Holly Sutton

When your 17yrs young DONT say you want to complete an ironman when you 18… Go out and party.

When your coach asks you how your trainings been going DONT LIE! Kill his expectations then and there.

When you get home from work late and your stuffed, unfortunatly that last training session your supposed to fit in DOES matter.

And finally, when your 40something mother thinks itd be fun to do and ironman with you so she enters you in it 1 month before the date…. Pray to the F#$%ing gods shes not trying to kill you!

Well hello again world of triathlon!!! After all the training and experiences i had put myself through while i was overseas last year i found myself to weeks ago in Busselton with my mum and speedy and absolutly no idea about what to do come race day.

The training preperation wasnt done and i felt totally mindboggled surrounded by hundreds of trigeeks asking me how fast do i think ill get the second lap of the bike done in. Who cares!! I wasnt even sure if id make the second lap!

So i decided i needed some shred of hope or confidence or just optimism if i was really going to do this and as i was racking my brain for quotes when rememberd someone once telling me that an iromnan is 90% mental 10% physical. Yes! Perfect, i had 90% confidence that my mind could make it and  0.5%  my body could so well close enough.

Instead decided to  put all 100% into my mental side and tried to pull out every single tiny bit of advice i had ever gotten from either watching or listening to the athletes. To be honest i think all the little things where what got me to the end. From putting my wetsuit on with a plastic bag, taking advantage of age groupers on the bike (many thanks to no:964 a very enjoyable pace was shared) to nutrition (i definatly wasnt listening as well as i should have been on this one) and even just having dumb things to think about when i get bored.

So thanks guys it was really appreciated on the day Some one could have been nice enough to tell me what it feels like when you finish… Yeah yay im crossing the line…… I AM AN  IRONMAN…… just give me my towel and point me to the nearst place i can throw up! 

What a feeling to be and ironman  

Have you ever noticed that each time something ’bloggable’ happens, by the time you actually go to write about it its either a week later or its just not ‘bloggable’ anymore..  Kind of like those jokes where unless the person your telling was actually there then your the only one who finds it funny?!

All this time since my last blog and a number of events (although very few of which are really all that exciting) and this is all i got…. Sorry no world records no upcoming master balls to prepare for and no silent killing of fellow competitors.

Actually i think the Doc has been a bit worried about just what i have been up too, the last thing he new was i had exams coming up and nothing furthur after that. So in true Doc form he has been probing around the subject asking as many unspecific (but totally intentional ) questions about how i went/i mean how ive been going..

Dont worry Doc, all under control i know 97% aint 100 but its pretty damn close!

Now for my next exam ive been given a picture of all the superficial muscles on the human body and told to name and lable… Holy S#!*

Everytime i look at the picture though all i can see is Belinda’s trapezius when she swims, the photo of chrissy crossing the finish line at Hawaii where her vastus medialis muscle looks unbelievably chizzled and everyones iliotibial tract bringing back the memories of pain and im so fascinated i forget half the others. Not a very good start.

Oh well im sure the hypothenar muscles (underneath the pinky finger) are just as important as the rest so i must get back to it.

Occipitofrontalis down, Gluteus maximus up.

One of the benifits of working directly opposite McDonalds is that i can keep track of the countdown to the olympics. Is it just me or are they coming up fast!?!!

It feels like it was just the other day that i was getting excited about the McEurope kicking off the coutdown and then there was the McAmerica and McAfrica and now its the McAsia…….. its getting so close!

Im even getting nervous and i have no idea why its just so exciting except for the fact that i keep missing the bugers because the weeks go so quick :(

Although i must say that out of all of them the McAmerica is the only one that doesnt seem to be going anywhere anytime soon… Us Aussies (now the worlds fattest nation) know what we like! Egg and bacon with barby sauce all on a bagel..

And we wanna know why we cant get it upsized!

What a way to prepare for the games

Today, (feeling sorry for myself of corse, thinking of everyone having summer in Europe)

i decided i had had enough and  would try and bring Europe to me.. Even just for breakfast.

But no matter which bakery i went to i could not find 1 piece of bread or pastry that even almost looked like the goodness of the mouth watering ‘breakfast’ you can get over there …………. The first time ive resented seeing so many meat pies.

Soooooooo, still with the picture of lil Leysin and its view in my head i took a crappy bit of bread home threw it in the oven (tryng to make the whole house smell like the town) and just pretended.

Who would’ve thought u could get home sick from a place you’ve never actually lived???????

Its so sad i even miss…………. the hill. 

Yesterday morning, 5.45am to be exact, i was at work watching the sunrise on the beach and i found myself wishing i couldv’e been out enjoying it in ways other than brewing coffee.. and just to rub it in, 6.00am on the dot and in came the usual runners and cyclists for thier ‘SKIM’ flat whites and congradulating each other on their training sessions….

So im polite and ask about their run, in my most non jealous tone..

A fresh (now cold) coffee and 20mis later i know that these guys aren’t just runners but triathletes and training for such and such  event but not only that i also know thier favourite discipline, how they got started, thier injuries and even thier heroes….. Yes at the mention of miss Chrissy Wellington my ears propped up again only to notice a slight bragging in the tone of  ’and ive met her before,’ and that was enough for them all to start talking about our current world champ on a personal level.

The only thing i had time to fit in between words was an ‘oh really!’

Aaahhh if only they new………

As im sure most of you know, from past experience or stories the ‘Great John Sutton’ is an understatement for the term try geek, it also happens to be the name of my current room mate and grandfather…

Now dont get me wrong i always enjoy talking triathlon listining to the Who’s soft and Who’s not list with him but last week i think he took it to a whole new level… n dragged me there with him….

it was 10pm whan i arrived home from a 9 n a half hr shift when he fisrt let me know that there would be a triathlon showin on tv the next morning. ‘Oh really, what time?’ i asked ‘Who gives a s!*t ill be up, do you want me to wake you?’ ‘No thats ok if im up then ill join you.’

4.59am and im awoken by this thundering sound but too tired to care, back to sleep

5.47am and theres a nock on my door followed by the screaming ‘Get up holly its starting’

Sleepily and not so happy jan, i get out of bed to find out why my beauty sleep has been disturbed when i asked not to.. ‘Quick quick reinaldo’s on tv and your missing nicola!! Quick’ but pop we already know what happens in this race its 6months old…

Even though he already new it i couldnt bring myself to telling him the ending for each race as he had been up since 4am that morning (the thundering sound was him having a shower getting ready for it).

So if anyone can top this try geek experience id love to feel sane!

So, where did i leave off??? oh thats right, the airport….

Well as you’ve probably gathered, since touching down in aus ALOT has happend for lil miss holly sutton but i must make it brief as im late for work…

My apologies for not keeping you all up to date as well, (god knows everytime something happens im making a mental note- must remember to write that in my blog…)

Anyway, after unpacking my bag at 8am Thursday morning  i was suddenly swept away at 10.30am Thursday morning to go catch up with family on the coast. I was  having an awsome time whatching lil cousin soccer games and going to the races and shoppinng but not actually buying anything already however sleep was of no concern just yet, this is where all my Iron man training came in. I just kept going… However inbetween all this excitement i did manage to get my resume up to date and make a few phone calls concerning my futuer on the coast.. Feww

So when i fanally returned home, instead of recovering i turned it up a notch and decided to get on with what i came here to do. I must have walked a dam marathon handing out my resume and for a 5 whole days herd nothing back! I must admit i was crushed!!!! So on the 6th day i set out again for the follow up and would u believe it i got 4 phone calls that day ;) thats right!

#1 - Work taken care of.

#2 - Massage course.

This one was more of a marathon of phone calls……………………………………….blah blah blah

But i am happy to say ive found a school that can cater to ALL my needs haha.. and i am now enrolled and completing  4 subjects out of the Certificate IV In Massage!! a globally recognised course YAY!

First class - Anatomy and Physiology

Crap im getting kicked off the internet by an old lady (im writing this from the library but thats a whole nother story!!)

Hey, im writing this from Aus as im back in the lucky country again and enjoying the beautiful weather that is the Gold Coast!

The trip over wasn’t toooooo bad once i was on the plane, however i almost missed my flight completely because of my immigration officer, he said he needed me to stay for a whole extra day!….. ‘You’ve got to be f#!*ing kidding me!!!!’

Lucky me, he was only trying to get me to stay (free of charge so he said) so he could take me on a date. No joke.

Here i was about to break out in sweat because i thought i must have broken the law and overstayed without knowing it or my passport is out of date and i cant get into the next country but all he wanted was a bloody date! We’ll thank god i guess….

What a pleasure to leave the Philippines

”Thank you mam” 

Today i did something amazing.

No i didnt win an ironman or qualify for the olympics as seems to be the cool thing to do around here these days… i actually put my faith in a non english speaking philippino and let her colour my hair!!! haha

I know you probably think this is some sort of joke but seriously i cant remember when i have been that nervous before because lets face it there’s about as many blondes in this country as there are 17yr old aussi’s walking down the street.

So I went in and just to be on the safe side asked for a darker colour, ‘yes mam’ ’sure mam’ and i took a seat. When he/she came over i really wanted to make sure she new what she was doing but before i could turn my head, plop went on the colour and guess wat i could smell…. peroxide!!!!!! Now dont get me wrong but if theres one thing i know about hair dye its that peroxide on peroxide does not equal dark!

So for the next 20min im sure i was giving white people a bad name as i sat there throwing daggers with my eyes at everyone who looked at my oranging head. I was having visions of pinapples and about ready to cry.

Anyway after nearly sprinting towards the wash basin it just so happens that she/he had it all under control and by the time it was dry (although it was the wrong colour) it wasnt nearly as orange as i had thought,,

See nothing to worry about i took one for the team so we no longer have to suffer the months or regrowth ;) no sweat…

Yes thats right, i also got the pleasure of participating in the SBMA triathlon that was held just around the corner from our hotel a few days ago and with newly put bike shoes on i cant say that i was looking forward to this one as much as just wanting it to be done, with all remaining limbs intact.

It all started the morning before the race when when we still werent 100% sure of what the course was going to be. Luckly i turned up to registration the same time as Belinda and within 9min 45sec we were comfortably seated in the corner with Belinda talking to the race manager on the event planers mobile phone and got all the information we could possibly need for the next day.

Race day.. Ahh in true philippine style we ended up starting just over half n hour late i think it was?? Anyway being one of the girls i set off first in the swim and unluckly for me i just wasnt fast enough to make it past the first lap before the boys joined us (dont even ask why we were doing laps for a 900m swim), although it was the first time ive come out of the water completely swollen free! Yay

The bike was hilly and hot and the run was even worse with only warm drinking water on hand so crossing the line was my best event of the day (notice ive left transition completely out). Just another day at the office here in the Philippines