AFTER 46 WEEKS OF TRAINING MY BODY DESERVES A GOOD BREAK.

My sport, surf ironwoman racing, has a very long season. This season, I started training in June and our last event of the season was in mid April. A 46 week season is a long time and it felt like it too. The hardest part of this big block of training and racing is trying to make sure I am peaking and racing well for the last event of the season: Aussies. Aussies is my sports Australian championships, or nationals. It is a big deal. 

Coming into Aussies this season I was feeling really good. I hadn’t had the season I wanted in the Nutrigrain and Summer of Surf series, but I made some changes and had a really good 6 week block of training coming into Aussies. I was super excited to race. However, the taper week was hard. I have always had a love hate relationship with tapering. I love backing off the training and starting to feel fresh. However, I often worry that I am going to lose fitness, or because I am not used to feeling good I start to worry that I am feeling ‘weird’. Combine this with the anticipation of the biggest event of the season coming up and trying not to get sick, tapering can be very stressful. I think tapering is something many athletes struggle with. 

Things that I try to do during taper week to make me feel less stressed include:

• Reflecting on all the training I have done to get here, and remind myself that I will not lose any fitness or ability during taper. 

• Taking the time to enjoy the taper as they don’t come very often. This means choosing a few extra times during the day to relax, like watching a movie or reading a book. 

• Pack my bag early so I know I have everything. If I tried to pack the night before it would totally stress me out.  I like to slowly pack everything I need during the week before the event. Such as; my racing gear, drink bottles, supplements, recovery gear and pyjamas (I always forget them). 

I didn’t have a smooth taper leading into Aussies this year. We had really dirty water from a big storm that came through, and I was worried it was going to make me sick. Then, 3 days before the event I impinged my shoulder. I hadn’t had a shoulder injury in so long, I was so annoyed it happened at the worst time. Luckily, my physio was also competing at Aussies so I got to see him before the event started. It took two days or pretty painful treatment, but on day 1 of Aussies, I was pain free! 

At Aussies this year I got 5 medals, 3rd in the board race and 4 team medals. I was very proud of how I raced and I think I put some of my best racing forward. However, Aussies was not all good for me. My favourite event and one of the biggest events of the carnival is the ironwoman race. I made it to the semi final which was run on day 2. Ski was the first leg and the surf was big. Unfortunately, I made a mistake going out on my ski which resulted in it washing all the way back into shore. By the time I got back to the beach to go out again on my ski, some of the competitors had already entered the water for the 2nd leg. I still finished the race but was nowhere near qualifying and I missed out on the final. This was the first time I wouldn’t be in the open ironwoman final at Aussies since I was 17. 

The thing I am most proud of was this: Even though this was a devastating result for me, I did not let it impact the rest of my carnival. I took 20 minutes to be really sad about it, and then I put it behind me and focused on the other events coming up. I focused on racing for the team, and doing the best races I could in my team events. I focused on putting my best food forward and making the most of what was left rather than dwelling on everything that went wrong. 

Now that Aussies are over, I get to enjoy some downtime. I really like to switch off in the off season and back away from training. This allows me to feel fully motivated and eager to train once our training starts up again. I still like to do a bit of exercise like run with a friend or do some yoga, but I don’t structure it and only do it when I feel like it. After 46 weeks of training, my body deserves a good break.