Annabelle luxford biography of christopher

Admiring stingrays and crabs on the seafloor of Port Phillip Bay probably should not be in the game plan when I tackle Ironman Melbourne again in the future. Having never time trialed more than 90km before, I was really unsure how I would fare over the distance. The prospect of time trailing for km was more than a little daunting. Questions swirled through my mind in the weeks leading up to the event.

Do I just double my nutrition from what I would consume in a half Ironman? How many watts do I drop from my half Ironman pace? Do I race to power or race my competitors? My coach, Shaun Stephens, had guidance and advice, being well credentialed with all things sports science, cycling, triathlon and most importantly me; however, at the end of the day, there were no answers to these questions.

The answers would only come after the racing was done, and after the next and next race were done. Until about 55km, riding conservatively, I stayed in the lead. When Caroline Steffen passed I decided to stick with her, whilst keeping an eye on my wattage, and see how her pace felt. I am not backwards in mentioning that for the remainder of the bike, I rode behind Caroline, legally of course.

I was very careful about keeping a good distance behind her, and not losing concentration and inadvertently drifting into the draft zone. Whilst I tend to race a little more aggressively over the half Ironman distance, there was no way I was going to push the pace in this race. It might seem strange to some people, but my number one goal for my first Ironman event was completion as the duration of an Ironman scared me.

Annabelle luxford biography of christopher

Following two 21st-place finishes and a 16th-place finish on the WCS race circuit she was forced to withdraw from the Grand Final race due to trouble breathing from her asthma. This was her first time on a time trial bike, which was lent to her by Mirinda Carfrae. In December , in her first half Ironman distance event, she took first place at Ironman Wind combined with the undulations in the first half of the race and then the technical aspects and the rain in the second half ensured it was testing.

Luxford: Auckland was my third start and second finish. I sustained a puncture in the first 3K of my first attempt at the distance and was unable to finish. I think my years in ITU have given me good transitions and an ability to change pace. Generally, most ITU bike courses are more technically challenging, so hopefully that will help. How do you keep the motivation high and keep it interesting?

What are the keys to not getting burned out? Prior to commencing her longer course racing Luxford was a short course star, having raced International Triathlon Union races for over a decade; she was ranked number one in the world, and was an under 23 World Champion and an Elite World Championship silver medallist. Trizone: Annabel you exploded onto the long course scene in Auckland earlier this year, claiming the Asia Pacific Would you mind sharing a little about this injury and how it surfaced?

Annabel Luxford: I hurt my knee late February in training doing a bounding exercise. I tore my meniscus and had arthroscopic surgery a few days later to fix the problem. It was a very simple fix, well as simple as you can get for surgery. I took about two weeks out of pool, 4 weeks off riding and 6 weeks off running.