Caroline Steffen’s Blog

Etwas enttäuscht und trotzdem irgendwie glücklich es doch noch ins Ziel geschafft zu haben, lief ich letzten Sonntag als 3e am IRONMAN Melbourne ins Ziel. Titelverteidigung misslungen – doch alles gegeben. Mit einer kleine Erkältung in der Woche davor war meine Vorbereitung nicht optimal doch ich wollte es trotzdem versuchen und mein Bestes geben.

Da lief einfach gar nichts. Ich hatte schon auf dem Rad mühe mein Rennen/ Rhythmus zu finden, die Beine wollten nicht so recht, keinen Druck keine Kraft. Musste deutlich mehr Nahrung zu mir nehmen weil ich mehrere Male in einen Hungerast fiel. Doch ich wusste ich musste es irgendwie ins Ziel schaffen um meinen Start in Kona zu sichern. Ich versuchte mich auf dem Rad durch zu kämpfen und hoffte auch einen etwas besseren Marathon Lauf. Die ersten 20km liefen dann auch erstaunlich rund. Ich fasste wieder etwas Mut und versuchte locker und fokussiert zu bleiben, so kann ich es ev ja sogar in die Top 3 noch schaffen. Dann km 25, schon wieder, ein Hungerast. Das Selbe bei km 35. Es war ein Auf- und Ab die vollen 8h.

Neben der Enttäuschung über meine schwache Leistung war ich auch Enttäuscht über das verkürzte Schwimmen und die Startzeiten der PRO vs. Age Groups. Solche Entscheidungen der Veranstalter verändern und verfälschen Rennresultate.

Natürlich bin ich nicht wirklich Glücklich mit meiner Leistung, doch ich habe das Beste aus der Situation gemacht und darauf bin ich stolz.
Cheers Caroline

Interview with SPORT 360°

She’s been on the cover of half a dozen triathlon and endurance magazines, met her husband (editorial error) through the sport, and her coach calls her Xena, as in the fabled warrior princess, while others the ‘Queen of Kona’.
Caroline Steffen lives and breathes triathlon, and that’s been the secret to her continuous success. Here, the Swiss powerhouse speaks to Sport360° ahead of her return to the capital for the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon.

Read the whole story:
http://www.sport360.com/other-sports/day-caroline-steffen-real-life-xena-warrior-princess

For the 4th time I returned to the Arabian desert to start at the unique Abu Dhabi Triathlon and for the 4th time I finishd in the top4 …and missed out again at the big win but thats ok. I know this race made me strong and get me ready for the big one in Melbourne in 3 weeks time.

After the 3km swim I found myself in the leading group, after a quick T1 I took the lead and started a very lonely 200km journey on my P5. My plan was to ride a negative split (moderate-medium-mad) over this 5h which means I can use the race to improve my bike skills without tire me out too much. Of course It means also I took the risk of getting cached in the first 100 km but I didn’t really care. A very strong Melissa Rollison (AUS) road up to me after about 1,5h, we made one turn and I was back in the lead for the last hour. Back in T2 I managed to road a little gap into Mel but unfortunately it wasn’t enough time to grab the win. Marked by wind and heat I finished my 4th “adventure race” in a happy 2nd place.

Thanks to all my sponsers and supporters and congrats to my team mate’s DD, Diana, Per and Dan. Was just great to having you out there. Thanks to Jacky for the photos http://www.triathlon-hebdo.com

Keep up the great work

Last weekend I started my season 2013 with the unique Ironman 70.3 in Auckland NZ. Maybe a little bit earlier than originally planned but how can I resist, you dont get the chance every day to ride across the famous “Auckland Harbour Bridge” with you bike. I truly like to say, to organize this race in middle of Auckland City is just a remarkable effort of the organisers. Like to thank you for all your help and support before, during and after the race.

Racestart at 6.30 at the Auckland Harbour: catched a great start, swam in a group of 4 together with Bella, Liz and Meredith before I had to let them go. I leave the water 1min15 back in 4th position, made my way pertty quick through T1 and start my mission on the bike towards the front. I passed Meredith on the Harbour Bridge and Liz few km later. I said: “ok, now there is Bella at the front. I know the former ITU champ can ride a bike but how fast can she ride 90km?” I worked hard and never had a doubt I would not catch her. Back in T2 and still 2min back I know how strong she can ride. I started my run, felt terrible as usual the first few km befor I found my own pace and rhythm. Bella looked strong at the front and Melissa behind me was flying too. “Stay focused” I told myself. After 1 of 2 loops I start to pick up my pace again and felt way better than when I started. I saw now, there was nothing to do or beeing worrie about, considering the ranking, nevertheless I wanna make sure I`m racing hard to get at least a great training out of this race.

Finished in 2nd place in a great woman field and I`m happy with that. I think this race showed me I`m heading in the right direction. Will keep working hard and do the race at Abu Dhabi, I should be ready for IM Melbourne end of march.

Thank you to my teamTBB and all my sponsors – let’s rock 2013 together (queen – don’t stop me now)

Noosa News http://www.noosanews.com.au/news/steffen-second-at-auckland-tri/1724315/

Women
1. Annabel Luxford (AUS) 4:19:19
2. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 4:25:16
3. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:29:25
4. Sarah Crowley (AUS) 4:32:06
5. Anna Ross (NZL) 4:34:26

Catching up with our team TBB Philippines scholar Banjo

1- Whats changed most in your life since you train with ALASKA Milk Team TBB Philippines?
Banjo Norte: I train myself hard without coach watching. I look forward for reaching my goal in life

2- How is it to work together with coach Matt?
Banjo: My experience with coach Matt is not being a coach he also fell like a brother to me

3- What’s your strengths, what’s your weakness?
Banjo: My strength is my family.My weakness is also my family.

4- What impressed you most this year?
Banjo: My year 2012 is the best for me because I’ve been a part of the Alaska Team TBB Philippines

5- Your funniest race experience this year?
Banjo: My funniest race experience it was happened in Cebu70.3 because it was my first time to join the race.

Results Banjo:
- 7th Philippino Elite Cebu 70.3
- 3rd Overall CDO Off road Triathlon
- 1st AG 5i50
- 1st Overall NAGT CDO
- 1st Overall White Rock Half IM
- 2nd Overall Davao Sprint

Opinion of coach Mathieu O`Halloran:
Banjo is our top scholar as well to being our most under privilege. He almost broke 2 hours for the Olympic Distance this summer. Was first Filippino Elite our of the water in Cebu 70.3 and won White Rock Half Ironman in 4h46. Hes weakness is the swim, his bike leg is strong and running is natural to
him. Appears to have superior stamina than his peers. As well to a placid personally. Slowly but surely, hes warming up and getting more confident as the results come!

Catching up with our team TBB Philippines scholar Dhill and Marc today.

1- Whats changed most in your life since you train with ALASKA Milk Team TBB Philippines?

Dhill Anderson Lee: Outlook in Life, Perspective, much more independent.
Marc Altura: There’s definitely more organization in training, and its more specific. The load has increased as well, but not to a point where my studies are affected.

2- How is it to work together with coach Matt?

Dhill: Great, Coach Matt doesn’t only teach us things about triathlon but also and most importantly, the Life lessons through triathlon. He’s there always to tell and guide us to the Straightest and Simplest path.
Marc: Coach Mat’s a great coach, he’ll be quick to call you out if you’re doing something wrong like if you’re swim stroke’s incorrect, or you’re running funny, and I believe that is very helpful. He’s also very knowledgable and is a great cook!

3- What’s your strengths, what’s your weakness?

Dhill: Swimming, Bike skills(working on it)=)
Marc: I’d say running my strength, but I really need to improve it some more. Cycling and swimming are both weaknesses, but I’m willing to do the work to make them strengths!

4- What impressed you most this year?

Dhill: The Whole triathlon thing, the atmosphere in races are definitely different than in swimming, plus Seeing the process and improving.
Marc: What’s impressed me most this year would be the Century Tuna 5i50, and Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philipppines. Sunrise Events really knows how to put on a show, and Mr. Bok’s expos were really cool as well!

5- Your funniest race experience this year?

Dhill: The 5150, learned how to bike a week before,plus in my thoughts i was kinda laughing at myself coz i believe i was the only one wearing rubbershoes on the bike leg my ON Running shoes.=)
Marc: Funniest race experience had to be in racing in Laiya, as soon I ran in to hit the water, I dove in head-on, and some wave completely knocked me down and stopped me in my tracks. I remember having to swim breaststroke just to go through the waves.

Results Dhill:
- 9th Overall White Rock (2nd AG) 5h13
- 3rd AG 5i50 (first triathlon)

Results: Marc:
- 3rd Overall Layia Sprint Tri
- 3rd Overall SCTEX Sprint Duathlon
- 3rd AG Rudy Project Challenge

Opinion of coach Mathieu O`Halloran:
Dhill, our top swimmer has made tremendous gains in the last 6 months. His swimming over long distances has also improved and transferred well into group open water situations. His attitude is remarkable – ready to learn and to work hard. His biggest weakness is bike skills. As he literally learn to bike this past June.
Marc, has tremendous physical potential. Very intelligent scholar with a remarkable memory for what tickles his interest. He has some mental obstacles to overcome, He`s prone to over-think and over do certain actions. Our only athlete on the Philippines National Team. He is in fact, very preoccupied with his last year of high school. The one of the most important years of modern life!

Alaska TeamTBB Scholar is a project which startet last April with 5 local filipino kids. In the meantime they spread in around 30 races and got 21 podiums in only 6 months. Coached by Mathieu O’Halloran, inspired by big boss Brett and team mates David Dellow, Ali Fitch and myself. In the next few weeks I like to introduce every single one to you.

Today, I`ll start with the sibling Torres. Nena (cute and bubbly) and Martin (the most shy of our scholar athletes).

1- Whats changed most in your life since you train with ALASKA Milk Team TBB Philippines?
Nena Torres: Since I trained with the Alaska Milk TeamTBB Philippines, i always became so motivated and inspired because it is a one in a million opportunity to be part of a team like this. There was more pressure but it gave me the urge to train harder and harder each day.
Martin Torres: Since I started training with Alaska Team TBB,My schedules have changed and I even have school,so its a never ending workout.

2- How is it to work together with coach Matt?
Nena: Coach Matt is great. He gives us advices about what to do in a certain situation or training. He motivates us and teaches us new things in our training. He gives us amazing workouts that really makes us faster and stronger.
Martin: Training under Coach Matt is cool,he is a very good coach.He listens to what we have in mind.

3- What’s your strengths, what’s your weakness?
Nena: My strength is the swim leg because i have gotten used to it since my younger years. My weakness is the run but i am getting stronger on it.
Martin: My strength is my swimming and my arms too. My weakness is actually my endurance,I seem to have a tough time with it.

4- What impressed you most this year?
Nena: I got really impressed by my swim. Because even though i don’t swim everyday, i still beat my best times in my swim meets.
Martin: What impressed the most is training with the Team TBB Pros and meeting Coach Brett and Sir Alex and also Coach Matt.

5- Your funniest race experience this year?
Nena: My funniest race was the race in Davao, it was a sprint triathlon and it was in the run part that i was nearing the finish line and a band riding in a truck was following me and the band was singing a song to motivate me, instead of being tired, i had lots of fun running.
Martin: My funniest race experience was during my race here in Cagayan de Oro,it was during The NAGT.I was in my bike leg already and there was a traffic aid car crossing the road without knowing that there were triathletes passing by and it almost hit me and it almost made a traffic jam.

Results Nena:
- 2nd Overall CDO Sprint
- 1st Overall Davao Sprint

Results Martin:
- 2nd AG 5i50
- 5th Overall Davao Sprint Tri
- 3rd AG CDO Sprint Tri

Coach Matt:
Nena: Should be steered towards long distance racing. With the mind-set of Olympic distance training She has shown improvement particularly in her run recently.
Martin: His swim abilities have Olympic potential. His stocky body allows his to maintain good form under pressure. Can be very strong athlete short/course! Has a tendency to under perform the swim in triathlon. Versus the swim times I saw him do in the pool in May.

PRE RACE:

RACE DAY:

This was another absolutely unique raceday at the Noosa Triathlon Festival. My 3th start at one of the biggest tri shortcourse events in the world.
Unfortunately we had some rain this year which means there was a little crash-festival going on, on the technically demanding bike course. Out of the water in 5th position I made my way true the field and took the lead after the turn around, with 20km to go, Liz Blatchford and myself worked hard and made a 90seconds gap to the other girls. Neck to neck, we start running together. Oh honest, it was great fun to run with someone for once and not getting droped after couple of seconds. After 6km strong runner Ashleigh Gentle fly by us and 2km later the same did Ryan Fisher. I finished the race in a good 4th place with a personal best on this course.

Thanks everyone for cheering even the weather was miserable!!!

TOP FIVE PROFESSIONAL RESULTS:

1. Peter Kerr (AUS) 1:46:35
2. Ryan Fisher (AUS) 1:46:51
3. Taylor Cecil (AUS) 1:47:25
4. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:47:39
5. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:48:03

1. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 1:58:57
2. Felicity Sheedy-Ryan (AUS) 2:00:24
3. Liz Blatchford (GBR) 2:00:41
4. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 2:01:05
5. Nicky Samuels (NZL) 2:02:14

Exciting weekend coming up, one of my favourit race of the year and a perfect spot to finishing up a great year. Noosa Tri Multi Sport Festival is more then just triathlon. It is the perfect 4day event with a mix of swim-, bike-, run and triathlon, fun races and high lever racing with big names on startline. After my surprising win in 2010, I`m looking forward to test myself in compare to the best short course girls in the world.

I`ll also do some Q&A friday AM and autograph signing saturday AM:

- Friday 10.00AM – WITSUP Noosa brunch (only 30 tickets available!)
- Saturday 11.30AM – 2XU signing at the Sheraton Hotel, Ballroom
- Saturday 1.30PM - On-Running signing at the Sheraton Hotel, Ballroom

The preparation for the 2012 World Championships in Hawaii was completed, everything went according to plan A and my head was set to win. I had this inner conviction, “I can do this, that’s my day, I can win and realize my dream today.”
The swim leg was as planned. I swam in a group of 6, without wasting too much energy I followed the feet in front of me. Everything fit. Quick T1 and catched the top group of 5 women and without much effort. Everything fit. But then something unexpected crossed my plans. A race marshall on the motorbike was showing me the red card (4 minute penalty). Hmm, I must have missed something, why did I get a red card? Maybe because I overtook a PRO male? Discuss is useless in a situation like this, I`ll not risk disqualification.

So now I sat for 4 minutes in the penalty tent … in my day where I wanted to fulfill a dream. Nightmare? I use the 4 minutes to… 1st: throw all swear words which I knew in english to the poor buggers head in the tent and … 2nd: get focused again. I knew I`ve to catch the lead group before the turnaround point. With a lot of effort (more then planned I got back to the lead. MB and myself determined the pace till T2. Everything to plan again. I ran controlled the first few km of the marathon, made sure to take in enough calories and fluids, smart racing. Everything to plan. I was in the lead but the competition pushed me from behind and got closer. With the usual ups and downs in the marathon I did cope well too.

Energy Lab, the hardest part of the whole race, I did well and started the last 10km stretch on the Queen K. I was still at 1st position but my lead melted. Leanda approached 10sek each km to me… and overtook me with 3km to go. “Stay focused” I’ve said again, the race is not over yet, I can still do it. I crossed the line 65 seconds after the champ Leanda.
I felt a chaos of emotions. I was happy with 2nd and at the same time a bit disappointed. I`ve given everything of sure but it just wasn`t enough. Mind and body were set 100% determined to win, I needed some time to get used to the “2″.

A week later, back at home, I can now look at the whole race from a different perspective and be happy. I`ve received so many nice email, including from people who thanked for an exciting race or from a mother who sees me a role model for her own daughters. Such text of my fans just show me once again, in the sports they are involved so much more than rankings and times!Congratulations also to David for 9th and MB for 5th place. 3x top ten for Team TBB. Great job!!

Thanks to my coach Brett for his dedication and commitment in TBB. Thanks also to all my sponsors, without you I wouldn`t be able to spend such a great livetime in sport.