{"id":8057,"date":"2021-05-07T06:51:35","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T06:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=8057"},"modified":"2021-05-07T06:51:35","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T06:51:35","slug":"liz-blatchfords-career-recap-ironman-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=8057","title":{"rendered":"Liz Blatchford\u2019s career recap & Ironman tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

From short-course wins to Olympic qualification heartbreak and instant Ironman success, Aussie racer Liz Blatchford has experienced a long and colourful triathlon career. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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We caught up with the Cheshire-born 34-year-old at a BMC Etixx pro team camp to discuss racing ITU for GB, her Ironman world championship podiums and what essential advice she has for age-groupers making the jump to long-course racing\u2026<\/p>\n

220: UK readership will know you from your ITU days racing for Great Britain. How do you look back on those days?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Blatchford: I see my ITU years as my formative years. I attribute my quick long-course success to what I did in my 11 years of ITU racing; that\u2019s a lot of training in the bag. I did a lot of high volume training when I was coached by Brett Sutton, so that made the transition easier when I turned to long-course. I enjoyed my time in ITU. I tried and failed to qualify for the Olympics three times \u2013 yep three times! \u2013 but I\u2019ve no regrets. I still do believe tri is an individual sport and shouldn\u2019t be for domestiques, though.<\/p>\n

Was Ironman always a long-term goal and why did your body adapt so quickly to the rigours of long-course training and racing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ironman wasn\u2019t really a goal in all honesty. In 2011, I thought I\u2019d race the London Olympics and possibly retire. But when I didn\u2019t qualify, I didn\u2019t feel like I wanted to finish on that note. So I went and did some 70.3s that year, and won them. So I really watched Kona with interest in 2012, and that inspired me and put that \u2018What if?\u2019 in my head. I didn\u2019t think my body would be that suited to Ironman training because of the injuries I\u2019ve had, but it was probably the speed that caused my short-course injuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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What have been the major changes when moving to long-course racing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Learning to ride a time-trial bike and spending five hours in the TT position! That\u2019s so different to riding a road bike! So a lot of it was contorting my body to get into that initially uncomfortable position. I\u2019ve dropped a lot of intensity out of my training, but I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019ve doing anymore hours than I did in ITU training. Instead of three hard run sessions with ITU, it\u2019s one or two per week.<\/p>\n

Did you expect your third place at Hawaii on debut in 2013?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t expect that. I\u2019d won Ironman Cairns but that wasn\u2019t enough to qualify for Hawaii, but I struggled at Mont Tremblant a little later but that provided a strength boost. I hoped for top 10 in Hawaii but I had something approaching a perfect race, apart from a four minute littering penalty! I was a bit delirious at the time, I threw a bottle in the wrong zone and I realised as soon as it left my hand. In retrospect I should\u2019ve stopped, but I wasn\u2019t thinking straight.<\/p>\n

After another third in 2015, how are you preparing for 2016?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m definitely always paying attention to my competitors, but you should always focus on your self. I\u2019m carrying a few injuries that I had at Hawaii in 2015 so the goal is to get rid of them first. I know what to do to get myself in the best shape for Kona. I can address my weaknesses but so much depends on how the day goes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From what we\u2019ve seen over the last few days, it seems a really good set-up at BMC Etixx in terms of support and stability. How much has that benefited you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re using the best stuff in terms of equipment and staff. [Being on a salary] means you\u2019re not having to race every month to make a living, so that\u2019s priceless. Ben and Bob are really supportive and don\u2019t apply pressure. And I really enjoy spending time with my teammates, it makes the 40 hours of travel from Melbourne to Lanzarote worth it! In terms of having Etixx on board, it\u2019s brilliant. We\u2019re drug tested as pro athletes and everything with Etixx is batch-tested so you can trust it; not all nutrition is equal but we know their\u2019s is clean. And they really take on board athlete feedback.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve experienced a lot in your career. Do you think the sport is in good shape?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think the teams like ours, Bahrain 13 and others make it the best state it\u2019s been in for a long time. The whole Ironman side, there\u2019s definitely a lot that needs to be worked on there. We had a few meetings with Andrew Messick in Boulder last summer, and they want to hear our ideas but we need a united voice. So I hope the Pro Tri Union makes some positive changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You studied marine biology. Is that something you\u2019ll return to after tri?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s still an interest but I can\u2019t see it being a career. I\u2019m actually looking into a teaching diploma to teach science and physical education at secondary school. My mum was a teacher and it\u2019s not a bad way to spend your days! They\u2019ve just added triathlon to some curriculums in Australia, so it\u2019d be good to impart some of my knowledge onto teenage kids. Less focusing on myself, and more giving time to others!\u00a0<\/p>\n

And what key pieces of advice can you give to our readers making the move from Olympic to long-distance triathlon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Spend a lot of time on your time-trial bike! And on the aerobars as you want to be comfortable.<\/p>\n

2. If it\u2019s your first Ironman, try and enjoy it. You only have your first time once! So try and enjoy and embrace the experience, as it\u2019s pretty special.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

3. Going into your first half or Ironman, train with your nutrition in your key sessions. Make sure you use your gels, bars or isotonic drinks to get your stomach and digestive tract used to taking those on board. You need to know how much sports nutrition you need and how much you can tolerate. That\u2019s a big part of your training as well.<\/p>\n

For more on BMC Etixx head to\u00a0www.uplacebmctriathlon.com and for more info on Etixx Sports Nutrition visit etixxsports.com<\/em><\/p>\n

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Image: BrakeThrough Media<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From short-course wins to Olympic qualification heartbreak and instant Ironman success, Aussie racer Liz Blatchford has experienced a long and colourful triathlon career. Advertisement We caught up with the Cheshire-born 34-year-old at a BMC Etixx pro team camp to discuss racing ITU for GB, her Ironman world championship podiums and what essential advice she has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}