<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Interviews - Tri247</title><link>http://www.tri247.com/index.html</link><description>Latest interviews articles from Tri247</description><item><title><![CDATA[Exclusive: Chrissie Wellington video interview]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9419.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Tri247&#039;s Editor, John Levison, is obviously on the mend as he took time out last week to meet up with Chrissie Wellington at London&#039;s Universal Studios and record an interview with the multiple World Champion. Get yourself a mug of tea, a couple of mince pies and enjoy!

]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[An evening with Rachel Joyce]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9398.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Tri247 had a pleasant evening with ITU World Long Course Champion Rachel Joyce, kindly organised by Steve Trew. We will be looking to put some of the video from the night up over the next few weeks but as a quick taster, Rachel told us about her plans for 2012 and a big move.

]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Joao Silva interview]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9310.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Jason Henderson of Athletics Weekly caught up with the young Portugese athlete after the Garmin Barcelona triathlon and our cameras were there to capture it.

]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Iwan Thomas interview]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9288.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[In the third of our videos from the Gatorade G Series Pro launch, Simon Ward, Gatorade G-Series Pro Training Advisor, interviews Iwan Thomas about triathlon and doing an ironman.


]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Brownlees talk Yorkshire]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_9287.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[In another video captured at Gatorade&#039;s launch of their G Series Pro family of energy and recovery drinks Simon Ward talks to the Brownlee brothers about Yorkshire, growing up in Yorkshire, why Yorkshire is great, the 2011 season, racing ironman and their plans for 2012. For those not old enough to get the Monty Python homage you can check out the genuine article here.


]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Andreas Raelert interview]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_8967.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Anyone who has been around the world of triathlon will know  that one of the unique qualities of our sport is the accessibility of the top  professionals.  Despite punishing  training schedules, lots of sponsor obligations and also needing to find some  personal time many of them will still try to make time to meet and speak with  &amp;lsquo;us&#039; as well.
Whilst preparing for Ironman Regensburg last weekend, Mike Clyne managed  to secure an interview for Tri247 with Andreas Raelert, the current Iron  distance record holder and runner up at Kona 2010.  Mike told us that &amp;lsquo;he was a great guy, very  friendly and it was a real honour to meet him&#039;.   The photo shows Andreas with the picturesque backdrop of Regensburg old  town.
It was to be an interesting race for Andreas - no world records, and not even an attempt to race fast.... 

MC:
  Andreas Raelert, current Iron distance  record holder set less than a month ago at Roth, with you having to validate  your Kona slot here in Regensburg how different will it be for you as you have  said that you will be participating rather than racing?
AR:      It will be very different as it will be  the first time that I have done this.  It  is a great opportunity to give something back to the sport for very personal  reasons and I am very happy about this.   Triathlon has given me so much over the years and to be able to take  part to raise money for charities is great.
MC:
  Which charities will you be supporting?
AR:      The aim is that my brother Michael and I  together with our sponsors will pay 10-20 Euros for every athlete that finishes  ahead of me so we hope to raise about 15-20,000 Euros.  On our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/raelertbrothers)  and our website (www.passion-for-triathlon.com)  we have asked for suggestions as to which charities should benefit from  this.  On Saturday (the day before the  race) we will announce which charities we will be supporting.  We will however include a charity in Germany  that help children with a muscle genetic defect.
MC:
  Normally you have every incentive to go  fast but you will have every incentive to go slower!
AR:      Not too slow - I must finish!  Yes normally I am racing at 100%, very  focused, however I know that to finish any Ironman is tough and it will be like  a very hard training session.  It will  however give me a chance to look around a little bit and see some of the  landscape.
MC:
  I&#039;m guessing that when you get onto the  run, you&#039;ll have a lot of people around you?
AR:      I really don&#039;t know what to expect - I  don&#039;t know what it will be like to run for four or more hours.  It will be great to be able to support others  on the course as well - as a pro I am really lucky to be able to do this 24  hours a day whereas the age groupers have families and jobs to think  about.  24 hours a day never seem to be  enough for me so it is hard to imagine how they do it.  If I can encourage them through bad patches  on the day it will be great.
MC:
  It will be interesting to hear afterwards  how it went for you and whether they were encouraging you as well.
AR:      The other athletes really inspire me when  I talk to them at races so I imagine so.
MC:
  Triathlon is an unusual sport for this  isn&#039;t it?  I can&#039;t think of another sport  where the world record holder could be competing alongside the amateurs.
AR:      I think this is why triathlon is so  popular worldwide.  There is no other  sport where there is this mix.  We all do  the same distances, the same course but the only difference is the time to the  finish line.  The winner still  experiences the highs and lows that the others have; when they talk about pain,  everyone can understand it.
MC:
  Your world record in Roth last month is  only 13 weeks away from Kona.  How have  you been planning your recovery and how does Regensburg change these recovery plans?
AR:      I have gained a lot of experience over  the last two years but I cannot just train for Kona.  I need another peak to see how that worked,  say to June or July.  Then I can look at this  to see how my preparation is going.  Of  course it is a bit of a risk, to recover properly especially after Roth where I  had nothing left at the end.  However it  was the same last year after Frankfurt (Raelert won beating Timo Bracht into  second and Chris McCormack into third).   Right now I am still tired mentally and physically after Roth but this  hard brick session that I am doing on Sunday will fit into my programme.
MC:
  You said that at Roth you finished with  nothing left - is your aim for Sunday to finish and feel like you have  something left?
AR:      Absolutely, definitely... hopefully!  When I made my decision to come to  Regensburg, I discussed it with some friends and we decided it was the correct  decision.  I will be able to pace myself  whereas when I am racing normally, I have to pace myself against others.  If I need to walk then I will.
MC:
  After your epic race at Kona last year  which people described as one of the classic races, is there anything that you  have particularly changed for this year?
AR:      The first thing you have to learn as a  professional athlete, is that even if you win the race you still have to think  about the race when you review your season - what went right and what went  wrong, what could be improved, what was unexpected.  It is very important to always review your  race and there is always something you have to change.  After last season, the things I have changed  are working out well so far and will do so for Kona.
MC:
  Which things have your changed?
AR:      It&#039;s no big secret.  There are so many different training  programmes but I am sure if someone trained with me they would be in really  good physical shape but the key to Ironman is about being mentally strong as  well.  I have been working on both.  On the physical side I have been working on  power training.  I am lucky to have one  of the best training partners in the world, my brother Michael.  On the mental side I am able to coach him too  - whatever works for him usually works for me....maybe.  I really believe the mental aspect is very  important.  I have now done six Ironman  distance races - Arizona (2008 first place), Kona twice (2009 third place, 2010  second place), Frankfurt (2009 fourth place, 2010 first place) and Roth (2011  first place).  In every single race I  learnt more about myself and how to manage the race.  Even if you had what seems a perfect race  there will always be mistakes and so the best you can do is to reduce the  mistakes.
MC:
  For long distances races this year you won  Mallorca 70.3, won Challenge Kraichgau (half distance in Germany), won at Roth,  racing this weekend in Regensburg and then Kona.  Do you think next year you will do a similar  build up for Kona?
AR:      Definitely yes.  At the moment I am considering doing another  70.3 in early September but this isn&#039;t confirmed as yet.  I need to see how I recover over the next few  weeks first.  Kona is still the most  important race for me.
MC:
  Do you go to Kona a long way in advance of  the race?
AR:      This year I plan to have the same  preparation as last year.  I will go to  Clermont, Florida for a couple of weeks up until a week before and then to Kona.  This will minimise jet lag and stress.  I am very focused on minimising stress  especially in a high volume high intensity training phase which will be 3-4  weeks out from Kona.  When I train at  this intensity it always feels as if I am on the edge and I need to be careful  of this.
MC:
  You talk about training with your brother  and with the $1m incentive offered by K Swiss for the two of you to finish first and second in Kona, will this be rolled  forward?  How much does this drive you? [ED: Michael Raelert announced last week that he would not be seeking to qualify for and race in Kona in 2011 due to injury]. 
AR:      Hopefully!  Honestly, I really like the idea and the fact  that they offer this amount of money is a recognition of where Ironman, the  toughest one day event in the world, has come.   On the other hand, there are other athletes who have the same dream as  me and you have to live your dream.  To  win in Kona is my dream and so I am aiming for that, to limit my potential is  to limit my outcome.  You have to aim  high.  I think Michael and I have the  potential to win at Kona.  I would  however still race in Kona if the prize was one Euro because as a professional  it is your passion, to compete against the best in the world and to be able to  say &amp;lsquo;I was the best in the world on that day&#039; would be great.  It is the energy that drives every training  session.  I have been doing triathlon for  18 years and it is still my passion.  I  was talking to Marino Vanhoenacker at a training camp earlier this year about  these things and we both agreed that you had to have this passion.  If it was just a job, you could still be one  of the best but it is less likely.
MC:
  When you talk about having the dream, have  you read Chris McCormack&#039;s book &amp;lsquo;I&#039;m Here to Win&#039;?
AR:      Not yet!
MC:
  I would like to read you a quote as I am  just a chapter from finishing it - the quote is about you and your brother  talking about Kona 2010: 
&amp;ldquo;I have to say  something here about the Raelerts.  The  split I got coming out of the Energy Lab came from Michael Raelert, Andreas&#039;s brother.   He gave me an accurate split on his own brother, knowing that it would  give me an advantage.  That speaks  volumes about the class and sportsmanship of these two guys.  We&#039;re going to see big things from them in  coming years, and the future of the sport could not be in the hands of two  better individuals&amp;rdquo;.
AR:      It&#039;s an honour to hear Macca say this  about us.  It shows he is a real  champion.  Apart from his goal to be on  the Olympic team he has won everything else.   He is someone who lives for the sport and a perfect example of how you  have to be mentally fit which he has demonstrated over the years.  I have learnt a lot from him in the past.  It was great to hear Macca&#039;s comment last  year in Frankfurt talking with someone about his race strategy in the same race  in 2009.  He said that you have to risk  things in the sport and risk not getting a win or on the podium.  He said that he risked everything to win in  Frankfurt, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn&#039;t.  He said that when you risk everything you  learn more about yourself as you can end up with nothing left in the tank at  the end.  Even if you fail, you tried.  A lot of people have asked me what I did wrong  in Kona last  year and I responded that I  don&#039;t think I did anything wrong as I gave everything I had but on the day  Macca was just better.  That&#039;s just  sport.
MC:
  At the moment though you are the fastest  over that distance.
AR:      At the moment, yes!  It shows however the direction of the  sport.  Last year I was talking to lots  of others and we decided it could be down to 7.45 but for many races,  especially Kona, it is about winning not about the times.  But if it comes to a race on a fast course  with perfect conditions then who knows.   One week before Roth, Marino opened the door with his record in  Klagenfurt (he reduced the record from 7.50.27 to 7.45.49, Raelert then took it  to 7.41.33) so I was really pleased to beat the record.  We are still a young sport and I truly  believe there is so much more potential especially on the marathon times.  The talent in the sport is just getting  deeper and deeper.  People like Craig  Alexander, Rasmus Henning, Macca are all fast on the run together with the guys  coming from the speed of Olympic distance.   Again if you believe that you can go faster, then you don&#039;t limit  yourself.  When Chrissie Wellington  showed up in Roth and said &amp;lsquo;I want to be one of the best male athletes&#039; in  other words she wants to aim to win the whole event she shows that she thinks  about how to get better  and there are no  limit to what she thinks about.  It&#039;s a  fine line between being realistic and dreaming.   I would rather just be over the line to dreaming just like in other  things in life.
MC:
  I have heard interviews in the past where  German athletes talk about the pressure of not only winning but being the  fastest German as well.  Do you feel this  pressure?
AR:      The biggest pressure is from myself, have  I given the best performance in every single race?  Of course there is also outside pressure  which you have to learn to handle and this takes years.  The German athletes have been among the best  so if you can be the best in your own country it helps with your performance  worldwide.  If you can set a high  standard then others will aim for that.
MC:
  Final question - will you predict a time  for Sunday?
AR:      Actually I have no idea!  I hope about 11-12 hours so we can make some  decent money but it will be one of those days that I can really enjoy the race  course.  Often when I am asked after an  event about the course I don&#039;t remember the course.
MC:
  I am sure that there will be a lot of  people on Sunday who will go home saying &amp;lsquo;I beat a world record holder today&#039;
AR:      Yes definitely.
MC:
Thank you so much for your time and have a  great race on Sunday
AR:      Thank you.

Post-script: Andreas Raelert completed Ironman Regensburg in a time of 10:21:05, 332nd overall, and thus has now met the requirements of the 2011 Kono Pro Rankings (KPR) with sufficient points and having completed his &#039;validation&#039; race. ]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Will Clarke interview]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_8858.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Last Saturday was a breakthrough race for Great Britain&#039;s Will Clarke. With a Commonwealth Games (7th, Melbourne 2006), Olympic Games (14th, Beijing 2008) and an ITU World Cup podium finish (3rd, Salford 2006) to his name, alongside a host of World and European medals at Junior and Under-23 level, Will has been a consistent performer for many years.
Still only 26, the question remained though, did Will - always one of the hardest workers on the circuit - have what it takes to medal at the very top level? Could the Clarke &#039;engine&#039; match his desire and commitment, and turn consistently strong results into medal winning performances at senior level? 
The ITU World Championship Series was introduced from the 2009 season and is the most competitive racing in the world, and Will&#039;s second place in Hamburg represented the best result of his career to date. Combined with top ten finishes in Sydney (9th) and Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel (4th), Will now lies second in the 2011 WCS rankings ahead of the Hyde Park event next month.
I spoke to Will about the changes in his coaching set up this year, the 2012 Olympics and how he has changed from a 2010 season where &amp;quot;the bad results kept coming in, it just got worse and worse really&amp;quot; to a situation where he feels he is now coming into even better form for the remainder of 2011. We also talked about domestiques (or not) in the Olympics, a future in Ironman racing and much more... 

JL: First thing to say of course is congratulations on your result in Hamburg. I watched the race, and have read comments about what you said after the race so I assume you are still really happy and pleased with what you achieved there?
Will: Yeah, I am very happy. It was my second podium, but my first real big podium and my first for a long time and it couldn&#039;t have come at a better time really with London (Hyde Park) around the corner, so yes, very happy.
JL: You&#039;ve been in good form this year; Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel you got a fourth and another top ten in Sydney so it&#039;s not just a freak/out-of-the-blue result for you. That consistency must be as pleasing for you as getting the actual result itself?
Will: We trained really hard over the Winter, probably harder than ever and we prepared really well and I believed in what we were doing, the sacrifices we were making. So yeah, I&#039;m in a great place at the moment. I&#039;ve managed to be consistent and to be honest, I feel like I&#039;m coming in to some better form since Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel and Hamburg, so I&#039;m hoping that in the next few races I can push on and maybe even finish higher up still.
JL: That leads on nicely... obviously we&#039;ve got London coming up which is important for lots of reasons; home race / Olympic qualifying etc / Olympic venue etc, are you confident that you can move up another level in performance there which, in all likelihood, you&#039;ll need with so many athletes and countries targeting that race?
Will: I&#039;m training really hard in Lanzarote at the moment, and after those races and a good block of training I think I&#039;ll be in a good place with my fitness. It&#039;s going to be really hard in London because the two Brownlees will be there as well and only two GB athletes can qualify for the Olympics from 2011, so I&#039;m going to have to put in a really strong performance to make the team this year. To be honest I&#039;m not focusing on the result, I&#039;m just going to get in there and race as hard as I can an then no one can take that away from me. If I can put my head on the pillow at the end of the day knowing I&#039;ve put my all into it then that&#039;s great. What&#039;s more important to me is to establish myself as consistently among the top three British athletes, and I think if I can do that then I&#039;ll be selected.
JL: You had those two results at  Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel and Hamburg on two quite different courses - does that give you confidence that you can perform on different types of courses which you will have to do at various times on the World Championship Series circuit?
Will: I think to race well at the top level you do have to be able to perform on all types of courses. I also think &#039;when you are fit, you are fit&#039;, and you can race well anywhere and if you are under prepared then you are not going to be consistent. I trained in Australia this year so I&#039;m pretty good in the heat (I think!), and obviously being British I&#039;m ok at cold/windy conditions, and so I think consistency comes naturally if you are in good shape, and if you are in good shape you can race well on any weekend and frequently as well.
JL: You made some changes towards the end of last year, now coached by Michelle Dillon and part of Team Dillon, training with Stuart Hayes, Jodie Stimpson and co - that&#039;s worked results wise, but can you just give us an overview of that coaching relationship and how it&#039;s worked for you?
Will: I had a bit of a bad end to last year, I had a bad injury and that all got infected and ultimately put me in hospital, and I got taken off funding as well which meant I lost a lot of money as well. Fortunately I had some savings from prize money and past years, and so I could take myself to Australia and get coached by Michelle. The main thing that changed was that in Australia I was really happy, enjoying my training and I was in good shape and being consistent. We were training hard too and I took a lot of confidence from knowing that not many people in the world were training harder than me. Fortunately I wasn&#039;t getting injured and was pretty robust (touch wood!), and so I could train hard every week and keep backing it up after the races. That&#039;s really been the main change.
JL: 2010 must have been (athletically, your wedding aside!) a disappointment the way it ended, but at the start of the year you seemed to be a great shape and I know you did some very fast 10km runs early in the year, perhaps indicating that you were potentially going to improve again, but it didn&#039;t really happen. Was that any one factor, a case of getting too fit to quick, or anything you can really put your finger on?
Will: I think there was a lot of factors. I think I was too fit too quick but also I wasn&#039;t a very balanced athlete. I was running fast but my swimming wasn&#039;t particularly strong and I wasn&#039;t doing enough miles on the bike. I just think I got to July, had given it everything I could give and I then had nowhere to go. I was starting to get really tired because I just didn&#039;t have the base miles behind me. Once I got tired and the bad results kept coming in it just got worse and worse really. I guess I might have lost a bit of motivation and belief and it all spiralled downward really. This year, because I had such a big Winter in Australia and was happy and enjoying it, I came back to Loughborough and everything was new again, and that really helps.
JL: Was most of that training done alongside Stuart (Hayes), another high quality athlete, with the two of you pushing each other?
Will: I trained with Stu pretty much every session that we did. We lived a few km&#039;s apart in Australia so did some of our evening running apart, but everything else we did together. Stuey is very experienced, and he&#039;s been doing the sport for maybe 20 years, and so I thought I could really learn a lot from him and I guess he acted almost as a mentor for me. I could ask him questions and we could talk after the sessions and it really helped having him there.
JL: You&#039;re still only 26 years old, though it seems that you have been around at the top level for quite a few years. In triathlon terms that is still relatively young  and you could well have your peak years ahead of you. Do you feel you have your best still to come?
Will: Yeah, I hope so. As Michelle and Stu are always telling me, and a lot of people say, is that they feel their strongest the older they get and so Stu is I think maybe 32/33 now and he says he&#039;s feeling the strongest that he&#039;s ever felt and is still improving, so, I think it is a case of keeping motivated and if I can do that then I can keep improving into my 30&#039;s.
JL: You&#039;ve had the benefit of one Olympics already. Is there anything you learned from that, aside from the actual result/racing, but about the Olympics generally, knowledge which you would be able to take with you to London 2012 or indeed future Olympic Games?
Will: I think people get very worked up and hyped up about the Olympics, but it&#039;s just another event. I know for us (British athletes) there will be a lot of pressure there, but I think one of the good things about being in a team with the Brownlees is that they will be taking all of that pressure and no one is going to be expecting anything from the third athlete. I know that for this Olympics I want to be the most rounded athlete, leave no stone unturned athlete - cycling really strong, swimming my best ever and of course the run will be crucial too. No matter what conditions, ready to perform.
JL: One of the issues that has been in the Press - and in my opinion, is more of a Press story than anything - is that the Olympic selection rules do allow for the choice of a domestique role   under circumstances. With yourself, Alistair, Jonny, Stuart and Tim all having had at least one WCS podium in the last 12 months or so, do you think we will have a team of three athletes - whoever they are - selected on the basis of being genuine contenders?
Will: I think at the moment the selectors will be thinking that we have a good handful of athletes who could be medal winners in their own right, so, at the moment there would be no use for a domestique.  And to be honest, you still need to qualify points to go, so I&#039;m not sure there is anyone really strong enough and in that position to be of use in that race, so I think they will take three athletes in their own right. As well, I think all of us athletes can look after ourselves in the race, especially the Brownlees - they are so dominant at the moment that they can look after themselves on the bike and still get off and run faster than everyone. I&#039;m sure things will change before the Olympics but at the moment, definitely, we can all look after ourselves. 
JL: Just looking longer term, we&#039;re always very guilty in the media of talking about 2012 as though the world stops then, but clearly it doesn&#039;t - what are your plans for the future? Do you see yourself still racing in triathlon in five or maybe ten years time?
Will: I can definitely see myself doing triathlon until I&#039;m 33/34, something like that. My dilemma is, it doesn&#039;t get any better than competing at an Olympics in your home country, but, I think I&#039;ll just see if I can keep going at the highest level and if I can then I&#039;ll aim for Rio 2016. At some point I want to go into Ironman and half-ironman and give that a go to, because I think I can be good at that too. 
JL: So, that longer distance racing is appealing to you further down the line?
Will: It is. I&#039;ve always thought that I might be more suited to that sort of racing than what I&#039;m doing at the moment.
JL: You mentioned that you lost the funding element, how are things going for you sponsorship wise?
Will: Sponsors are definitely hard to come by especially with the economy being as bas as it it, but I&#039;ve been really lucky to have some good sponsors. I&#039;m halfway through a three year deal with Multipower and they support me with nutrition and things which is really good, and I&#039;m also sponsored by Lansons a London PR company. Alan Ingarfield from Boardman Bikes sorts me out on that front and Adidas supply all of my kit which is great.
JL: Well, thanks for your time Will - I&#039;ll let you get back to training (or the Tour de France!) and no doubt catch up with you in Hyde Park, so enjoy the rest of your day.
Will: No worries, thanks a lot.

Will Clarke is an ambassador for Multipower sports food. For sports nutrition tailored to your individual needs visit: www.multipoweruk.com 
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tom Lowe heads to Austria]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_8742.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[
British Ironman Record Holder Tom Lowe is back, and this weekend will be racing at the K&amp;auml;rnten Ironman Austria in Klagenfurt. Tri247 will be there to see him in action where he will be up against the undisputed race favourite, five-time winner Marino Vanhoenacker from Belgium. 
Now, when we say &#039;back&#039;, of course, having broken that British Record time in his first attempt at the distance last November in Arizona it&#039;s not like he has been away for years. His return in this context refers to his decision to once again focus on being a full-time athlete again, having briefly joined the full-time workers shortly after that Arizona effort.
On the eve of what will be only his second Ironman start I asked Tom about his decision, the support he has had from TYR, his hopes and expectations for the next couple of years and much more. 

Tri247: So Tom, you told  me earlier in the year that having gone back to working full-time for TYR after  that great race in Arizona, you had an &quot;I just couldn&#039;t handle the &#039;what if&#039;  question that would come up in 4 - 5 years time when it&#039;ll be too late&quot; moment,  and have now decided to give the triathlon racing a full-time shot again. Can  you tell us a bit more about how you came to the conclusion, and how long it  took to realise it wasn&#039;t what you wanted at this stage?
Tom: By the time  Arizona came around in November last year, I had already been talking to TYR  (pronounced &#039;tier&#039;) regarding employment with them. They were kind enough to  offer me a fantastic opportunity with a growing company that makes products  that are second to none. I started in the New Year and it was a few months  before I realised that my heart lay on a different path, at least for the near  future. TYR is a company that has now supported me as an athlete by becoming my  biggest sponsor, and I&#039;ve a great relationship with them that I hope continues  to grow, potentially after I&#039;ve stopped competing at a high level and seek full  time employment again.
As I say, the  &#039;what if&#039; question was just too big because I didn&#039;t expect to have the run  that I did at Arizona. The result was a surprise and an outcome that I hadn&#039;t  even thought possible, therefore I hadn&#039;t contemplated the implications of a  result like that and what it might offer as a career path. 

Tri247: You were  working for TYR &amp;ndash; what was the role, and are you still going to be doing some  work with them? Were TYR supportive of your decision, when you discussed it  with them?
Tom: My official  title was European Sales and Promotions Manager, and involved an array of  responsibilities across Europe, including pushing the brand in the media and at  races/expos, dealing with sponsored athletes and existing TYR accounts as well  as seeking new ones, liaising with the TYR Europe Manager in France, helping  with strategies to introduce the brand into Germany and France on the retail  side, to name but a few, I could go on for a long time.
I have to say I  was a little nervous when I called Ryan Dolan, the Vice President of Sales for  TYR, about the decision to give full time training a go, however I needn&#039;t have  worried as he was about as understanding as someone could&#039;ve been. He understood  my predicament and a couple of days later, having spoken to TYR ownership, he  offered me a contract as an athlete. I really can&#039;t thank them enough.
I&#039;m still doing  a little work for TYR, mainly chasing new accounts in the UK, and am happy to  be helping where I can.
Tri247: How is life  now &amp;ndash; have you managed to switch back to being an &#039;athlete&#039;, with all of the  associated things that includes&amp;hellip; and ironically, is there now anything that you  perhaps miss from the &#039;work&#039; world now &amp;ndash; aside from a regular pay cheque?!
Tom: I&#039;ve managed to  switch back to being an athlete quite well however it has taken a while to get my  race fitness back. I did very little in the months that I was working for TYR,  and only started training for this season in early April. There are certainly  elements of the job that I miss. I enjoyed my role, working with the senior  managers of the company but also visiting the stores and speaking to the end  users. I also met some truly fantastic people that work for TYR, and I look  forward to meeting them all again in the future, whether that is at a race or  further down the line in life. There is something about the routine of work  that is quite satisfying too, in a strange sort of way!
Tri247: You had a  great debut at Ironman, surpassing even your own expectations. Many people will  assume &#039;well, if he did that first time out, he must be able to do even better  with more experience&#039; &amp;ndash; does that add any extra pressure, as for some athletes  (me anyway!), their first Ironman can well be their best?
Tom: I certainly  surprised myself at Arizona, the swim and bike were expected, it was just the  run that was a bit of a shock. I thought I might drop under three hours but  certainly not run a 2.48. Last year I was struggling to get any sort of run  form back at all, certainly it was nothing like the last race I&#039;d done before  the three years of injury (European Duathlon Champs in Edinburgh, June 2007). I  didn&#039;t need to get the speed back over 10km that I used to have, but I at least  wanted to get within a couple of minutes of my best. I think it&#039;s a big help to  have that faster run background behind you if you want to go long, that way the  speed over the half and full distances are never going to shock you and you  know you&#039;re comfortable at a faster pace, you just need to build the strength  to keep it up over 13 and 26 miles respectively.
I think I&#039;ve  more to give for sure. I was fit for Arizona in 2010 and produced a good  performance. If I&#039;m fit again, barring mechanicals, I&#039;ll produce another good  one, I&#039;m confident of that. My first Ironman distance triathlon experience was  a very satisfying one, but I&#039;ll be extremely disappointed if I don&#039;t improve on  the position and time over the next couple of years. 

Tri247: You&#039;ve chosen  to race Ironman Austria as your first major race back. Can you tell us how you  came to chose that race for your return &amp;ndash; is it timing / profile / fast  reputation or something else which has attracted you to it? It is a great  race!
Tom: I had initially  entered Ironman South Africa however it was just too soon after finishing my  job for me to get anywhere remotely close to race shape. I therefore have  decided to do a July Ironman and hope that added to the Arizona result and the  70.3&#039;s that I&#039;ve done, it will give me enough points to earn a Hawaii slot.  Kona is more exclusive than ever this year for professionals, with only 50 men  and 30 women on the start line, so I&#039;ve got my work cut out. Austria just comes  at the right time for me and I&#039;ve heard a lot of great things about the event.  I have to come back to Europe for a while anyway, from my summer training base  in Boulder, Colorado, so it just makes sense. Being early July the timing will  then allow me to compete in another one or two 70.3&#039;s while getting a solid  block of training in for the (fingers crossed) World Championships.
Tri247: Looking at your  results &amp;ndash; and not surprising from a Duathlon background &amp;ndash; your swim was clearly  the weakest of your three disciplines. Have you been able to make any inroads  on that front? 
Tom: My swim will  always be my weakest discipline, but I do feel that I&#039;ve made improvements  since getting to Boulder a couple of months ago. As I thought I was working  this year, I didn&#039;t push the swimming over this winter, as I would&#039;ve done if  I&#039;d known that I was going to be racing. Dave Scott&#039;s sessions at the Flatirons  pool in Boulder are superb, and he has an unbelievable eye, and memory too for  that matter, for spotting technique faults with numerous individuals at any one  time, while there are 40 people in the pool, and then after proceeds to tell  you your split for the last 300m best effort! His sister Jane takes sessions  too, and again has a very keen eye.
I must add that  I&#039;m confident that my bike and run can also improve a lot. Or maybe have  improved already...
Tri247: What is the  plan for the remainder of the year &amp;ndash; if you secured enough points, is racing in  Kona a goal for this season, or something that will wait until 2012?
Tom: Certainly racing  Kona is a goal for me and it&#039;s something I&#039;ve wanted to do having experienced  the magic atmosphere of Hawaii as a spectator for the last couple of years. If  I have enough points to qualify for this year&#039;s race I&#039;ll be there. If for some  reason it doesn&#039;t happen for me this year, then I&#039;ll work at gathering enough  points for 2012, starting from September 1st, with at least one 70.3  and an end of season Ironman. The ideal would be to qualify this year and next,  and accumulate enough points that I can afford to do a couple of none WTC races  next year to support other race organisers, Challenge being one. 
Tri247: We&#039;ve seen that you are part of the Team GI Bridgtown set- up with the  Jameson brothers and Catherine Pickthall. Can you tell us a little more about  how you became involved, and how that helps you &amp;ndash; looks like you have a rather  bling Trek Speed Concept to ride?
Tom: After Arizona  last year, and at the time being of the thinking that I&#039;d be UK based with TYR  and racing just in my spare time, Joel Jameson contacted me regarding joining  GI Tri/Bridgtown and benefiting from the set up they had with all the sponsors  that Paul Caunce, the team facilitator, had managed to secure.  It&#039;s a superb team and Paul has been very  supportive. The bike, thanks to Mike Taylor at Bridgtown Cycles, is superb, and  both Paul and Mike are very keen to help in anyway they can with their athletes  careers.
Mike has changed  my bike position a lot from last year, I&#039;m now a little less aggressive but  just as aero, if not more so thanks to being narrower at the front, and also  the position is much more geared to running off the bike well. I&#039;ve only done one  race on the Trek so far, however I ran well off the bike and am confident that  the position will bring improved results and faster times.

Tri247: Any other  sponsors / partners that you are working with this year?
Tom: Aside from the  team sponsors, I&#039;m obviously backed by TYR and also Fuelbelt too. I use their  gel flask holder on the bike and the handheld bottles on the run; a system that  I find really works for me. There&#039;ll be additions to the sponsors list for next  year, but for now I will keep my lips sealed. Check out www.tomlowe.org to keep up to date.
Tri247: The British  record for iron-distance is now down to 8:11:44. While times are secondary in  triathlon, do you think that on the right course and conditions that you could  be the first Brit to possibly join the sub-8 club? 
Tom: It is a  goal of mine to try and pepper that 8-hour mark at some stage. There are  courses out there that will never produce a sub-8 no matter who&#039;s on the start  line, however Austria is one of the fastest courses on the circuit, and Roth is  very quick too. My swim would ideally need to drop three minutes or so to give  myself a better chance as long as the biking and running are going really well.  I&#039;m never going to take 7 &amp;ndash; 8 minutes off my swim and come out with the front  pack, that&#039;s unrealistic and not something I&#039;m prepared to work for as the gap  is just too big, I don&#039;t have the time (not each day, but in terms of career  length left) and the other two disciplines would suffer. I&#039;m confident that a  sub-4.20 bike split and marathon in the low 2.40&#039;s is more than achievable at  some time in the future. 
Tri247: Anything else we should know?!
Tom: I can&#039;t think of  anything right now, John, I&#039;ll see you out in Klagenfurt. My body is enjoying  the taper! ]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Team Jenkins on Kitzbühel]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_8740.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[With London 2012 just over a year away, there is little doubt (and with good reason), that the bulk of the media focus on the prospects for British Triathlon making an Olympic Triathlon podium for the first time are focussed on a pair of rather talented young brothers from Yorkshire.
Look beyond that though and I believe that we are also seeing the emergence of a genuine British medal contender in the ladies race in the form Helen Jenkins. Helen of course is certainly not new to the scene, or lacking in success. ITU World Champion in 2008 (the last edition of the &#039;one day&#039; World Championship), she has finished the past two seasons ranked fifth and fourth respectively. She has also finished third at the Hyde Park WCS event in both 2009 and 2010. 
Look beyond the results though, and recent performances in both Madrid and Kitzb&uuml;hel - both second place finishes to the current world #1 Paula Findlay (CAN) -  suggest to me that an athlete that has always been known for her strength and consistency, is now on the verge of reaching the very pinnacle of the sport and has truly stepped up a level. Always one of the best swimmers and cyclists in triathlon, Helen as made huge gains in her running ability and that is being reflected in her impressive racing so far this season. 
To my mind,  her Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel performance was one of the most impressive I have witnessed - having spent half of the race in a breakaway attempt with American athlete Sarah Haskins, Helen was able to recover, regroup and still push Paula Findlay to her limits in the late stages of the run - while dropping everyone else, despite her exertions on the bike. 
Last week I was able to sit down with Helen along with her husband and coach Marc Jenkins to talk through that Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel race in detail and get both an athlete and coach perspectivet, along with some great insights on the tactics of ITU racing... and find out why Marc wants Helen&#039;s sister to get training for triathlon! 

John: Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel was a really interesting race. From your point of view Helen, you&#039;d had a great result in Madrid - a close second to the current world #1 Paula Findlay - so coming into the race, you must have been confident of another good result?
Helen: I&#039;m not the most confident athlete, so I&#039;m never 100% confident. I knew things were going well, but it did take me a while to recover from Madrid. Because Madrid is such a hard bike it takes a lot out of you, so, I was going in with.... not low expectations, but thinking that if I had a good day I could make the podium, but if not we&#039;ll just see what happens.
John: What about you Marc, were you confident in Helen&#039;s prospects before the race?
Marc:  Yes, I thought it would be a better performance.
John:  You could see from the start that Sarah (Haskins, USA) was really pushing the swim - was there any plan beforehand of that, or was that just a factor of Sarah being in the race and hence you know what will likely happen?
Helen: I knew it would be a fast swim. Sarah is a fast swimmer, but then so is Laura Bennett  and I started next to Laura so I knew I was with a fast swimmer. In Madrid I didn&#039;t swim well - for me - I was top 12/15, but I&#039;m more used to being up at the front. I saw Sarah come from the left, while we were in a line of four approaching the buoy, and we (Helen and Laura) both ended up on top of the other two girls as we rounded the buoy, which is quite big in Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel, and I saw Sarah already had that gap in front of us, so I swam around the two girls in front of me and just swam as hard as I could, and came out about 20 seconds down on Sarah. So, it wasn&#039;t a planned thing, I was just trying to swim as hard as I can...
Marc: ...  that&#039;s always the aim - swim as fast as you can and break it up. Bike as fast as you can to break up some more, and then win! You want to run with as few people as possible next to you.
Helen: my run has improved the last few years, and this year has been a big improvement... but I&#039;d always rather be in that swim-bike breakaway because I think it leaves less to chance. The harder the race is in general, if it&#039;s a hard swim and a hard bike I think I&#039;ve got more chance of winning than if it&#039;s easy... I mean I&#039;m quite interested to see what I can do if it&#039;s off an easy bike - the last two races have been tough bikes and I&#039;ve run well...
Marc: ...but why leave it to chance?
Helen: Exactly, I don&#039;t want to leave it to chance.  
John: Ok, so when you were on the second lap of the bike and you&#039;ve got that break with Sarah - and I&#039;m immediately thinking &#039;Vancouver 2008&#039; (!) - at that point it looked like that was the way the race would go - at that stage, were the pair of you fully committed to the breakaway?
Helen: Completely, especially when you are with someone like Sarah who is such a good bike rider. There was no question of us not committing to it, no question of waiting, we just went as hard as we could and we were both really hurting. They (the chase group) closed the gap to 20 seconds, and we sort of looked at each other asking &amp;quot;do you want to wait?&amp;quot;, and just then it started raining, and then they pulled it back to 10 seconds, and it was a case of &#039;it&#039;s not worked today&#039;.
Marc:  But I think that when you started to question it, you saw that (the gap coming down). 
Helen: Oh yes, when we questioned it then in a lap we lost 15 seconds but with two laps to go is it worth killing yourself for 20 seconds? At that point, it probably wasn&#039;t for us. So yes, as soon as we questioned it we lost time but we&#039;d gone as hard as we could... and I was thinking at that point that I&#039;d blown it!!!
Marc:  Had Sarah just flown in from the States?
Helen: Yeah, Sarah was jetlagged.
Marc: So, I think that didn&#039;t help - it didn&#039;t look like either of you were riding as well as have done before.
John: Watching the race, it looked as though  you were doing more of the work than Sarah?
Helen: No, we were actually pretty even  over the course and we definitely shared the load. You look back afterwards and think, if I had sat up earlier I would have had fresher legs. I mean, I don&#039;t know where Paula (Findlay) was in that pack, but she probably didn&#039;t do a huge amount of work in that pack, or less work than those at the front, and you think perhaps if I hadn&#039;t done that, then maybe...
Marc: I don&#039;t understand the mentality of some people in that pack - they know the best runner is sat at the back, yet they work to take that runner to the front of the race. I just don&#039;t understand why you are willing to give somebody the win?! Because that is what you are doing... you are still going to come 10th/15th but you are giving the win to Paula! 
Helen: What is funny is that girls who will chase down a break of two, when they are in the front group they will not work...
Marc: ...it&#039;s absurd, I really don&#039;t understand it. You want to have the best race you can  in which case make that fastest runner do some work, or, are you just trying to stop other people?
John: So at that point then, you &#039;ve gone from a situation of a completely committed breakaway, then the race changes and you are back in the pack. Mentally then, what are you thinking? How do you re-group?
Helen: Mentally I&#039;m just trying to conserve energy.  That fifth lap (of the bike, the first back into the group for Helen), god it was easy! I was thinking &#039;this is awesome!&#039;
Marc: I stopped panicking then!
Helen: I had arm warmers on my bike which I&#039;d left on my tri bars. I was cycling the whole time with these arm warmers on my bike, thinking I should really get rid of them... and then I saw this big black cloud! I&#039;m glad I kept them, I put them on when it started raining and I think they did help keep me that little bit warmer for when we hit the run. Mentally, I was thinking that the run is going to be &#039;interesting&#039; after doing that work on the bike. 
John: Were you pleased to see the rain come in - a bit of Welsh weather?! 
Helen: I hate cornering in the wet, hate it, but if it&#039;s cold and wet then it&#039;s probably worse for other people than it is for me.
John: What were you thinking, watching it as a coach Marc  having seen how the race had played out - were you still confident?
Marc: It&#039;s a great thing to see that Helen has not led, but worked the entirety of that swim alone chasing Sarah. She&#039;s then committed on the bike for 25km or whatever and then she runs, basically, as fast as the fastest runner in the race. So, what&#039;s positive is that without a doubt the best triathlete on that day was Helen, but not the most opportunistic / best runner / winner of the race - which is what it is about, it is about winning the race, so full credit to Paula. She&#039;s done everything she needs to, she sits there and lets the other people who are foolish enough drag her to the front, and then she wins the race. What Helen has done though is shown that she has the ability to be the best swimmer, to be the best bike rider AND to perform with the best in the world on the run. So, what we&#039;ve got to do now is not stop swimming as fast as we can or riding as fast as we can but just run a bit faster - to have all the strings to your bow to deal with any race scenario.
It&#039;s like we keep saying, it&#039;s unfortunate but what Helen doesn&#039;t have is a Brownlee - a sibling to help her... so damn Helen&#039;s sister Harriet who is working in Northampton and didn&#039;t come into triathlon!!! So, Harriet Tucker, get your ar$e in a trisuit an start training for London 2012!!!
You know what I mean though John, Al and Jonny have got each other to influence the race the way that they need to but what Helen doesn&#039;t have is someone to influence things in her favour.
Helen: I had Sarah there this weekend, and while it didn&#039;t work this time there will be days when I think it will... and if it works in Hyde Park that would be brilliant!
John: You must take a lot of confidence though from being in the lead pack on the run at 3/4km, and with you is Emma Moffatt, Barbara Riveros Diaz and all of the other names and one by one all of them except Findlay, just by keeping the pressure on, you&#039;ve spat them all out of the back. That&#039;s not something that maybe a year ago would have happened?
Marc: It wouldn&#039;t have.
Helen: It&#039;s been a good Winter. We&#039;ve increased the run volume and it&#039;s good to see that your efforts do come out in the races. The first lap of the run in Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel my calves and hamstrings felt so tight but I think that was just from the cold and I was kind of thinking I&#039;m not even going to be in the top-10 today, but it did get better.
John: After the race Paula  said that she was hanging on (to you) on the last lap, that you were really pushing and she didn&#039;t think she was going to be able to stay with you.
Helen: In  Madrid it got to that last 400m and she pulled away from me and I thought that I have to do something different, or at least try something different, and so I pushed on from 7.5km and I did run as hard as I could for that lap and then that last little bit up the hill, my legs were going and I tried to keep pushing but she was just too strong. Still, it was good that I made her hurt, and I just need to learn how to race smart.
John: So what racing have you got planned now?
Helen: I&#039;m going to miss Hamburg (ITU WCS) and just train now for Hyde Park. That&#039;s seven weeks now, so I&#039;m having a couple of easy days now after   Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel to just freshen up and get ready to go back into training. I&#039;m looking forward to getting a good block of training in - you can&#039;t make massive gains in that time, but you can sharpen up on the things that haven&#039;t gone right in the last races. 

Marc: You can make big losses though!
Helen: Like in Madrid and Kitzb&amp;uuml;hel I didn&#039;t swim well for the first lap of the swim and that&#039;s something we&#039;ve spoken to our swim coach about and so we have time to address that before Hyde Park. Just small tweaks you can make in training.
Marc:  It&#039;s good to see that everythig has gone so well - we haven&#039;t got to panic, or massively change anything but there are small areas to focus on and push on a little bit.
John: One of the things we&#039;ve spoken about several times over the past few years is that you&#039;ve generally got better as the season has progressed?
Marc: So hopefully the start has been bad again!
Helen: Yes, hopefully this is awful, I hope I start running a minute faster next week, that would be good! I think the increase in running volume, no major (injury / ilness) issues and maintaining the swim/bike level has lead to a stronger start to the season than normal.
John: Well, it was certainly exciting to watch and good luck for Hyde Park.
Helen: Thank you - I had  loads of messages on Twitter afterwards from people saying they enjoyed watching, so that was good. 

I spoke to Helen and Mark at the GE Capital / Sport Action  Zone Triathlon Masterclass at the Serpentine Lido, Hyde Park where they were coaching and inspiring 20 children from Lambeth and the South  London area. Check out their &#039;race&#039; HERE! ]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Blenheim Video: Jenson Button]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_8662.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Yesterday in Canada, 2009 Formuala 1&amp;#8482; World Champion Jenson Button got back to the top step of the Grand Prix podium under some extremely testing and wet conditions in a highly dramatic Montreal Grand Prix 
Last weekend at the GE Blenheim Triathlon Jenson was also performing exceptionally well, and was one of the fastest Age Group athletes of the day at Blenheim Palace. 
I spoke to Jenson shortly after he crossed the line about his Blenheim experience, and why he will be back (triathlon) racing again later this year in Hyde Park. 
You can check out how you performed at Blenheim versus Jenson with our fantastic  GE triVIEWER+ tool. 
]]></description></item></channel></rss>
