Rebekah Keat's Blog

Perth the beatuiful city was host to the Long Distance Triathlon World Champs last weekend.

Only two weeks after Hawaii was not the best timing to have the event, but the city sure made for a great atmosphere on race day!

The weather was hot and windy just like Lucie and I are use, to coming straight from Hawaii and the winds of Jeju Korea!

The swim was extremely choppy and messy , i think everyone had trouble finding the buoys,I was with the main pack of girls right until half way which included Luce so I was happy to be with her!After the turn I had some trouble and navigating, but ended up only 30 or so seconds behind the pack.I was along way behind race leader and eventual winner Jodie Swallow, she had managed to catch half the pro men!

The bike I had caught upto the group of 5 by the first lap on my own,I thought if I got them going maybe they can help to work up to Jodie who still had 6 minutes out of the water.Unfortunately with my’hawaii legs’ still feeling it, and no one wanting to work we had lost another 2 minutes by the end of the bike.

I was off the bike woth 5 other girls including Luce who had held on well, my legs were really feeling it,stiff and tired from trying to get away afew times.I knew I had to push through the pain to hold off the other girls, my legs just wouldnt float and 4 minute k’s was all i could manage, it felt awefully slow.Fortunatly though it was enough to give me second place, more than 10 minutes behind Jodie Swallow who had the perfect day and lead from start to finish.All credit to her!

I came away with sore legs, even more sore, and a nice silver medal for Australia!I was really disappointed I couldnt do more ,I wanted the gold for Australia and for myself! I couldnt race the distance I love how I usually do, just to give it some stick in the run, but I gave it all I had in the tank and it was enough for second!

Hawaii Ironman this year for me me took me through many highs and lows, definatly more lows than highs!!After the best possible preparation I felt I was as ready as ever to have the race of my life!
My swim wasn’t as good as expected as I dropped of the lead mens pack to find myself stuck in no mans land.I waited for the next group to come through, this was the pack I had come out with the previous two years.Unfortunatly I had to be content with another average swim by my standards, but still exiting the water in the top 10 females.
The bike i felt great and after about 20km preceeded to lead a small group all the way to the first 60km turn.I realised ther were about 6 girls now sitting behind.I was ok with it as I could see they were all trying to stay at least 10 metres, but not wanting to go through and push the pace.
Up to Hawi i felt very strong but began to try to make the other girls work also, and was pleased to see a couple come through infront.
In 5th place overall I was handed a red card as MJ overtook me, even she was in shock as they handed her one too!I kept my calm and convinced myself  I could run down alot of the girls infront after my 4 minute penalty.
I took off out of the penatly box fuming and ready to catch as many as possible, I was stoked to catch back to the gruop of girls, flying solo I continued passed them taking no prisioners!I continued solo,and gained a g0od two minutes riding on my own and moving again into the top 5 or 6 placings.
I was given two more cards between the last 3okm where I was on my own and the transition.Both cards fpr incorrect overtaking techniques of age group men toward the end of the bike.I am currently studying every USAT drafting rule, some I wasnt 100% aware of ,such as the moving out 3 metres and dropping back to 10metres before re overtaking!
Not knowing I had been DQ’d of course I took off the run after serving another 4 minutes.I had to watch the girls I had passed again leave transition as I sat in the sin bin…it was soooo frustrating!I convinced myself that I could run into the top ten but wasnt sure if I could run into top 5 as I was now over 20 minutes behind second and in 15th place!
I ran into 5th with 10km to go and held it to the finish closing in on fellow team mate Thereza who had a blinder in 4th!
Overall I had a very good day, but ,my position didnt do me much justice with my time penalties!I was happy to feel stronger sa the race went on and finish strong.
I am now off to Perth in four days to race Long Course Worlds.I hope to redeem myself and get the result I have worked so hard for!I will make sure that they clearly state all drafting rules and changes.I also want to warn the other girls so they dont have to go through what I went through!

I arrvied yesterday after a short trip from Jeju then onto Seoul aboard my Korean Airlines flight,I was lucky enough to be in business class so felt very spoilt!

My family and I decided to stay where we did in 2007, as we have very good history here and the place is simply amazing! I have my own area which includes a very empty king size bed and even an outside kitchen!!

Mum and my sister are shacked in a small apartement attatched to the house, owned by the lovely lady Sandra who greeted us with an amazing fruit basket all home grown(see pic)!

I thought I would make a small video of our place to give you an idea, I know ”The Boss’ will be happy as we are 8km up the hill right above the QueenK,away from all the other athletes and all the gossip!!Its very nice and relaxing here , the weather is perfect just how I like it humid and windy…..thankyou Jeju.

Also for any of you who missed my sponsor tribute thankyou..pleeez check  it out I just downloaded it to UTUBE!! Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg3SaEQPYjM

After only 10 months with my new team, its time to finish of the year with one last race.The year has been totally awesome with camps in Phillipines, Switzerland and finally our heat camp in Korea.Jeju has been the most amazing host for our team, and certainly turned up the perfect pre race prep we have all needed!Thankyou Jeju and Ariel for making our stay so warm and welcoming. I have loved it here and cant wait to get back next year.I will also do my best to spread the word on what a fantastic’ honey moon’ place this is when back home in Oz! Who knows I might even be here for mine one day?   

Some fond memories come to mind when I think of all the crazy sessions we have endured, my team mates know about these! The epic tracks sessions, bricks and killer swim sets, how can we ever foget them? Not all the memories are of pain and suffering, I have some funny memories and some stand out ones.I thought I would share afew of them from my experience here on camp!I hope I dont offend anyone?

The most impressive session would have to be the boys long track run,with out giving too much away I have to say I was in ore of Rei, Stevie and Jamesi’s effort, lets just say it was a looooong day!When it comes to running in the womens it would have to be ofcourse ‘The Spirits’ and my sprint finish after our long track set! I still dont know if she had some’in the bag’ and was just too afraid to beat me by too much?How ever, any girl who runs a 30 second 200mtr after 30 km has my respect! Then other memarable moments like Hiro blasting the boys in the last 200 sprint (28sub) set.I can’t foget Miss Lucie’s 200 time(2:22) in the pool,(although her best is 207) she just makes it look easy! Lastly, I can’t foget Wongstars 3:15 Half Marathon split after having a PR of over 4 hrs less than a year ago!

Other than training there has been some funny moments too such as the girls spa incident.Tez and us girls were told we couldnt wear our swimsuits in the local spa becasue it was ‘unhygienic’? A korean lady who joined us in the spa, took it one step too far,and decided she would try to take Tezz’as cossies off for her!Lucky we were’nt in the USA, we could have sued her for indicent touching or something surely?

 As I look back at the past 10 months I have no regregts and certainly nothing left undone,the work has been done the effort has been there and now its upto me and the team to post the numbers!The womens team have been fantastic, the girls all get along extremely well, despite the fact we all have to race each other in what they call the ‘big showdown’ but for us just another day at the office! We have worked together each day pushing each other, and encouraging each other to get the very best from every session!The comradery has been fantastic even though all of us know we will be out there together racing against ourselves and each other!We also know there is some comfort, as crazy as it seems, to know we will all suffer together as we often did here at camp Jeju.I’m sure we will be cheering each other on during the run!

I want to personally thank Brett for putting in ridiculous amounts of time and effort( I swear Brett doesnt sleep?) into everyone of us and own own individual needs!I think many fail to realise that Brett’s lifestyle choice is the team and everything he does is to help his athletes.Its very rare and I am exremely grateful although I may not show it often enough.I want to thank every member of our amazing team for putting up with my loud burps, bad jokes and constant whinging!

One last thankyou to Alex for everything you do for the team, even though alot of it is behind the scenes, it doesnt go unoticed.We all know how hard you work for us to help make this team happen.Lastly I want to say a huge THANKYOU to all of our sponsors this year, for keeping my dream and the team’s alive!