Finally time for an update!:
Last time I wrote, I was just about to go to our camp in Thailand. With our team TBB we we're going to have a camp, app. 90 km south of Phuket close to a city called Phangna. In the first couple of days, I really, really struggled with the humidity and the heat but luckily I got better and better. We stayed in this amazing resort called Bor Saen villas and spas. People either shared or had their own cool house right on a lagoon where we could do a lot of our swim sessions. I must admit that I'd been quite sceptical about going to Thailand for a training camp but I was surprised in a very positive way. The pool where we swam needed to have a few adjustements done though as we all got very sensitive teeths after every swim!!! But otherwise the rest was good. I was very amazed by the quality of the roads, the roads where not any different from what I'm used to. The running was awesome, just we're we stayed we could run on very nice dirt trails. And then the bonus, everything is so cheap in Thailand!! The cooking facilities in our house weren't great, I guess you're not meant to cook while you're there so we could order room service twice a day and it was still a lot cheaper than cooking your own food at home!! And the food was lovely, a lot of rice of course and nice thai dishes.

The Thai people are the most friendly people that I've ever met. Everywhere we went we had people shouting: hello, hello, hello!! And people were always one big smile. I had a few days where I was a bit tired and sick of training but then you get a smile from some of the kids, that melts your heart and you just can't be negative anymore. You realize how poor a lot of them are and yet, they're still so happy. Most of them are buddhists and it makes you think that if everyone

was a buddhist, it would be much more peaceful living in this world. The children that lived close to where we would run started to line up when they saw us to cheer for us, one day there was about 10 of them just waiting to give us high 5's!! My 3 1/2 weeks in Thailand went quickly by and I'm excited to go back.

After Thailand, I only had 1 week in Australia so this week was very rushed!! I only had time to catch up with a few friends before I was on the plane again.

After Australia, I flew into California where I'm staying with my friend and training partner, Hillary Biscay. After one month in the heat, it was a bit of a shock to come here eventhough it's still quite warm. Two days after I arrived here, I raced a 70.3 at Oceanside. The water was 16 degres so I was so cold in the water and couldn't really get my arms to move!! I reckoned the water in Thailand was 30 degres so this was really a change! I felt alright on the bike but as I was on a brand new bike, it needs a few adjustements. Felt strong on the run but just not so fast but it was a good day of training and getting back into race mood day before the Ironman in Arizona on the 15th of April.

Packing up:
When I last time updated my site, it had just been snowing. Unfortunately the snow didn't stay for very long! We did get another dump though but this one didn't stay for long either. Yet, it was still quite icy outside and still to cold to descend on the road bike. So I got myself a mtb and started riding on an indoor bike track as well. I'm very lucky because only a 25 min. drive from here, we've got this indoor bike track, in Aigle. I thought I would be pretty scared riding on the track but I was wrong, I really enjoy it. It's different though as you can't break and have to keep pedaling. So after and hour, your bum gets pretty sore as you sit in the one and same spot all the time!! I was still waiting for more snow but the weather God would otherwise and this winter has been so mild here. So no more cross country skiing.

Therefore I've decided to pack up and go to Thailand in a couple of days. Andrew, my partner will be there with our whole training squad. It's going to be exciting to see what it's like training in Thailand! I'll stay in Thailand for 3 weeks or so before Andrew and I will go to Australia and then the States where I'm planning on starting racing at the end of March if I'm fit enough which I hopefully will be.

I'm always sad to leave my mountains and friend here but it's also nice to go to other places and I will be back here in 3 months.

Having fun in the snow!!
First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, I hope you all had a good time celebrating the transition from 2006 into 2007.

Here's a little update on what I've been up to in since my Ironman victory in Western Australia:

After a long year with a lot of races, I needed a HOLIDAY!! After Busselton, we, Andrew and I, had a lovely week at the Margaret River where we enjoyed just to relax without having to train every single day. Margaret River is famous for it's wine so we did a bit of wine tasting, very recommendable!! I love the beaches in this area, they're the most beautiful beaches that I've ever seen so we spent a bit of time there, the water was a bit chilli though! After a week here, I flew back to Switzerland, only for a short time before I went to London to stay with a very good friend of mine. Four days here and then my journey continued to Denmark where I stayed with my mum and friends for a couple of weeks and celebrated Xmas. I had a great time visiting friends and family, something I don't do much when the race season is on.

I was back again in Leysin just before New Years which I celebrated with good friends. There wasn't a lot of snow though which was quite disappointing!! On the 1st of January, we got a big storm and late afternoon, it finally started snowing!! And it kept snowing all night so everyone was happy. I got my cross country equipment ready and have been out a few times now. Had I been born in Norway or Sweden, I think this would have been my sport, I just love it!! I'm not much of a down hill skier though- I have a good excuse for not going: I'm afraid to fall and make to much damage!!

So I'm back training again and I'm enjoying it.


What a nice way to finish off a good year!

First of all I apologize for this delayed race report but I’ve been living out of my suit case in the last 2 weeks, enjoying a bit of time out and without internet access. Early this year, I was asked by the organizers of Ironman WA if I would come and race. I really wanted to but it’s always difficult to know how you pull up after a big race like Hawaii both physically and mentally.

So after Hawaii,I had a couple of weeks of easy training and then I got back into training again. Maybe I got back into it a little to fast because 3 weeks after Hawaii, I got the worst back spasm and was so scared that another disc bulge was on it’s way.

But my legend physio, Peter Stanton sorted me out as always and treated me for hours and hours and quickly got me back on track. So 4 weeks after Hawaii, I got green light to race the ITU Long World Championships in Canberra. Unfortunately, I realized that I had a puncture after a couple of km’s on the bike and then I decided that with all my back problems and this puncture, maybe I wasn’t meant to race. This was off course very disappointing but luckily, there was still the Ironman in Busselton, Western Australia to aim for.

 

The bike course and the run course in Busselton are both totally flat, a course that suits me down to the ground. Before the race, I was very worried about drafting because in the majority of all my races this year, there’s been so much drafting.

The organizers were awesome and had decided to give us pros a 15 min. head start. For us girls, this can make a massive difference, because in most races this means that we have to ride the whole course on our own and not with age group guys. So this gives us a fair race. And this is exactly what this ironman was! I had an ok swim, it was so cool to swim around the jetty, no chances of getting lost! I then got on the bike. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to feel like with my previous back problems only a few weeks beforehand but my back was fine all the way, I just made sure that I stretched now and again. I wasn’t sure how I would go with the distance either because since Hawaii, I hadn’t done any rides longer than 3 hours but I guess that all the miles that I had in my legs from the whole year saved me. I actually felt good and rode a pretty fast time, 4.48. And i was so pleased to see that no one was drafting, none of the pros and none of the age groupers. This is what the ironman is all about, doing your own race!!

When I got off the bike I mentally didn’t have it!! Hawaii drained me a lot mentally and I honestly wasn't in the mood to run another marathon!! I got my act together and put on my running shoes and just started the run very slowly. To my big surprise, I started to feel good after an hour so I decided to keep going and even after 2 hours, I still felt very good and positive. With the last lap to go, I still had a 10 min. lead so now I knew that I just had to push through the last 14 km and no one would catch me! But after 2.45 min, I finally started to hurt!! First it was my quads that almost started cramping, then my back got sore, then my feet and with the last 20 min to go, it was just my whole body!!

I really had to try hard to think about something else but pain!! Running down the finish was such a wonderful feeling, yet I was still scared that I would cramp so much that I would have to crawl to the finish line but I managed without!! As soon as I got there, I sunk into a wheel chair, I simply couldn’t stand on my legs anymore!!

After a couple of hours in the medical tent where I had an ice bath, I finally started to feel better and I was now able to enjoy my victory! So what a way to finish my best year ever, I’m very happy! Busselton was just an amazing place to race. I loved everything about it. It’s so beautiful there and all the volunteers and the spectators were fantastic. This is a race that I can recommend to everyone.

A tough day in the lava fields
Last Saturday (oct 21st) was another tough day at the office! For most of it though, I felt awesome but it all got a bit rough after 8 hours into the race.

I had an average swim, I got out of the water a little further behind the leaders than expected but that's racing so it didn't worry me to much. I'd been riding well prior to the race so I was very excited to start the 180 km. I did feel alright but not as great as I thought but I kept focusing, knowing that I normally start to feel a lot better after 2 1/2 hours. At Hawi I put the hammer down and then I finally felt good. So I started catching most of the girls in front of me. On Alii Drive, I was only 45 sec. behind Michellie and she got 5 min on me in the water. When I entered the transition tent, she was still there so I tried to hurry up and to get out of there!! Michellie started to pull away from me but I was fine just doing my own thing and I felt very strong. Maybe you've noticed that I run with a pack of fluid on my back? When I raced Hawaii in 2004, we noticed that I sweat loads!! Ever since I've been running with fluids on my back whenever I do a long run. It doesn't bother me the least, I'm so used to it and I just want to stay as hydrated as possible. In any other race I would have been handed out a second pack at special needs half way on the run but in Hawaii, you don't get your special needs until the 30 km mark and that was just to late for me.

My first pack was empty after 1.30 hour and I didn't get my second one until 2.25 hours into the marathon. By then, I was already much to dehydrated.

2 hours into the run, I still felt good and I was still running at 3.20/ marathon but then it all went donhill and I just got slower and slower!!

So I lost my 2nd place lead and got passed by more and more girls. For a long time, I was in 7th place and then 9th place towards the end. Within 300 m to go, Mel Ashton passed me and within 200 m to go Natasha Badman went by and she rounded out the top 10. I ended up with a pretty boring 11th. place. Very frustrating but it was only my 2nd time racing in Hawaii and I know that there's a lot to improve for 2007.

I'm still very happy though. Last year around this time, I was either lying flat or crawling on the floor due to a disc bulge. This year, I've done more than I ever thought I could do. I won Ironman Brazil, I won the European Champs long course and I raced against the best in Hawaii so I'm very excited about 2007.