2011 / 2012 Australian Calender

Hey Everyone,


I have been pretty quiet lately after recovering from my stress fracture in my foot. All is good now though and I am putting some kilometres back in the legs. The foot is holding up and hopefully after a few more weeks I'll be back in peak form.

Below is what I have got planned out for my season.

13th November- Nepean Triathlon
20th November- Kurnell Pro Tour
18th December- Warringah Triathlon Club Race
15th January- Kurnell Pro Tour

These above races are all lead up races for the big races on the Australian Elite calender which are:


February 12th- Australian Elite Sprint Championships, Geelong VIC
March 10th- ITU Oceania Championships, Devonport, TAS
March 24th- ITU Oceania Cup, Mooloolaba, QLD

The above three races are my focus for this season, I'm looking forward to a big summer of racing and hope to see you all out there soon.



Cheers
Ben Hammond

ITU Premium Pan American Cup- Kelowna, Canada

Hey Everyone,

Last week I travelled over to Canada to compete in my first race in the America’s. It was set to be a very high quality field and close to 60 starters. In the weeks and days leading into this race I had to overcome a number of hurdles and it almost seemed by race day that the world just didn’t want me to compete in this event. First it was a broken bike, followed by a niggle in my left knee, and to top it off, the day before the race on a very light jog, I was reduced to walking with really bad pain in my left foot. I tried to put everything out of mind and just have a crack. Apart from everything though, the sessions that I had managed to do recently had really raised my confidence and I was feeling pretty strong and was really pumped for a good result.

Then the race came and I am still lost for words.

I had a horrible swim and never felt like I could grab any water, immediately out of the water my stomach felt like it wanted to explode and I ended up throwing up twice during the hilly and hot 40km ride. By the end of the bike I was in a terrible position, had dribbles of spew on me and my bike, but was still hopeful that I could at least put something together on the run as to not make it a completely terrible day. About three steps into the run I knew this wasn’t going to happen. I really struggled even just to stand up as my stomach was again feeling like it was trying to escape me. No more than 500m in and I was again hurled over in a garden and barely able to stand up. My race was over.

I have wracked my brain trying to come up with answers and what I have come up with is still just a guess. I really don’t understand what happened when, despite the obstacles, I had felt so good beforehand.

I am back in Australia now and will have a good chat to the coach and try to work out what went wrong and to get back up. Canada was certainly not the trip I was hoping for but it will not keep me down. I am getting straight back into training and want to make sure something like that never happens again.

I’m sorry this update couldn’t have been a more positive one but again, thank you all for your support and I’m sure next time I can come to you with some much better news.

Aside from the race I have to say a massive thanks to Greg and Sarah Johnson who hosted me for the week I was there. They were so helpful and made my trip so much more enjoyable.

Cheers,

Ben Hammond

Pre-Canada Update

Hey Everyone,

Well, 1 week to go now and I am heading over to Kelowna in British Columbia, Canada. This race is an ITU Pan American Cup and will be held on the 21^st of August over the Olympic distance (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run). I am extremely excited about this race due to the presence of multiple Olympic medallist, Simon Whitfield (Gold in Sydney 2000 and Silver in Beijing 2008). I have never raced or met Simon before, however we did used to have the same running coach and he is the reason that I began this sport. Lining up against him, regardless of the result is something I have wanted to do for a very long time and finally it will happen.

As for the race I’m hoping I can turn up and add some more ITU points to my name to help strengthen my ranking on the ITU points list as well as gain further experience racing in another country with a whole new set of challenges.

As I mentioned in my last update, I had some issues when my bike was cracked during my return trip from China. Not riding for nearly two weeks is certainly not great preparation however I have finally managed to secure a temporary bike to use and luckily have still felt quite strong while riding.

While certainly not confirmed at the moment, I am also looking at heading to compete on the Life Time Fitness Triathlon series event in Chicago on the 28^th of August following Canada. This is a very large non-drafting series in the US that I have wanted to compete in for a few years. I will keep you posted on what happens.

 

Cheers

Ben Hammond

Next Race Confirmed

Hey Everyone,


I recieved confirmation today that my next race will be the ITU Pan American Cup in Kelowna, Canada on the 21st of August. Training is going well, minus a slight mishap in that I have cracked my frame on my bike.

Lots of time for swimming and running until I can get this sorted!

For more info you can see the ITU site of the race HERE.


Cheers
Ben Hammond

Race Report- ITU Premium Asian Cup- Jiayuguan, China

ITU Premium Asian Cup- Jiayuguan, China

16th July 2011

Hey Everyone,

Well as you know, I travelled over to China last week to compete in the ITU Premium Asian Cup in the small town of Jiayuguan in the Gansu Province. I was pretty excited about this race as it was my first race since I took a month off and I had never been to China before.

Now for every race, there is always a different set of challenges that you have to face and this race was no different. Some of which I managed to anticipate and account for, others I found out about once I arrived. To start with, this race was going to be HOT......and it certainly was, with 35 degrees and a very dry heat it really stung the lungs.

Two of the major challenges that I didn’t anticipate was firstly the food and secondly the altitude. Now I have raced in the Philippines, Japan and Korea all before and I assumed the challenges of food in China would be similar. Unfortunately I was wrong.....I was in far western China, a region of China which has very little influence from western cultures. They eat are large array of animal and cook EVERYTHING in chilli which really doesn’t do it for me. After unknowingly consuming DOG and then nearly throwing it up I stuck to a slightly less than perfect pre-race diet of plain rice and Oreo cookies.

The second challenge which I discovered was the altitude. The town of Jiayuguan lies right in between the Gobi desert and the Qilian Mountains at an altitude of over 1600m. On one side there is sand as far as the eye can see, on the other there are enormous mountains, climbing up to 6000m in altitude which are covered in snow 365 days a year. Unfortunately the altitude was the one challenge which I wasn’t able to overcome during the race.

Now on the race.....It was held over the Olympic distance of 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run with 30 starters, the majority of which were some of Asia’s top triathletes. The swim was held in one of three man-made lakes inside a huge public garden. I wanted to put myself in a really strong position over the 2-lap swim and knew that to do that I needed to reach the first can in the top few guys. I had a great start and really pushed the first 300m, rounding the can in 4^th place. This would be great for me, except for the fact that with less oxygen in the air, I really began struggling to get air in. Over the remaining 450m of the first lap I really struggled and went from 4^th place and sitting in a great spot and dropped to around 20^th. Diving into the 2^nd lap I learnt my lesson and decided a much more steady rhythm would be needed. I managed to swim myself back into a decent position but unfortunately there was a break to 6 guys who formed the first pack.

Onto the bike we had 6 very flat laps around the gardens and streets of Jiayuguan. I was riding in the 2^nd group and felt quite strong, pulled a few turns and then let the others take over on the last lap to try and freshen up the legs. Our group hopped off the bike with a 2min deficit to the front pack of 6 and again on the run, the lack of oxygen in the air really began to take its toll.

The two lap run course was again very flat, but very exposed to the heat. Thanks to lessons learned from a few races in Asia now I think the nutrition and hydration plan that I implemented worked well and I felt energised the whole way. I managed to build into the run and finish quite strongly but it wasn’t quite enough to crack into the top 10. I crossed the line in 13^th place with which I would say I was fairly satisfied. There are certainly things that I would do differently if I had the race over however I’m happy that I am back racing and looking forward to the next one. This was certainly one of the hardest races I have ever competed in and have taken a lot out of it.

Thanks again for all the support and I’ll see you all soon!

Cheers

Ben Hammond

Getting With the Times

Hey Everyone,


I decided it was about time I caught up to society and created this site. I will do my best to keep it updated regularly with where I am, what I'm doing and how its all going.

Cheers

Ben Hammond
Twitter: @BennyHTri