News
ITU WTS San Diego (2012-05-13)
18th place
Resurrection and where it all started!
San Diego is a great place, no wonder that the very first modern triathlon competition was held here back in 1974. This crazy sport quickly gained popularity and within a matter of years became one of the fastest growing sports in the world.
I had pretty hard time coming back from the horrifying experience from Mexico. Owing to my great homestay I was able to get a proper treatment to release my breathing and all other aches. Local chiropractic called Dr. Pain did a great job helping me sort out all my issues that I was ready to race. I´m telling you, he doesn´t have his nickname for no reason :))). I was almost crying under his hands but it was exactly what I need. And I wish I had someone like him at home and could use his services regularly.
I didn´t feel great on the race day. I was tired and sleepy. But it seems sometimes to work better to don´t have any expectations other than survival. I managed to put a decent swim. (Again the same scenario as in the previous races. Great 1st lap and loss a fortune in the 2nd one). At least I know what I need to work more. I was riding in the 3rd group at the beginning of the bike and we soon caught the 2nd one and formed one big chase pack of about 35 girls. I was sitting in the pack all the time (Really no need to be a hero after the last few days). Once on the run I didn´t know what to expect and I was well aware of the previous collapse. I had bad T2 which paradoxically helped me to start in moderate pace and not too fast with the leaders. I really didn´t try to catch them this time :))). I was in the group of six pretty much the whole run leg and finished 18th at the end right behind Emma Snowsill. I was really happy and this was much more than I expected from the day.
I gained some important points for the Olympic Games, too. I´m sitting on the last slot right now. It´s all in my hands in Madrid in two weeks! Battle continues!!!
The greatest thanks belongs to my wonderful homestay Cathy Holl from the local Tri club, the oldest one in the world. She took care about me so good and I really felt as at home at her house (Unfortunately we don´t have such a nice swimming pool in the yard and the view above the city :))).
Thanks a lot Cathy!!!
ITU World Cup Huatulco (2012-05-07)
DNF
“7” doesn´t always have to be a lucky number!
One of the toughest races on the ITU circuit. Hard steep climb on the bike, hilly run and 40°C heat, that´s Huatulco. Luckily the start for the girls was at 8 o´clock when it was “only” about 30°C. You can´t refresh yourself in the water, that´s about 28°C.
It was nice to wear single digit number after the long time again. Actually “7” wasn´t the lucky one this time! I had a great 1st lap of the swim in the feet of the leaders. Unfortunately I could feel my breathing problems for the first time in the 2nd lap of the swim and I lost 30s just in 500m which is a lot. I wasn´t strong enough to make it back front on the beginning of bike leg. I was caught by the group behind me. We were very disorganised and no one really wanted to do any work when saving energy for the run in extreme heat. So we lost almost 3min to the leaders :(. I felt bad from the beginning of the run. I couldn´t take a deep breath at all but I was still running in Top 10. Downhill about 500m before the finish line, that´s my last memory. I woke up in the hospital couple hours later with infusion and all sort of different stuff I can´t express in English. I was told I´ve collapsed about 20m before the finish line :(((. I don´t remember anything myself. This never happened to me and I hope won´t ever happen again. It was probably the combination of dehydration from heat, hard bike course, breathing problems and short acclimatisation (OK no acclimatisation – coming Friday before the Sunday race). I was released from the hospital after 8 hours.
Hopefully I can recover in time for the 2nd round of WTS which is held in San Diego on Friday.
I need to thank here to my hero Richard Varga from Slovakia, who came after his own gruelling race when he grabbed respectful 16th place. Richard came to “save” me in the hospital which was very nice from him. Thanks a lot Richard!
Thanks to the Swiss team and Spanish team and Gavin Noble, too, who all helped me around whether before the race or after my release from the hospital!
ETU Triathlon European Championships (2012-04-21)
5th place
That I haven´t seen my coach for a month and couldn´t use his support in Sydney is one thing. That I had to go all the way back to Prague (more than 30h trip) and the next day made another 10h trip to Israel is another on. Unfortunately that´s how Czech triathlon works:-(((. I wouldn´t say this is the best way to prepare for European Championships.
I ended up in Israel sleeping 10-12h during the night which still wasn´t enough and I was feeling sleepy and tired all the days. Sometimes having no expectations is a good thing. But finally I was able to put a good race together.
I had one of my best swims ever and exited the water right in the first group. The lead group of ten was formed after the first uphill. I struggled to keep up with the group and didn´t have much left once we hit the final run. I lost contact with the leaders soon and was running solo almost the whole race. I was very happy to carry 5th place across the finish line at the end of hard day.
This result gave me a lot of points into the Olympic Ranking. London is coming closer! :)))
ITU World Triathlon Series Sydney (2012-04-16)
55th place
After three weeks of solid training in Wollongong I was really excited to race first round of WTS in Sydney. As Wollongong is only 80km from Sydney I went there by train which was quite unusual. I wish every trip was so smooth and short as this one.
With an early race start at 7:36 my race day started very early with an alarm at 4:30. The water temperature was around 20°C and LOC decided to be a wetsuit swim. Ranked number 60 there weren´t many spots to grab when I jogged to the pontoon. Luckily a few of strong swimmers separated themselves on the left hand side and I joined them. This was very good decision and I had a great first swim lap with not a lot of fight. Unfortunately I started to fade in the second lap and lost a few spots. Finally I exited the water in a strong group with Nicola Spirig. It took me too long to take down my wetsuit and racing on my heavy training wheels I wasn´t strong enough to catch the group in the first uphill. This was the key moment for the whole race. Almost the whole field came together in one big pack and I was riding behind and losing time in each lap. There wasn´t any chance for a good result when I entered T2 and it was only a matter of mind to finish the race.
I was really disappointed with the final result but my race fitness has definitely showed me I´m moving forward.
There´s no maybe in the world of sport but maybe if my coach was there to support me (put vaseline on my wetsuit and brought my race wheels) I could be much happier at the end of the day.
But it's always too early to quit! And there´s still a big chance to make the Olympic Team!
Training in Oz (2012-04-14)
I can´t thank enough to Jamie Turner who allowed me to spend the time between Mooloolaba WC and Sydney WTS in Wollongong and helped me around. Wollongong is a seaside city 80km south of Sydney and it offers perfect conditions for training.
I had great time with NSWIS squad here! Thanks guys!!! For pushing me throuh the sessions and for all cool experiences!!! Impressive group of athletes, I´m pretty sure ones to watch in the future.
Thanks a lot to my great homestay Liz & Dave, too! They cared about me like at home and made my stay very enjoyable.
ITU World Cup Moolooba (2012-03-24)
DNF
After the whole day trip from Lanzarote, another day spent in hospital and only one more day at home, I finally headed Down Under.
I really don´t know why they call the coast, Sunshine Coast, because it was raining for third time of my four visits here. The weather was insane on Thursday. It was pouring so hard that we almost couldn´t get to the race briefing because all the roads were flooded. But finally it cleared up for the race weekend. Only the ocean stayed brown instead of azure blue I remembered from last year.
My race was not the race I had hoped for. I ended up pretty tired and not fully recovered from jetlag and injury on the race morning. I had a shocking swim in the rough ocean and pulled out during the bike leg.
Retake - Sydney in three weeks!
Training camp Lanzarote (2012-03-15)
I spent another two weeks training camp in windy Lanzarote, one from the Canary Islands in Atlantic Ocean. I tried to put more intensive work under my belt before the upcoming races in Australia. Unfortunately I renewed my ankle injury at the end of first week during the track session and I couldn´t full fill all the planned sessions the next one. I was in my small world of pain again and I started to worry about the upcoming trip. That wasn´t a good sign.
Training Camp SA (2012-02-29)
Training is so much easier when it’s warm and sunny. But four weeks in Potchefstroom (SA) passed too quickly.
Potchefstroom is known as the North-West Province's "Home of Sport". Is located roughly 120 km west-southwest of Johannesburg at an altitude about 1350m. Athletes from all over the world are coming for training. It offers a lot of grass for running, plenty of roads without traffic for cycling and you can choose from various swimming pools, too.
I managed to escaped from my home country right before the cruelest winter in last fifty years. The temperatures below -20°C weren´t unusual back home when I was cutting hard kilometers in the African sun. There was a great group of six athletes working well together and being the only girl in the group I enjoyed a lot of pampering:))).
My body was often sore and achy and tired, but it definitely felt good to be back in consistent work! I didn´t sit on my bike since my last race in Auckland so the first two weeks were pretty painful. But riding the brand new Specialized Tarmac SL4 made my rides more bearable. Tarmac is a great bike and you´ll get used to great things pretty easily:-))). I was happy to run pain free after a long time. The grass makes a huge difference and it helped me to put down a good base for the next training phase. Swimming was a bit messy because we were using outdoor 50m pool with no lanes and a side current. But it definitely made me stronger and I had to improve my technique to stay floating. Altogether, the base work was done and now I should start pushing more intensively. That´s why I stay at home only two days before I board a new plane, this time to Canary Islands.
I took part in ITU African sprint race in Cape Town to test my current fitness because it was only two hours flight and good opportunity to change the training routine. It was a great race with spectacular swim on the Bloubergstrand over viewing Table Mountain. But Atlantic Ocean was really cold. Water temperature was only 13,5°C. I was glad that it was a sprint distance and not an olympic one. I had a good swim, exiting water with the leaders. Regrettably I messed up my first transition really badly. It lasted too long to take down my wetsuit and fasten my helmet that I missed the first pack :-(((. Anyway it was very good practice and instruction for the next race that I can´t get distracted because every second counts.
PF 2012 (2011-12-24)
Autumn Recap (2011-12-15)
It´s quite a long time since my last post. Racing season is over and I´m just heading back into winter training. Snow has already covered my country, so it will be fun.
My performance in the last three WC races wasn´t very good but after dealing with so many issues, I was really happy to be back on the start line again. I put down the most consistent result with three 17th places over the three races. Well, that´s not exactly the way I´d like to show my consistency. I´d learned a lot from these races and it should help me to avoid new mistakes in the future.
Both races in Korea and Colombia didn´t go very well because of poor acclimatisation. Paying for your trips on your own is not easy and I couldn´t spend more money to stay longer in these countries. I was in reasonable shape in Korea after the short time training but I was very nervous and anxious after the long time out of training, too. I didn´t sleep two nights before the race which led to the fact that I was totally flat on the race day. I went backwards immediately when the gun went on.
My trip to Colombia was a different story. The race was held in 1900m altitude. I didn´have any chance to do altitude training before so I went to the race straight from the sea level. This wasn´t very smart and I paid for that. The time prior the race was quite adventurous. I´ve missed my connection flight in Bogota and had to spent night there. My bike came only 15hrs before the race and I still managed to get flat tyre in the warm up. Waking up at 4am in the torrential rain on the race day which didn´t stop, led ITU to short cut the race to the sprint event. It was first time in my almost 10 years career on ITU circuit when this happened. This means that the conditions were really very bad. I was struggling a lot during the race. I didn´t have enough air in the swim, I was freezing in the rain and dropped off in the first bike lap from the main group :(.
After spoiling two races I decided to go to New Zealand at least a few days earlier. I could afford it because I didn´t have to pay for an expensive hotel when having great home stay with my friend Vitek Toman. Thanks a lot Vitek!!! Nice taper in one of the YMCA facilities where Vitek works as personal trainer, gave me the necessary confidence and good feeling before the race. What a nightmare when I sprinkled my ankle in the morning jog prior the race. It was very bad. I was limping in the transition area with tears in my eyes because I wasn´t sure I would be able to finish the race which I was so excited to go. Painkillers didn´t help at all and I was in the world of pain during the whole race. Disappointing swim leg when I was somewhere in the middle of the pack but during the second lap someone made a gap in front of me which put me in the wrong spot soon after the start again. Extremely hard bike course, designed by Olympic medallist Bevan Docherty, took everything out of me. I was riding three laps with Lisa Perterer before we were caught by a group from behind. I was never so upset and frustrated on the bike. No one worked and I did most of the work in the group alone. This was ridiculous. Me, a poor biker, and coming from the cold European autumn where my bike training was minimal, I was really pissed of. Once on the run I didn´t have any legs and the pain in my ankle graduated. I crossed the finish line but I wasn´t really convinced that it was worth it and I din´t do more harm to my foot. But it was an exceptional event in the heart of Auckland with huge crowd cheering two Kiwis to the victory in both men and women race and I was very happy to be part of it. WCS Grand Final here next year would be definitely the highlight after the London Olympics!
Let me thank to Pam & Niguel Seebold who helped me a lot around! Thank you, I really appreciate it!!!
Being already in one of the most spectacular country in the world, I decided to take my post season break here. It was the best I could do. Joined by my cousin I was travelling around for the next 2,5 weeks. Actually my legs didn´t rest so much, doing a few all days tracks but my mind rested a lot in the pure nature far away from mobile connection. The highlight of my trip was overnight Abel Tasman National Park Coastal Track.
I´m already looking forward to come back to NZ! :)))
But for now back in business and into the hard work again!