Emma Davis

Huatulco World Cup 2009

Huatulco is rumoured to be the hardest race on the ITU circuit. Last week I travelled to Mexico to find out if this was true.

The journey itself doesn't set you up too well for a race. I had to make three connections, I missed my flight in London, well the Virgin staff missed me. So things didn't start off too well. Never the less I arrived in beautiful Huatulco on Tuesday. I rode, swam and ran on the course in the lead up to the race and could see that this was definitely going to be a tough race. The main challenges were the bike course - 8 laps including a 20% hill on each, and the heat.

Race day loomed and slightly dubiously, with visions of everyone ending up in the ambulance on drips, I lined up on Huatulco beach. The swim went well for me and I came out in the lead pack, for the first 5 laps the hill didn't seem as bad as in training and I got up it ok staying with the group. After this things started to get tough and I had to fight each time to keep up. All the same, I made it onto the run still with the leaders. For 5km I felt good and held onto 4th place. Then things started to get tough, the heat was getting to me, I could feel my eyes wanting to close and when they did this I would lose my sense of balance. I focused, kept on pushing - both to stay upright and get to the finish line, all the time people were dropping off. A large number of girls had pulled out during the bike leg and now more were doing so on the run. On lap three I remember seeing the ambulance taking someone off in a stretcher, not a usually sight at a World Cup triathlon but more something you would expect to see at Kona. I crossed the line in probably my slowest time ever for an Olympic distance triathlon but in my highest place finish in a World Cup, 7th. Going into the race I knew I needed a top 10 finish to stay on the same funding level so it was a great relief to get this placing.

During my time in Huatulco I have been lucky enough to be part of the ITU Development Team. This means I was supported by 2 coaches, a physio and a bike mechanic. All of which have made the trip so much easier. I would like to say a special thank you to Jeff the bike Mechanic who found me a 25 cassette when my 27 SRAM wouldn't fit my wheel and Diana the physio for getting my body to just about stay together long enough to get through the race. It has been a year of being injured for me and I will now spend the winter getting things right. Also thank you to Libby Burrell for managing our team and to Gail for always staying positive and getting me up the hill each lap.

I will now take a few days off and then get back into training towards the back end of the month. So far it has been one day without training and I am already missing it!


Making Friends with Pain
(30 September 2009)

For the last week I have been in Northern Ireland at the Sports Institute, or SINI as those in the know refer to it. It is a great place, the facilites and staff are all wonderful, friendly and extremly knowledgeable. Nevertheless the last week has been rather unpleasant from a pain point of view, I was there to undergo sports tests to find out training zones etc. This then allows my coach, Chris Jones, to plan my training much more specifically.

I raced on Saturday in La Baule, France. I then flew back to London on Sunday to drop off my bike etc - they have an SRM bike in SINI so I didn't need to take the bike, excellent, its always much nicer to travel without a huge coffin like box. On Monday morning I headed onto Belfast. When I arrived I had 2 hours before the first test, a bike sub max test. The word 'sub max' makes you feel all cosy, but don't be deceived this wasn't going to be easy. I had to complete 6-7 stages on the SRM with lactates and RPE's - rating of perceived exertion, taken after each stage and heart rate and oxygen inspiration and expiration taken continuously. You have to wear a funny Darth Vader mask for this. After the sub max test I had 10 minutes to recover then it was back on the bike for a ramp test. Every minute the wattage goes up until you can't keep on pedalling. Post race and travel 10 minutes didn't feel like anywhere near enough but I got back on and with the help of Declan, Ricky, Andy and D - the super SINI testing team, I managed a fairly respectable wattage.

I was back in on Wednesday to do the same but on the tredmill. Warm up for 10 minutes then 4 minute stages on the tredmill, hop off for bloods to be taken then back on with the speed increased by 1km per hour. I didn't manage to go for as long as I would have liked on this test. I have only been running properly post injury for 2 months now and haven't managed to build up a strong enough base. 5 months off is a long time. This test was really important, it showed me where I was lacking and will allow me to improve. I then had a similar ramp test for which I had to wear a harness incase I fell over! The tredmill is set at around your tempo pace and then every minute the incline is increased. There was a mirror in front of me so I could watch my technique, believe me by the end it was not pretty! However the results showed that my technique is actually more efficient at faster speeds. Strange but true.

The general consensus from the tests is that I am too anaerobic. Whilst some of this will be genetic it is also likely to be due to me missing the whole of the winters training with multiple broken bones. Winter is the time for the long slow miles which builds up your base and aerobic capacity. I am looking forward to my new updated training plan to work on this. I will be back in touch to let you know what it is like.

Many thanks to all in SINI for making a tough week very enjoyable.






6 September 2009

An update from the hermit...I am now in Australia getting ready for World Champs. Due to Aileen Morrison - my Irish team mates, crash at London she has had to pull out of the race so I am here on my own. I am staying at the Sports Super Centre in Runaway Bay - www.rbssc.com.au. It has everything you need to train; a 50m and 25m pool 25 steps from my room; physio and massage centre 30 steps away; the gym 60 steps from the room and a hydro room too - yes I counted the steps! There is also a track and a bike crit circuit on site. It saves a lot on travel time and there are always free lanes in the pool and tredmills in the gym.

I have been here for 4 days now and although I am ready for bed at 8pm and awake at 5am the jet lag hasn't been too bad. I have got some quality sessions in and lots of much needed recovery. The race is this coming Friday and although I know I am still not up to 100% fitness I am getting better with each race - 35th in London World Series, then 18th in Yokohama World Series and 16th in Paris last week. I am pushing myself in training so there is no more that I can do other than keep doing what I am doing.


6th August 2009

I am now nearing my taper for the London Dextro race. It is important that I don't leave here fatigued. Since this is my first altitude camp I can't be sure how my body will react. Some people favour a short 3 day come down - which is what I will be doing, whereas others do better with a longer gap before racing after altitude, around 3 weeks. I have a few more quality sessions to do, only one more hard bike though (for which I shall be wearing my trusty 2xu compression bike shorts, officially the most comfortable bike shorts I have ever worn!) as the muscle damage from climbing the mountains can take a relatively long time to leave the body in comparison to that from swimming or even running.

Training has been continuing to go well. I have just come back from a track session which has been my best so far. We have a swim this afternoon at the lake and then a run back from the lake to the house.

If you are an athlete training in or near St Moritz you are provided with a pass for the cable cars free of charge. We took advantage of this on Saturday afternoon and took the cable car up to Mount M. which stands at 2453m above sea level. The views over St Moritz were amazing. Before we had our passes we took a more 'training based' route up to the top of the Bernina pass (also at over 2400m) and ran from Pontresina to the top, this took 90mins and included some rather interesting terrain, varying from road, to woodland trails to river beds and even included some snow at the top. The picture below is of the group post run at the top of the pass.




28 July 2009

I am in Pontresina, Switzerland with the Irish elite team on a 23 day training camp. We have been here for 8 days so far with today being the first rest day.


We are at 1800 metres above sea level at our base in Pontresina. The idea is that the altitude makes everything a little more challenging on your body so that when you return down to sea level to race it feels like you are swim; bike and running down hill. Triathlon Ireland has sent a sports scientist out with us, he checks our weight and hydration everyday and hematocrit levels every other day. This allows us all to stay healthy and continue training consistently.


Training has been brilliant. On Saturday I did a 4hr 30 minute hilly bike ride. Well hilly is somewhat of an understatement; it included a steep 9km climb up to 2500m in the first hour and then a 37km climb from Tiefenscastle up the Julierpass to Saint Moritz. On such a long climb you go through so many highs and lows and I was very thankful to keep up with my training partner David Graham, it would have been a very lonely ride without him. Chris (Jones, my coach) was in the van checking up on us every so often. At one point he had stopped for a coffee and a group of American cyclists, who we had passed at the start of the Julierpass, sat next to him in the cafe, commenting on how 'those ICELANDERS were shooting up that climb' you would have thought the green bikes and clothing covered in Irish Triathlon team would have been somewhat of a giveaway but we took the compliment gratefully. Yesterday we had 40x100m off 1:20 in the pool followed by a hill reps on the bike with a 10.7km run straight off it. We ended this run in the glacial stream; it was unbelievably cold but definitely beneficial to the tired legs.

With the rest day now nearly over I am looking forward to the next 15 days training. I don't know the exact details of what we will be doing but I think it looks something like swim, bike, run and repeat. I am really enjoying being back training after my long injury prone winter/spring and will be back in touch soon with more details of my Alpine adventures.