Myself and most of the American team from Mooloolaba spent the past ten days in Noosa, Queensland. It didn’t make sense to come back to the United States before the first race in the 2010 World Championship Series in Sydney so we just stayed over! For those who don’t know, Noosa is a very popular destination for professional triathletes (especially during the northern hemisphere’s winter). It was easy to see why. Noosa is a muggy and tropical area – a lot like Florida in the summer. There are tons of bike lanes and unpaved trails to run on, and the Noosa Aquatic Center featured a 50m pool and a 25m pool which we frequented. Overall it is a great place to train and it might be a great way to escape the Colorado winter next year!
One of the best sessions up there was the open water swim session at main beach in Noosa Heads. All of the triathletes in town and a bunch of local surf life saving athletes get together on Wednesdays to do an open water practice. This must be how these Aussies get so good at surf run-ins and run-outs! There was one kid who couldn’t have been more than 15 years old that could seemingly find secret paths through the tide pools and sand bars. He easily put 25 meters on every run-in and caught waves into the shore on the run-outs to lengthen his lead. I’ll stick to pontoon starts for now but definitely want to work on those ocean skills for races like Mooloolaba.
Here are some pics:
The only track in Noosa is a grass surface track. I loved it but I’m a sucker for soft surfaces. You just have to keep in mind that if you’re running slow then you’re running normal, and if you’re running normal times then you’re running really fast!
Chris Foster doing a transition workout on the grass track.
Australian cities can have some odd names! Also, apparently Nambour = poo.