This talented young mountain biker is someone to watch as she works hard to get into the Olympic Team next year. She is coming to Crazyman which WORKOUT|ZONE is sponsoring so follow her on this and her blog…
Congratulations Nicky Samuels on your first WORLD CUP. March 28, 2011
www.3news.co.nz/RACE-VIDEO-Nicky…/Default.aspx Check out the link for more information. 
Nothing more to say really. Nicky Samuels has won her first Triathlon World Cup in Australia, beating the current champion Emma Moffat to second place.
Nicky is looking good for the Olympics next year but there are a lot more races to run before then…. and YES NICKY does use WORKOUT|ZONE- all our champions do!
Motatapu Wanders March 24, 2011
Soooooooo…..Motatapu………….Yes well first of all the event I entered was a marathon. Seems obvious when that is what it is called and when they cite the distance as 42.2 kms doesn’t it?
I have done one marathon before and trained and prepared well for it. This time, I trained and prepared to run hills.And I also relaxed and had a lovely summer. Diet was not quite what it could have been but heyyyyyy…..
For the first 20 kms there are quite a few hills and I was doing OK- nothing too steep but steady. Great road, sandy in places and no horrible camber like Molesworth. People are lovely and there is a lot of chatting and laughing as we all slogged up and along. The Motatapu land is beautifully cared for- tussock and grass with none of the evil rosehips which plague the rest of the Central Otago landscapes. Beautiful rivers to cross- not to deep or cold and no huge boulders like the Coast to Coast. At the half way station I felt good-cocky even. Hills behind and so far no pesky mountain bikers. So far so good you might say.
And that is where it all went horribly wrong… there was still 21.1 kms to go…slowly rising kilometer after kilometer after kilometer…in other words the part of the marathon where training ..Yes the T word, where training really counts. Can I say here, for anyone contemplating a marathon and no matter how many you have done before—-it is very important to do a long run (30 kms minimum) at least once in the four weeks before a marathon. It seems to get the bones and ligaments and muscles ready for the onslaught of the kilometers between 25 and 40.
I passed people who had passed me and then I passed them again. You know who you are! Cook from Antartica! You get to know people well in these passing encounters. Cheerful chats make a big difference when you know you are 15 kms from home and the only way the pain is going to stop is for you to get there…somehow. The lack of training is not just a physical problem- it is a mental problem as well.
Every pain, every ache pricks your conscience. You know in your joints it would not hurt as much if only you had done the work and so you know you have to pay and you know you deserve the pain to get much worse. In my first marathon it was my ankles (after I finished). This time it was my hips (10 kms BEFORE) I finished.
But Hark! There was Bob and Dot from Paris and Auckland- veteran marathon runners par excellence- I passed, they passed, I passed, they passed… we chatted, they passed. Then the mountain bikers arrived in sequential yells of KEEP RIGHT. Death (mine) was the alternative and so I did- they did not always and next year I will carry a spoke stick for those who cut the corners.
BEWARE! Don’t piss off a sore untrained, unfit elderly marathon staggerer at 38 kms! on the downhill stage. Especially when you are sitting down and she isn’t.
Anyway, back to Bob and Dot and the passing and the chatting.. all was fine- they steamed ahead as I slowed to a piddle on the downhill straight. Now this was where I had actually planned to excel, leaping the last kilometers like a mountain goat to finish triumphantly in front of an admiring crowd. Well– here was me piddling along muttering under my breath at the MTBers and Bob and Dot were in front and then we hit the rivers. And the rivers. And the rivers. The crossings went on and on… so much for the mountain goat finish. And then it is over. Just like that. Right out loud.
And the moral of the story. TRAIN for a marathon- ALL of it- Not just the first half with the hills, but the long bits that require running…lots of running. REMEMBER that for next year.
Thank you Motatapu. It was a lesson on a beautiful day in beautiful country with blue skies, great people and bloody MTBers. 
Elina Ussher’s Race Report. March 6, 2011
Hi All,
As everybody I have been hugely shocked by the earthquake in Christchurch. Especially because in Finland we don’t experience anything like that. And now the disaster happened in the place where I spent some time only a week earlier.
My thoughts are with Christchurch people and especially with those people who lost their family members, friends and homes. I just want to say Kia Kaha Christchurch people.
Well feels like so much has happened over the last few weeks. It’s hard to believe that it was just three weeks ago when I was standing on Kumara beach ready to race hard over the challenging 34 km mountain run and paddle down 70km on Waimak river and finally finish the race on Sumner beach in Christchurch.
Yes, this race is called Coast to Coast and it is the most challenging multisport race in the world. It was again my main race of my NZ summer season. Training had been going pretty well and I felt like racing hard. I knew that the women’s field was going to be very strong this year and I was expecting to have some close racing.
The first three km run is always a little chaos when everybody is trying to sprint the first 500m in the darkness. Once on the main road it gets a bit easier but the pace is still quite fast as the competitors are trying to stay close to get a good bunch for the 55km road ride.
I managed to have a good first run and so I didn’t have any problems to find a good bunch to ride with. The pace on the bikes wasn’t too fast this time and so soon the bunch ended up being quite big and all the best girls seemed to be in there.
The bike mtn run transition is always a really hectic one when a big bunch of racers are still together after the ride. My support crew was waiting for me there and I quickly jumped into my running shoes and took my running pack and then headed towards the rocks and boulders. The river on the run was quite high this year and it made the run even more exciting.
Anyway, I felt like I was having a pretty good run and I was the first woman in the next transition. I quickly ran through the transition area and jumped on the bike. It’s only 15km ride to the kayak transition and once I got there my support crew told me that the next girl, Sophie Hart, was only 5 mins behind me.
I know that Sophie is a really strong kayaker and that her being so close it was going to be a hard paddle. Also as I had decided to paddle in a wide and a bit slow but a very stable kayak instead of the one I normally paddle. I changed my kayak just because the river was quite high and the wind was supposed to be very strong.
Just a bit before the gorge, after about an hour and half of paddling, I heard Sophie being behind me and soon she powered pass.
I wished her good luck as I felt like I didn’t have a chance to keep up with her. I was still trying my best and managed to hang on there through the wild and windy gorge section for the next hour and half. Just the last hour was a bit too much. My whole body was just cramping and even my fingers cramped as I had been holding my paddle so tight that the wind wouldn’t blow it away.
Finally I got to the last transition. I heard that I was 6 mins behind Sophie. I felt pretty toasted but was still ready to ride hard 70km to Christchurch. We had a massive tail wind and all the information I got from some spectators was that Sophie and I were riding pretty much the same speed.
The best feeling is when you finally see Sumner beach and you know that the finish line is not too far at all.
Finally there! I was really tired. It had been a hard day at the office. I finished second about 8 mins behind Sophie. I felt like I had a good race but , of course, I felt a bit disappointed at the same time. Anyway, there is always a chance to come back and race better next time!
Cheers, Elina 
Janna’s Story: The WKZ Team Mary Lambie and Janna Cowley and bruises in the line of duty!!!! February 21, 2011
As this year’s proud recipient of the Agitated Paddler Award, I’d like to pay tribute to the Tail End Charlie’s (Angels) – Don & Richard.
I was really nervous about the paddle before I even got to the river. As one of the last off the bike at Mt White Bridge, I quickly lost sight of competitors ahead of me. After an early tip-out with the Marshalls on hand I actually felt better – (let’s face it, it was going to happen sooner or later!) It also meant that I caught up to a few paddlers who had suffered the same fate.
Unfortunately I chose the wrong route and as well as having quite a long self-rescue swim, I found myself alone on the river bank being buffeted by the wind and quite disorientated. The chopper flew overhead and disappeared up the valley, so I knew which way to head. But emptying the kayak in the wind and getting going again proved quite challenging. I remember thinking to myself, “This is so isn’t fun…”
I made my way around to another part of the river on foot; by then I’d been going over 2 hours and felt like I’d got nowhere. No one in sight for ages and I’d had enough. The wind pushed me into a bank and I got grounded then flipped over in shallow water – not a happy camper.
Then along comes this guy in bright orange, big smile on his face, “How’s it going?” It’s probably for the best that I can’t quite remember my answer…
This friendly official introduced himself to me as Richard and he helped me get the kayak to the side and sat down for a wee chat out of the wind. Don was next on the scene and I said, “You’re the tail end Charlie’s aren’t you?” They confirmed they were and that others behind me had pulled out so I was indeed last. Excellent. They asked me how I was feeling and what my thoughts were on carrying on. I admitted that I was not at all happy and wanted to stop but my teammate would kill me so I really had to keep going. They said, “Oh look don’t worry about your teammate, this is about you”. Mmmmm…. they don’t know Mary…. J
I felt much better just from having their company, as it had freaked me out being out there by myself with no one around. I opted to keep going to the checkpoint where we would reassess the situation. They sponged out my kayak, helped me into the straight jacket (aka my borrowed paddle jacket) and popped 3 big river rocks in the back of my boat. They explained that whilst it would be heavier to paddle, it would hopefully stop the wind from pushing me around. We set off and I got to Gooseberry without further incident.
Once there I had to make a decision. Just the word “Gorge” was making my knees go weak. Don shared his filled roll supply with me and they all had a yarn on the bank while I deliberated over what to do. They assured me that I was nowhere near missing the cut off time and I wouldn’t get lost; the river would only go one way. I wasn’t scared of falling out, so I decided to give it a crack. I had a couple of spills early on – backwash from a big rock and a huge boil, but then I was in the heart of the gorge and absolutely loving it! It was so beautiful and I got through the patrolled areas without incident.
Of course things never run smoothly and after a decent period of time upright, I got too close to a bluff and had another big self-rescue swim. I got the kayak to the side and dived back in to swim after my paddle. One retrieved paddle and one missing shoe later, I was struggling to empty my kayak in that terrible wind. Rocks in the boat made it really hard to empty on my own.
Once back on the river I took a wrong option. With the kayak weighed down by the rocks, I found myself grounded on top of a stony bank. I tried to push myself off the bottom by hand and suddenly I was shooting backwards really fast into the main body of water. I distinctly remember seeing the horrified face of a lead female One-Dayer as I cannoned out across her path, with a look as if to say, “Don’t you dare crash into me!” I yelled, “Sorry! Sorry!” and paddled hard to the right bank to re-gather myself. Something felt weird and sure enough – I had snapped my rudder clean in half. Without it I had no steering.
I threw off my remaining shoe in disgust and was so gutted. I waved down a nearby jet boat team, who had watched my unconventional reversing manoeuvre with some amusement. They asked me what I wanted to do. One well-meaning guy suggested that I could paddle the rest of the way without a rudder by doing some tricky sweep strokes and back-paddling… Mmmm…. I didn’t think so. They said I was about 5km from Woodstock, I’d been going for 6 hours and I really didn’t want to stop now after having nearly given up way back at 20kms.
Then the skipper remembered seeing another sea kayak 2km downstream that had been abandoned – he suggested that they grab the rudder and bring it back for me. Off they went, and my Angels turned up “Did you miss us Janna?!” When the jet boat returned with the borrowed rudder, they set about fixing it to my kayak, I was fed an apple and we sat in the sun getting sandblasted. More One-Dayers cruised past; elegant swans gliding past a broken-down yellow duck.
After half an hour or so, the lads said I was good to go. Waving them goodbye I set off into the wind, around a 90degree turn and straight into a huge hole. AARRGHH!! Unbelievable. The jet boat guys couldn’t help laughing as they scooped me up and asked did I want to carry on? YES!! My angels emptied and sponged out my kayak once again, the jet boat guys gave me a push and I’m pleased to say that it was my last capsize.
I had a wee panic further downstream when I saw a sign on the left hand bank. I paddled over to the left in order to read it (didn’t bring my glasses) and it said “STAY RIGHT”. Oh sh*t. Furious paddling to the right where I grounded myself near the portage sign. The guys tried to lift my kayak and nearly fell over – “Sorry! There are rocks in the back of my boat!” They looked at me like I was completely nuts and pushed me onto the river once again.
I was welcomed to huge applause at Woodstock as they announced me as the last 2-Dayer – Yay! From there it was still a bit of a slog into the wind and I made the mistake of following the lines of One-Dayers who didn’t have rocks in their boats; I got grounded a few times. One nice guy led the way around a big island and was really encouraging, “Dig it in!” I just wanted this to be over…
I finally made it to the Waimak Gorge Bridge at 5pm, over 8hours after setting off from Mt White Bridge. My crew were anxiously trying to yank me out so that I could tag Mary, I was like – is there really that much of a rush given how long it’s taken me to get here?! I had a painful hobble over the stones in bare feet and when people started yelling at me to hurry up I burst into tears. Such a drama queen. Tagged Mary, handed over the bib & transponder and got a big hug before she took off up to her bike.
Had to explain to my crew and the kayak hire guy that there were rocks in my boat, I’d broken the rudder and had one from #337. We started making our way up the hill when I heard someone yelling my name. I turned around and there were my two smiling angels! Don & Richard had come to make sure that I’d got to the end – bless them!
We made it to the finish line in time to see Mary, who absolutely smoked the ride into Sumner. I had no idea until then how many didn’t make it through the paddle so I’m very proud of myself for carrying on when it would have been so much easier to quit.
Please pass on my HUGE thanks to my Charlie’s Angels. Thank you for:
· Finding me when I was ready to give up
· Telling me of past competitors in the same situation who carried on (not sure if it was a true story but it helped!)
· Sponging out my boat more than once (I promise I hadn’t peed in it)
· Feeding me (I had forgotten my food bag)
· Making me laugh
· Encouraging me to enjoy the gorge (I can honestly say that I did)
· Reassuring me that they weren’t in a hurry and were there for me.
I couldn’t have done it without them and I am so grateful. If they had been at the Convention Centre, I would have gladly handed over the dozen Speight’s I won. Please send any left-over trays their way plus the jet boat team who replaced my rudder when I thought the show was over.
I have massive bruises all over my legs but I am still smiling. I can’t believe that by Sunday I was talking about how I would do things differently “next time”.
Janna
#744
ELINA USSHER: CHAMPION February 13, 2011
Elina Ussher is such a gorgeous woman and coming second in this year’s Coast to Coast minutes behind this year’s winner Sophie Hart, but she looked done in when she arrived in Sumner after a magnificent race and day of total effort and commitment.
It doesn’t take long to keep a champion down though and Elina looked fantastic the next day when she was autographing posters at the WORKOUT|ZONE stand at the Christchurch convention centre.
And get the pink boots! What else does a World Multisport Champion wear the day after running, biking, climbing, kayaking and biking from one side of New Zealand to the other in less than a day!
Maybe Janna forgot something on the way to the Coast to Coast this weekend but I doubt it! February 8, 2011
Nicky Samuels does it again… February 8, 2011
Another week down and another weekend of successful racing! This week I was in Kinloch, Taupo at the ITU Oceania Sprint Champs. After a hugely delayed flight on Air NZ to Auckland we finally got there, picked up my parents car and drove down with the family to Taupo. Arriving at 9pm at night instead of the predicted 4pm in the afternoon. I went for a quick run, but soon it was dark and I decided it was safer to go to bed than keep running on the streets in Taupo.
Saturday was a good day for a session on the course, it was set up for a criterium style multi lap race (similar to the other ITU events to make a spectator friendly race). I cycled the bike course and then ran the run loop a few times to refresh in my mind where the twist, turns, climbs and descents were. With my map in hand I found the changes from previous years and noted them in my head ready for Sunday. By this time I thought I was warm enough to go for a quick dip, one very fast lap around the course to stop myself freezing completely and a quick transition to home for some warmer clothes! Still I guessed the temperature to be around 20 degrees and later that day at the registration I was told it was currently 21 degrees, so I was right and no wetsuits were permitted for the race swim – I was glad I braved it!
The race was a bit later than usual, we started after the men’s race finished at 1.50pm. Tri NZ had such a busy morning with so many different races on it was incredible. Hats off to Haidee the events manager from Tri NZ, who continues to amaze me running around organising things pre and post race and well done to all those that competed in the Erin Baker triathlon earlier in the day – I heard there was over 700 participants!
The swim was pretty rough, which is good practice for the Oceania standard distance champs in Wellington I am sure! I have changed my swim technique slightly to suit open water swimming better and manage the chop on the water, things seemed to work well as I found myself leading the swim until the final few meters and positioned myself comfortably amongst the lead group. My race plan then was then to see how the lead bunch was working together and figure out their pacing. After the first lap riding with them and nothing eventful happening I knew it was going to be much more exciting if I rode away, so half way through the second lap I attacked up the hill, when I looked behind and no one was with me… so just kept going! With 3.5 laps to go I knew I had enough time to put some good time into the chasing bunch and coming through T2 I had managed to increase my lead to a handy 1min 50sec. Out onto the run I was able to relax and enjoy the crowd and the occasion as I comfortably ran home to win in 1hr 6mins.
During the Contact National Series the racing there has been little competition for me as most of the racing has been only against the NZ elite juniors, however this week there was a strong international contingent with World U23 Champion Emma Jackson and the entire Dutch Elite team racing so I was interested to see if my form was really stacking up as well as my training has been reporting… turns out things are on track! I was really happy to come away with another win and the Oceania sprint title in an international field – It’s also great to retain the NZ National Sprint Champion title for the 3rd year running and pick up some ITU points early in the season.
My plan from here is geared toward focusing on my running block in which I will include some time training at altitude at the Snow Farm Lodge in the mountains here in Wanaka and rumours are I will be making an appearance at the Contact National series race in Takapuna – also screened live on National TV (TV 1)!
Thanks again for your support, be sure to keep an eye on my website www.nickysamuels.com for blog updates and race pictures. And in other exciting news the ITU have confirmed a World Cup race for Auckland in November 2011 and the World Championship Series Grand Final for 2012!
Until next time,
Nicky
Proof that sunscreen reduces the risk of melanoma February 3, 2011
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736233?src=mp&spon=33
Regular sunscreen applications every day reduce the risk of melanoma.
Athletes and those who are out in the weather more often than most should use daily QUALITY sunscreen like WORKOUT|ZONE DEFENCE spf 30 broadspectrum.
Boring but true!
Save the planet- recycle your old running shoes in Wellington on Feb 20! February 1, 2011
WORKOUT|ZONE is again co-ordinating a sports shoe collection at the AMI Round the Bays Run in Wellington on Sunday February the 20th. Last year we collected over 600 pairs of shoes for recycling and this year we hope to better this.
As part of the sponsorship we are working with SAVEMART, Rebel Sports and the Nike Reuse A Shoe Programme to collect as many worn out running shoes as possible for recycling. As you know running shoes can take up to 1000 years to break down in your local landfill.
WORKOUT|ZONE believes in a healthy gorgeous you running in a healthy beautiful environment. We have always used lightweight recyclable packaging so what you see is exactly what you get and no more- GREAT skin care!
Shoes can either be brought along on the day or taken to Les Mills Extreme Taranaki Street who are also working to reduce waste in the Wellington landfill.
The person who brought the most shoes on the day (28 PAIRS) won an IPOD Nano and a WORKOUT|ZONE skin care package. His name was Li Yeoh of Wellington. Well Done!
We have a prize again this year for the person who brings the most pairs of shoes on the day (Feb 20) and the prize is again a pack of WORKOUT|ZONE skin care, an Ipod Nano and a pair of (new) running shoes kindly donated by Rebel Sports….so get collecting, tie your shoes together to make for easy counting and bring along as many pairs as you can.
