Marilyn McDonald

Hello All,

Well the last couple weeks have been action packed. Chris and I headed to Kentucky and Wisconsin where he did the unthinkable and crushed the two IM’s. I’m very proud of him and maybe I’ll write a blog on the views and process of the spouse through races like that, but for now I’ll just write to let you know I managed to sqeeze in a race myself on this crazy 10day trip we were on.

I was managing to keep my training going well in amoungst all the business of Chris’ “A” racing and my duties as support crew. Once we hit Wisconsin we were staying with a awesome homestay and he had a mate who did a fair bit of road racing. I was lucky enough to join him for a casual ride and he mentioned he’d be heading to a race the next day. My ears perked up and he saw the look on my face and then asked if I’d like to come along. I jumped at the chance and before I knew it I was headed to a race at 6a.m. the next day.

It was a 50mile, 3 lap race. All 1-2-3 Men and Women raced together.The feild was between 80 and 90 people. A few good teams of men to play with. The course was rolling hills, as all the terrian around Wisconsin seems to be, lots of short steep hills around these parts.
I kept myself near the front and worked out who the good guy’s were, who would be doing the moves on the teams and just stayed close to each of the guy’s bridging all the attacks. There was a bit of bumping and pushing, some skinny rough roads and a few good corners, but I managed to hold my ground as the only chick to stay with the front bunch. I even found myself bridging two attacks and thuoght….yeesh…I shouldn’t be bridging with these boys.I stayed top 15 wheels and just stayed allert the entire race.
The finish was a hard right corner and then a 300m uphill finish. I set myself up perfectly into the turn in the top 10 wheels and then as we came out of the turn for the final 300m show. I for one minute thought maybe I was male and went for the sprint with the boy’s. A few pedal strokes in I remembered I’m still a girl and crossed the line 19th male
I was happy to handle myself wiith the boy’s and had a blast hanging in there with them. Maybe in a few more months training I might give the sprint more of a crack with that kind of speed and power the boy’s wound up :-)But for now I had to settle for first female.

Now I’m settled back in Boulder and back to the grind of training for another period of time before I head back to AU for the big races to start. Keep on pedalling……

Cheers,
Marilyn

Hello All,

Well since I last wrote a fair bit has happened. I got myself rolling alright in Leysin Swiss the last week we were there, nothing hard , but finally got some riding going, injury settled and even got to ride up the wonderful long climb to home a couple of times before we left. I loved that climb so that was my injury recovery goal , to be able to ride up the hill before we left.

From there I headed to Roth to watch Chris and my team mates race. I was proud to watch some of the most incredible performances. It’s one thing to watch these amazing athletes train each and everyday, but it’s another to watch them put it together on race day and knock the worlds socks off. Congrates team!!

After Roth it was a flurry of travel for us. From Roth to Zurich, from Zurich to Quebec Canada, To Chicago, to Denver CO and finally to Boulder.  3 day’s later and I was finally here.

Arriving in Boulder is fantastic. It’s like a second home here for us. We know the place well, have a heap of good long time friends, our home is familiar, so it’s easy to just unpack your bags and be settled within hours.

In months we have been in very pleasant temperatures and here in Boulder it is a scorching 97deg F and 7% humidity at 5000feet. So the combination of the3 will take a few days to really get use to. The amount of times I say, “wow, it’s hot”, is almost funny!

Upon arriving I did the usual 3 easy short session the first day. I surprisingly felt o.k., much better than normal after travel. So I arrived Friday night, Sat did the 3 easy spins and felt o.k. and then I got wind that there was this crit race right around the corner from my house.

Now I normally wouldn’t think it’s such a good idea to jump right into a cat 1 crit. My thoughts were:

“well I just arrived and I feel o.k, it’s still within 48hrs of getting to altitude. I know I have done NO race training in 5 weeks but my injury feels  good, so….it could be fun to go suffer for 45min of all out racing J”

One thing I’ve learned about myself if I’m excited and happy it doesn’t seem to matter the circumstances’ I go race and race well. Some people need to be angry to race, some very calm, I need to be excited and happy.

So at 4p.m. in the height of the heat of the day I jumped on the line for a 45min suffer fest. What a fun way to spend your Sunday afternoon. The result was 4^th place. I lead out for the sprint and the sprinters took off for the big show at 200m. I was happy to be the lead out chick. Zooming around the corners I was happy my skills are getting better and better and was especially happy my injury took the shock of intensity very well. No pain at all so I think I’m clear J Now my lungs sucking in every ounce of oxygen left in the sky from lack of hard training, dry air and altitude was a funny site to see. I was as red as a beat when we finish and once again I said, “maaaan, it’s hot out” .

I’ll take a few normal days training and then I’m headed two hours away by car for a 3 day race. A TT, a Road race and a crit, 3 days of action packed suffering and a heck of allot of fun. It’s going to be a hilly one so we will see if somewhere in my legs is that 16km climb we did nearly everyday in Leysin is there.

Cheerio,

Marilyn

Hello,

I am sitting in Leysin Switzerland. What a beautiful place. Each year Chis and I usually head to Boulder CO for this time of year. But for a nice change, we decided to head to Leysin to train with the team and enjoy the Swiss Alps.
We have only been here one week and I’m just getting into the groove of training here. A few things I think each day here:
I need to learn French!
There are allot of hills
The place is friendly, quiet and relaxed.
I really like this place.

In our last 4 years we’ve had the great pleasure of seeing so many places in the world,  really getting to LIVE there and experience the place. We will have allot of stories when we are old and grey.

There is allot of great riding here and I’ve only seen a little so far, I wake up each morning so excitted to get on my bike!

A few might ask how is it working training as a bike racer with a triathlon squad? Well…I don’t really see it like that. I’m training with a very smart coach and a great group of driven professional athlete’s. It creates a great environment and each athlete has the tools to be great, I hope to learn a little from each of them.

I will keep you updated as I go and hope to get some pics of this amazing place.

Cheers,
Marilyn

Hello,

Home is comfy, but not toooo comfy….

Hello,

The last 3 weeks I have been training in Albury Australia. This would be the place we would call home, even though we are not here long it still would be the one place in our travel I now call home.

Now, in saying that don’t think for one second that means “soft” training. That is the one thing I love about this country town. The group here we train with are the hardest bunch I’ve ever trained with, and they do it with a smile.
They go hard, they go big, they do it week after week and push you further than you thought a group of old country blokes could, and they do it with no frills.

Above is a picture of the “gym” these guy’s use if that gives you a vision of the hardness of this group. I LOVE it

Hope you are finding a group to push you to new levels, attack you when you thought you had nothing left and then take you out for coffee after and show you  great freindship.

Happy training!

Marilyn

Hi,

 I am just in the middle of my long journey back to AU after a  trip to camp in Subic Bay and IM Malaysia.

I came to camp just for a 10day tune up before the race. My plan had been to head back to camp after IM Malaysia, but life is always full of twists and turns and you have to go with them or get left behind. So I am now headed home to AU with a great plan for the year.

I had a good prep going into IMM and felt o.k. My hubby Chris had been sick the entire trip and I was fighting with all my might to not catch it. My 10day tune up went well  and I felt I had made some improvements from the last time I saw the boss.

I headed over to IMM with the hopes of a steady day and a top 5 finish. I had no illusions that this early in the year and only 4months into my new program that I was ready to blast, but I felt ready to give it my best. I was calm, enjoying the event and excitted to race.

To cut through the boring bit by bits of a race report I will get right to the point and assure you I performed completely under my expectations of myself, to the point where I decided to just call it a day after 10km of the run.

 There is always a BIG decision involved in pulling out of a race. Malaysia is hot and hard racing and when the day is just not right in so many ways some times it’s best to stop, go away and re-look at what is best for your season, rather than do damage you can’t reverse for the year.

 My team was absolutely amazing with support and I thank them very much!! I have had some time to chat with the boss, reflect , and move forward to what I think is going to be the best season I’ve ever had

 Keep it rolling till next time………

Cheerio,

Marilyn

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