, the "Big Mother Dune" should give you a fairly good idea as to how steep it was. And again anyone looking for a good laugh should wait to see Julie and the other girls crawl their way up and down some of these dunes. And again despite it being a lot of fun, and a challenge, Julie has to admit that she was cursing the organizers names as she tackled some of these monster dunes. Regardless, Julie finished the run in 3rd place, and had done enough to win overall by over 2 mins.
Thanks To John Caine and everyone at Great Run/ Nova for putting on such a well organised event, and for looking after the athletes so well.
Next up is the "Battle of the Sexes" Lifetime Fitness Triathlon held in Minneapolis on the 15th July. For those living in the US NBC Sports will once again broadcast this year’s event at 3:30 p.m on Saturday, July 29, 2006.
Disappointing National Champs
Julie came a disappointing 7th place at the British National Championships on the weekend. Despite the Human Race Team putting on another great race at Windsor, and the weather conditions being just about perfect, Julie felt under par throughout the race. Helen Tucker had a great race and backed up her current world cup form to win it. Without wishing to make excuses, as there were clearly better athletes on the day, Julie thinks that her poor performacne good be due to a number of things. One being that she has not been used to racing often for a few years now, and found that that combined with feeling relatively energyless, left her without the "fire in her belly" to put the smack down. This along with still trying to adjust to life without her long time coach Richard Hobson who now lives in France. All of these things Julie is going to be looking at seriously. Never the less, she is still feeling very positive about the season. She has had some good results this year already, and feels in good shape, just couldnt put it together on the day.
She will now take a month to get some good aerobic endurance work in, and some time trial specific work as she leads in to the LifeTime Fitness race in Minneapolis, which has the staggering $250,000 first prize up for grabs. Julie knows that if she has any chance fo getting anywhere near this some good hard work, and lots of recovery needs to be had between now and then.
Thanks for checking in, and for all the continued support.
May 2006 Race update
Julie’s last 10 days have been pretty busy with 2 return trips to Nice for 2 races and a day in Manchester in between to help launch the Salford World Cup along with her sponsors Taut.
Her first race was just across the French/Italian border in San Remo. This race was an Olympic distance ETU premier cup race. It was a beautiful race, in a beautiful city, and she came home in a respectable 4th place. After leading out the swim, she managed to stay away for 2/3rds of the bike when she was caught by a group of 4 containing the eventual winner Magali Messmer DiMarco (Sydney Olympics bronze medallist). Messmer DiMarco went on to win the race. While Julie faded a little in the plus 30 degree heat, she held on for 4th.
Next was a quick flight back to Manchester and a day hanging out with some Celebrities who will also be competing in Salford, to help launch the 2006 World Cup. Despite the rain, it was a fun day, and a good chance to also help promote Taut, one of Julie’s main sponsors, who have now also teamed up with British Triathlon.
Then after a quick two day stop at home to drop off her road bike and pick up her Specialized Epic Mtb, it was off again to Nice for her first X-Terra in France. For those wondering....X-Terra is basically triathlon, but with the Cycling taking place on a Mountain bike, and the run on trails rather than road. What Julie failed to realize was that she had actually picked probably one of the hardest and most technical of all the X-Terra’s! With mountain biking still being relatively new to Julie, she went into the race with very few expectations....other than the one of hopefully getting round the course in one piece! You will be glad to hear that despite two falls she did just about manage that, and finished 2nd just behind Renata Bucher, a well reknowned X-terra racer! Needless to say she was happy with the result.
Next stop Windsor for the British National Championships in 2 weeks.
May 2006 Update
Julie and Mike have just returned from two weeks training in Lanzorte, Richard Hobson’s TriLiving Triathlon Camp. After getting a bit carried away with training on her return from Australia she went out there feeling a little run down and with a few little niggles. Also with the pretty much non existent spring that the UK seemed to have, it was a great time to go away and get some sun, as well as to spend some time with Richard, who has now reloacted to France. So the trip was in effect just what the doctor ordered, with some good aerobic training. She also got to race in the Volcano International Triathlon, which she won by 8 mins, and had finished just inside the top 15 overall!
The trip also allowed Julie to sit down with her coaches, Richard and Chris, to plan the rest of the season. Now that Julie is no longer part of the WCPP it will allow her to go out and find races that should suit her style of racing a bit more, and have alot of fun to go with it. Now thats what being a Pro Triathlete is all about! So look out for Julie trying some new and different races this year, as well as still racing a few of the traditional World Cups, and World Champs. Check out her race schedule here.
On a sponsorship note Julie is very happy to welcome Topolino Wheels on board . Julie first got to try out these wheels in the tough wind of Lanzarote, where her bike split was only a minute slower that Karin Thuerig who was the World Time Trial Champion a few years back! Look out for these flash looking new wheels again later this year.
So next stop for Julie is the San Remo ITU race, and then a off to France to try her hand in her first X-Terra triathlon! For more info checkout their website at www.xterraplanet.com
Thanks for reading and thanks to Atila Sbruzzi at Club La Santa for some great pictures.
April 2006 Update - Back Home again!
Julie is now back home after her 6 week trip down under. All in all it was a pretty successful trip. She is still healthy and in one piece, and is still really enjoying her training and racing!
Commonwealth Games Report:
Julie placed 10th at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. While it wasn't really the result she was looking for, she thoroughly enjoyed the whole commonwealth experience and the race itself. St kildas was a gorgeous setting and with her own Dibens Barmy Army in attendance clad in their red and white 'Dibbo for Gold' T-shirts a lot of fun was had by all. As for the race itself, it just didn't really pan out well for Julie. Even though her run is now much improved she still has a way to go to be able to run with the likes of Emma Snowsill and the other top runners. So it was always going to be a tall order when all the contenders came together early on the bike. With that said Julie tried to make a difference on the bike but no-one else was interested, and so setting things up for a running race. That said, Julie had a solid run and finished in the top 10. After the race Julie was disappointed with her result, but also content in knowing that she raced well, but it just wasn't her race!
Next Stop Mooloolaba World Cup:
Julie came 8th in the Mooloolaba World Cup. This is her best result in a World Cup in quite a few years, so a good way to start out her season. After what Julie would consider a poor swim for her she came out of the water a bit down on the leaders, but once on the bike she powered her way up to them with relative ease. The benefit of this was that anyone else having a poor swim was unable to bridge the gap up, and so there was a small group of 7 away on the bike. They worked pretty well together and headed on the the run with a 2 minute lead on the rest of the field. Julie was holding 4th position for a long time, but faded on the last lap of 4 on the run, being passed by some of the fastest runners in triathlon coming up from behind. Again, post race Julie was disappointed, but on reflection knows that it was a respectable performance, and a great way to start out the year.
Next up for Julie is some much needed time at home back in Bath. She might then squeeze in a ITU points race in Portugal before heading out to join Hobbo (her coach) on the Volcano Triathlon TriLiving camp in Lanzarote.
Some other news is that Julie is now no longer part of the Lottery Funded World Class Performance Program. This may well have an impact on which races she will do this year, and is currently looking at all the options she has in front of her. While this will have a negative impact financially for her, it is by no means the end of the world as it will no give her the freedom to play around a bit more and pick and choose her races more to suit her strengths.
In respect of this Julie would like to make people aware that it is at times like this that she feels extremely grateful to those that have continued to back her and help her to follow her dreams. Without such a great group of people around her she would not be here today. So thank you to all her sponsors, as well as to all her family and friends who always support her no matter what, and of course a big thank you to those that help Julie to get in the best shape as possible, in particular to both Richard Hobson and Chris Volley, and everyone at TeamBath. And one last thank you to Richard Downey her Manager who works behind the scenes ensuring that Julie not only has all the best kit and Equipment that she requires but also helps to make sure she can focus solely on her performance and training. SO THANK YOU TO ALL!
March 2006 Update from Geelong, Australia
Two weeks to go to Julie’s first race of 2006 and the Commonwealth Games. Julie has now been out in Oz for just under 3 weeks now. The first week in Byron Bay for Justin (brother) and Trudy’s wedding was great fun, and a great way to start getting acclimatized. She then moved over to Geelong, near Melbourne, and will stay there until the opening ceremony on the 15th March, when she will move into Melbourne along with the other English triathletes. She has reported to have had two v consistent weeks of training, in some not so consistent conditions! People don’t joke when they say that you can have all 4 seasons before noon in Melbourne. It can go from about 36 degrees and sunny to 20 degrees and cloudy before you can say Jiminy Cricket. Needless to say, come race day it is going to be a bit of a lottery on what conditions they will get.
For the last two weeks one of her coaches, Chris, has been out in Geelong looking after her training. Richard Hobson, her main coach for the last 4 – 5 years was unable to go to Australia, because of a big move that he and family are planning over to France. So thankfully Chris, who is now the main coach in Bath, was able make the trip and crack the whip...or keep the reigns pulled tight! Both Richard and Chris have been unbelievably supportive, and without them Julie would have struggled to be where she is today. Richard will be sorely missed after the move to France happens, but hopefully Richard, Chris and Julie can continue to work together as a team.
With only 2 weeks to go to the race, you could say that the 'Hay is in the Barn' (in that all the work is done), and all Julie really needs to do now is rest up, do a couple more speed sessions to sharpen her up for the race, and get ready mentally for the race. Even though Julie really enjoys working hard and getting all the training done, this is where the fun is really had! A few less training hrs, not only means a few more hours in the day to relax, your body starts to come alive and you have more energy. The trick is to controlling that extra energy and saving it for the gun on race day!
I suppose the most important message to state is that Julie is healthy and in a very strong and exciting position going into the start of the season. For the first time at a major games, she is really looking forward to the whole experience and is ready to lay it on line come race day. If you get a chance watch out for the race which is to be held on Sat 18th March at 9am (Australian time). Thanks for reading.
February Update – from Byron Bay, Australia
Julie is now out in Australia for some warm weather training. It is five and a half weeks until the Commonwealth Games race, so she should have plenty of time to get over jet lag and acclimatise to the heat. She is spending the first week in Byron Bay with family and friends. Her brother Justin is getting married this weekend on the Beach. So she is fitting her training in and around tanning and some holiday activities. She is enjoying going out training without having to put layer after layer of clothes on! And has been lucky enough to try out some new pieces of Specialized kit that she received before flying out. Of particular note are the Specialized Arc Optics. They are seriously lightweight, and the lenses are so clear that you almost forget that you have sunglasses on!.
On the fun side of things, today we went snorkeling and saw loads of fish, turtles, sting rays and some type of shark ... and a bit of vomit. A tiny bit of sea sick snuck up on Julie while waiting for the last of our group to get back to the boat.
After the wedding, Julie will head to Geelong for the remaining time leading up to the race. Geelong is about an hour outside of Melbourne and is supposed to be great for triathlon training. One of her coaches, Chris Volley, from Bath will be out there for the first 2 weeks to help her get into tip top shape. The rest of the team will then join Julie in Geelong for the last two weeks.
Before Julie left the UK she was asked to write an article for www.trainsmart.com, and hopefully they will post it soon. After clicking on the link, you need to click on the "SmartStuff Newsletter".
New Sponsorship with Taut
Julie is pleased to announce a new sponsorship deal with Taut, which was finalised just before leaving for Australia. Taut is a new energy drink in the UK and is “the first clean sports drink“. By that it means there are no unnecessary additives, eg., E numbers, sweeteners, preservatives. Julie started using Taut last year in the build up to the Commonwealth trials race. They were testing their new products at the university of Bath and as we saw from Julie’s results she seemed to get on with it pretty well. Taut has an Isotonic drink and an Endurance drink.
Look out for this product at some of the biggest races in the UK this year and give it a TRI. You will really taste a difference.
January 2006 Update
Happy new year to friends and family and triathletes! Lets hope that 2006 is a good one. So far so good for Julie!!! Things are ticking along nicely! She has had some great months of winter base training and now slowly the intensity is starting to be introduced into her training as we get closer to the Commonwealth Games. It is now only a month until Julie heads out to OZ to continue in her prepartions for the race. And after a pretty miserable winter in the UK it will certainly be nice to get some sun on her back.
Other good news is that Julie continues to have some great sponsors behind her. She will continue to use Specialized, Skinfit, and Snugg, and will continue to race for local triathlon team and shop Total Fitness Bath. She has just collected two of her new Specialized bikes for the year....and what a BEAUTY her race bike is. It really is something special, and at a retail value of about £4000 to £5000, so it should be. This new S-Works Tarmac SL, really does stand up to its name with the SL standing for Super Light!
Also keeping checking the website for news on some new exciting sponsorship deals in the works!
Read some archived news
January 2005 - December 2005.