Andrew Johns’s Blog

what happened in madrid, well you wouldn’t believe at the end of may in spain you could have a race where more than half the field pulls out with hypothermia, but that is exactly what happened. it wasn’t that it was so ridiculously cold outside the women’s race went on 3 hours earlier without a hitch, and by the way a huge congratulations to our very good friend helen tucker who had an amazing race and qualified for her first olympics. the problem for us was it started absolutley belting down with rain during our bike leg. i had had a poor swim but got on the bike and caught the lead group on my own by the 2nd lap and started to try and bust it up a bit, but then the rain started, it was freezing, i kept telling myself it was okay but after 15 minutes or so i couldn’t feel my legs and my body started shutting down. that was the end of it for me,it’s so dissappointing that in your olympic trial you don’t even get to fight for your spot, your beaten by extreme conditions, the coldest race and the worst conditions i’ve raced in , in my entire career and it happens on my olympic selection race and the irony of it all, it’s a selection for beijing where biggest factor there is likely to be the heat. so that’s the end of that chapter, caio for now AJ.

well it’s been quite some time since my last world cup podium, and it has to be one of the most satisfying. my federation took me off the start list for mooloolaba to give a younger athlete a practise race over my olympic aspirations, which was just the motivation i needed to show them what a severe judgement mistake they had made. they day was a little cool for my liking but it was a wetsuit swim , so not so bad, i had a shocker first lap,as i got my googles knocked off and had one side full of water, i kept pumping into what seemed like the whole field. after readjusting my goggles, thanks goodness for the run up the beach at the halfway mark in the swim, i then swan onto the back of the lead group. there was a massive line of athletes, i had some work to do on the bike, but i felt strong and managed to drop all in my group and bridge up to the next pack, i tried multiple times to get away, but eventually managed on the 2nd last lap, there was a small break up ahead so it was a good senario, everyone was keen to work, i felt good and did it pretty easy while taking the sting out of some of the others run. onto the run i felt strong and soon as leading my group along with Paul Tichelaar, i wa in cruise mode wating for Gomez and brad to come along, i didn’t have to wait to long as gomez came storming past as if he was doing a 400m rep, i went with him but after 200m or so, he was gone, definately a level ahead of all at the moment. brad came past and i held him at 50m for the rest of the race. nice to be involved and have such a big impact on the race. a big kiss to my better half Lisbeth who is an amazing mother and had been so good to me in letting me get on with my training while having a 3 month old (teething) baby in the house, cheers AJ.

Astrid Johns was born 17 December 11.13am , 3.7 kg and 50cm tall, she is one beautiful little girl, ofcourse i am very biased being her father but what can i say she is. Mum is doing great, but was one hell of an ordeal, i have a whole new respect for all mothers out there. she was getting painful contractions all sunday every 3-5mins. we had an appointment to go down to the hospital at 8pm on sunday night, Lisbeth managed to hold out till then thinking that she would go down and having gone through the first stage of labour in the comfort of her own home. unfortunately she wasn’t close and they were mostly what they called false contractions, so they gave her something to stop these and she managed to sleep that night. As she was now 11 days late it was time to induce the birth. so she was given some pills at 4am and by 6am it was game on. i have watched lisbeth do many ironmans now, and seen her suffer for hours during these races, but never have i witnessed anything close to this. in lisbeth’s own words she would rather do 4 ironmans back to back than go through childbirth again. but saying that when we look at little Astrid ofcourse it was all worth it and she/we would do it again in a heartbeat to have another child as amazing as Astrid. so now begins another chapter in our lives as all you parents out there well know. i’ll try and post some photos of the little as soon as i figure out how to do it. i hoping maybe a golfer or a tennis player is in store but with a VO2 in the 80’s somewhere it may be some type of endurance sport either that or she’ll be good in the long 3 set matches. over and out AJ, Lisbeth and little Astrid.

was nice to finish the season with a podium, it’s been a very frustrating year for me. so to get a bronze at the world champs was very satisfying. it was a great venue for the race, clearwater florida really impressed me, lovely beaches and a great climate and very friendly locals. the climate was alot colder than i thought it would be , every time i’ve been to florida, i’ve been sweating my ass off, i didn’t even pack any warm clothes, in fact the night before the race, i ducked into a Marshalls store and brought a pair of tracksuit pants. thank goodness i did as it was freezing race morning. the swim was good, a little cold to start with but then got into a good rhythm. i felt very srong on the bike but rode quite conservatively, there was a draft marshall with us the majority of the way and i saw Reinaldo get a penalty right in front of me which was very harsh i thought. i decided to stay at the back of our small group and keep a good 15m so there was no way i could get a penalty. i kept an eye on things, there was a couple of guys go off the front, but apart of terrenzo no-one i thought was a big danger, i was getting a bit stiff at the end of the bike, probably due to my lack of time trails in the last few month, due to my ITU program. but i felt very strong and was looking forward to the run. Crowie shot out like it was a world cup race and myseld and andy potts were the only 2 that could stay with him, after about 2km he suddenly went backwards no-doubt still suffering the effect of his amazing hawaii debut. me and andy ran side by side for the next 12km or so and picked up everyone except oscar, Andy really picked it up going up the bridge and i couldn’t hold it at that point, i got a bit negitive and quickly lost about 45sec. at the last turnpoint with about 5km to go, i decided to go for home and i got to with about 6-7 sconds with about 500 to go, unfortuantley oscar saw me coming and started a early sprint to the line with Andy. i was done at that point and was happy to take the bronze. it’s now back home and i go into baby mode, lisbeth is due on the 6th dec and it all changes then. for the better that is. cheers AJ.

so it was off to geneva for my last hit out before leaving europe, i love this race as i leave my home 3.5 hours before race start on sunday, nothing like sleeping in your own bed before a race. i think i have done this race about 8 times now, but i can even remember exactly. i have gradually been getting my run form back , so i was looking forward to running against some good runners, but as it panned out we dropped most of the runners on the bike leg, so it was down to a group of 7, my poor teammate benny sanson, led the whole swim and half the bike untill, myself and 3 others caught him, i was incredulous as ben was pounding away upfront he had 3 sucker fish stuck on his wheel not even looking like taking a turn, when we caught them i reminded them we were in a small group off the front of 2 big packs with lots of good athletes, and that the free tour ride around geneva had come to a sudden stop. i really do think i come from a different generation of athlete sometimes. so onto the run and it was Mikey Petzoilt putting on the pressure and after 3km of holding tough he got me, i kept pushing hard and ran a good last lap to hold onto 2nd. getting better and looking forward to getting my running legs in good working order for beijing wc. ciao for now AJ.

i did my 2nd 70.3 of the season, and this time i was in a good shape to compete. it was back to antwerpen to do the Marc Herremans Classic. i must say i have a huge amount of respect and admiration for this man. he is so positve in everything he does, and he embarkes on one amazing adventure after another. He is now able to stand with the aid of a small waist high frame, and i truely believe he will walk again some day. if you want to see for yourself what Marc is up to , check out www.towalkagain.be. Raceday was perfect, a beautiful day. i had a solid swim, just sitting nicely in the lead group, the ride was what i was looking forward to as i have been in good bike form, the swim grop split up immediately with myself and a young french guy distancing ourselves from the others, then at about 10km the steam train that was Marino Vanhoenacker came past, i thought he was doing a surge to drop me so i dug deep, i was looking at my srm and sitting above 400 watts, knowing that i could not hold this for to long, after 10 minutes at close to 400 watts i realised it wasn’t a surge , he was just riding that fast, so i settled back into my own rhythe and rode the rest of the way on my own, losing 5 minutes to the big belgium. i was thinking if it was inside 3 mins i could run him down but after i got the split at T2, i was a bit dissapointed. i ran the 1st 5km solid and even lost more ground, but was making time on 2nd and 3rd so i turned off the gas and cruised in for 2nd. Bec’s had a great day and looked really easy out there winning quite comfortably. a good day for teamtbb in antwerpen. next race is a local one in geneva as i prepare for the beijing WC in mid september, take it easy AJ.

so it was off to the small city of Des Moines, Iowa for the lastest round of the itu circuit. a fantastic day for our small sport as a local supermarket chain Hy-vee poured some big bucks to make this world cup the biggest prize-purse in the history of the sport. so thankyou hy-vee your exactly what our sport needed. $700 000 in total prize pool, now that it real money, and something that has been missing from our sport. so i had to give it a go, i knew i had to get away on the bike to have any chance, so that’s what i tried, unfortunately i was 45 sec behind out of the water so i spent the first 25km so just catching the front group.( simon thompson, dougie and our very own Reinaldo worked well together to bridge the gap) i probably should have waited to get a bit of a break but i was fired up so i rode straight past the whole group and managed to get a few to come along, rasmus, Paul amey, stuie hayes were soon joined by simon whitfield and brent macmahon. so with only 12km to go we put over 1 minute into the main group. all was going according to plan untill i hit the run and had the worst stomach cramp of my career, so i hoobled along bent over for the first 2km , and was infact caught and passes my the lead runners from the pack behind before the first lap, so it was not to be, i suffered through the run, every time i tried to pick it up my cramp returned, so that was that. i’ll put it down to lack of racing especially at that intensity at that pace. so abck to mountain to train my arse off, so it doesn’t happen again. cheers AJ.

so it was off to the welsh valleys for my next race, OD british championships, a good excuse to catch up with some of mine and lisbeth’s best friends, marc jenkins and helen tucker, 2 wonderful people and awesome athletes. They are both injured at the moment, and just dying to get back into. so it put things in a good perspective for me , how lucky i was to be over my injury and back racing. so i decided no matter what i was going to enjoy the race and give it everything. i was initially worried about the weather and the temperature of the lake but what a beautiful sunny day it turned out to be, put a smile on my race, then i got there and rode the bike course and that put an even bigger smile on my face. a real tough course just what i like. the swim didn’t go to plan though, sitting nicely on stusrt hayes feet, i got my googles knocked off competely and decide to stop and get them, previous attemps to swim without gogles haven’t gone well for me, but i lost my rhythme and got a few good whacks for my trouble, this put me towards the back of the field going around the first uoy no a great position to be in, i felt okay after that , but not good enough to make up time o the first pack. 50 secs or so down after the swim, it was time to put the foot down, i felt good on the bike and with the help of a young brit who lives in france we managedto ride through half the field and caught the leader half way through, that was timmy Don, stuart hayes and henrick de villars, i put some pressure and we dropped henrick but the others were riding well. coming into t2 timbo took off on the run, not to be seen again, i felt terrible and lost time from the start, but 5km i started to feel better and could see i was holding stuart, infact the longer it went the better i felt and managed to come over the top in the last 1km. tim was way up ahead but after 2 months off running i feel like i’m back on track, of to america next week for a crack ar des moins and the $700 000 prize purse. cheers for now AJ.

there’s nothing like a race to blow of the cobwebs and get you back in the saddle. i tore my planta-fascia on my left foot doing a fast track session at the start of march, and after a couple of weeks of hoping it wasn’t that bad and i could train through it, i realised it was that bad and i need some time to get over this one.

i reterned to australia to et treatment from my physio and good friend Peter Stanton, no better hands to be in when your having and injury. So after a couple of months of intensive treatment, it settled down and i was back to building up the running. i still can’t do track work or real speed work, so the 70.3 was a good race to get back into it as you don’t have to get up on your toes and run flat out.

unfortunately i felt like i couldn’t get out of 2nd gear all day on the run, but i expected that after so little running in the past 3 months. i must congratulate Ronnie Schildknecht, he had a fantastic race, and really deserved his win. i rode alon in front for the first 20km or so untill Ronnie came past like a steam train, i rode with him for the next 50km but he was considerably stronger and

i struggled just to stay with him for that time, he blew me away on the last hill and i struggled iin on the last 20km by myself. i felt terrible starting the run and kept waiting to come good, but it never happened. i’m really pleased that i finished the race and my foot didn’t bother me at all, which was the main thing for me and my plans to have a good late season.

for all oof you out there ever contemplating doing the race, it is an awesome venue, beautiful backdrop of lake zurich and the mountains behind, the swim ws quite cold but bearable, the ride was extemely challenging with some solid climbing and the run was great but a fair but of cobblestones.

cheers for now AJ.

It’s a bit scary to think I’ve been doing triathlon’s for over 15 years now. I remember my first race like it was yesterday. 15 years later i still think i’m the luckiest guy in the world because i get paid to do sport.

I was one of those kids that was into every sport, you name it i played it. i still remember one of my first childhood memories was watching the moscow olympics, sitting there mesmorised by all those incredible athletes doing their thing. wishing , hoping maybe one day i could be like them.

So i did it all, soccer, cricket, tennis swimming, volleyball and i loved it all, if they gave awards for keeness i would of got them all, every afternoon straight back from school hitting tennis balls against a wall till it got dark.problem was i didn’t exactly have the skill level, i was the fittest guy on court but far from the most skillful. So at the end of highschool i was having some back problems which was putting the brakes on my latest sporting passion of volleyball, so i found triathlon. it was perfect for me, a purely physical sport where what you put in you got out. i loved it, 12 months after starting i was off to france to race, where i kept having to pinch myself because i couldn’t believe i was getting payed to play my sport.

15 years later i’m still playing, and still getting payed and i love it more than ever. i have friends for life all around the world that i’ve meet through triathlon. the biggest reason though is the same reason that hooked me in the first place, that feeling of immense satisfaction when you’ve given everything you’ve got, and you’ve absolutely nailed it. It doesn’t matter where it is, sometimes it’s in front of 150 000 screaming triathlon fans in hamburg and you’ve just beaten the best in the world, other times you’re all on you’re own , on a dirt trail in the back of nowhere and you’ve just hammered out you’re best run set in months, now that’s job satisfaction.

so that’s my first ever blog, i’ll be reporting in after most of my races this season, myself and the rest of the teamtbb athletes will endeavour to keep you informed of our progress, as this exciting new team embarkes on it’s mission to become a standout team in the sport of triathlon. we have an amazing group of athletes from all over the world , along with a world class management and support team, we hope you’ll be hearing alot from us , from all around the world