A Good Start To The 2011-12 Season With PureSport
17 Jan 2012All things considered it’s been a promising start to the 2011-12 triathlon season. I had been doing a lot of bike riding in the off-season, culminating in the State Championships Individual Time Trial and Teams Time Trial in September.
The ITT was a disaster, where I punctured 2km in. The TTT went a little more smoothly, with a 5th place finish and only 4 minutes behind the winners over the tough 80km course.
I have been using the PureSport Workout and Recovery products for over 6 months now, and have really noticed the benefits of the Recovery product in terms of my ability to back up after key sessions.
However, in the TTT the Workout formula really came in to its own. I decided to take on the 80km with 2 bottles of Workout only, rather than the usual combination of gels and water. Amazingly I felt better the further I went, and was able to really drive the pace over the back end of the 80km, whereas the other guys (who were all using gels) started to fade.
I was also on a new bike for the TTT, courtesy of Merida. It’s the first time I’ve had a time trial bike, and the new Black Knight is fast, super-responsive and enables a great aero position. It has already made a huge difference to my 40km time and just keeps feeling better the more I ride it. Thanks to Gary Land (www.probikefit.com.au) for the fit up and Merida for such a great product.
So Noosa was the first test over Olympic distance for the season and as usual it was a fantastic weekend, with the bonus of watching my idol Heinrich Haussler win the men’s criterium and a podium finish in the tri.
After feeling so good in the TTT I was relying on the PureSport Workout to get me through this race, and it definitely didn’t let me down. I got through a full bottle of Workout over the bike course, which left me well-hydrated and with plenty of energy for the hot and humid run.
One of the main reasons I was so happy with the race is that I’ve finally found an energy replacement product that’s effective and easy to use. No more taping gels to the top tube and struggling to get them down over the bike/run, just a bottle of Workout and I’ve got everything I need.
So all in all a good start to the season and for now it’s back to the hills in preparation for a good lead-in to Geelong in February.
