English
End of Season Lowdown with Team Wiggle
Our Team Wiggle athletes have had a cracking year, standing atop rostrums the world over in road racing, mountain biking and triathlon. Before they put their feet up for the festive break, we caught up with them all as they reflect on 2009 and look ahead to 2010. For triathlete Emma-Kate Lidbury, it was her first season racing as a pro…
Q. Looking back on your 2009 season, are you pleased with how it went?
A. It was a tough year as I seemed to be constantly battling with injuries, but I learnt a lot of valuable lessons and was pleased with the results I achieved. It means I know what not to do in 2010 to ensure it’s a great season for me.
Q. What was the highlight of your year?
A. Antwerp 70.3 in August proved a lot of things to me. I was fifth pro woman and never far off the podium pace. I struggled on the run, but that was to be expected after only being able to average about 10 miles of running a week through the season because of injury. Helvellyn Tri was also another highlight – it was a last-minute decision to race it and it totally took me out of my comfort zone, but I loved every second and it renewed my love of triathlon.
Q. What was the funniest moment of your season?
A. It wasn’t funny at the time, but looking back, it was probably suffering my first bike bonk in October. When I finally made it home, I fell through the back door and had the dogs licking my face trying to revive me. I was so spent I couldn’t even fight them off! I blogged about it here
Q. What was the most important lesson you learnt?
A. Balance – not the standing on one leg kind, but the work-life-tri balance. It keeps you sane and at times this year I was guilty of focusing on triathlon at the expense of everything else. Also, it’s only at the back end of this year that I’ve realised how important listening to your body is – I know it’s an athlete’s cliché, but it’s a cliché for a good reason!
Q. What are your plans for winter training? How’s it going so far?
A. I began a structured off-season training plan at the start of November and did a solid four weeks before falling off my mountain bike (on my first off-road outing!). I injured my shoulder and collarbone, so that’s hampered swim training somewhat, but I’ve been more than making up for it on the turbo ever since. I’m hoping to soak up some sunshine in Lanzarote in Jan/Feb as I think the snow/ice novelty factor will wear thin soon!
Q. What does 2010 have in store for you? What are your major races going to be?
A. I’m hoping to do Abu Dhabi in March, which is a 3k swim-200k bike-20k run, so it should play to my strengths and it’ll be interesting to see how I fare over the longer bike distance. I’ll follow this up with three or four 70.3 races from May through to November. I’m really looking forward to having a successful 2010 and getting closer to achieving my potential.
Enjoying a much-needed Coke after a long hot ride while training in Lanzarote
Having a great time racing at Blenheim in June – you can just about see my family heckling/cheering me on
good luck for 2010 Emma-Kate. I know how nice those cans of Coke are in Lanza. The number of times I had one waiting in my fridge when I lived over there!!!