Three professional New Zealand triathletes led by Sam Warriner and Terenzo Bozzone will take part in the New Orleans 70.3 (Half Ironman) in the early hours of Monday morning New Zealand time.
Warriner is the sole Kiwi in the pro women's field but Bozzone will be joined by fellow Kiwi Graham O'Grady in the men's Pro field in a line up of stars that includes Chris McCormack (AUS), Andy Potts (GBR), Dirk Bockel (GER) and Paul Amey (GBR).
The biggest concern for the athletes taking part is not the nature of the course, more the nature of the weather with wind predicted to buffet the competitors throughout the day.
Warriner is racing in the big easy for the first time and is wary of the conditions and the part they will play.
"Training here in Borrego has been going well, I really feel I've taken a step up physically but also mentally since racing at Oceanside 3 weeks ago. We've been really focusing on being able to run fast off hard bike rides. It's not difficult with the wind here, it's always blowing! One of my training partners Kate Major has warned me of the winds in New Orleans so it's something I'm prepared for."
Warriner will face stiff opposition as well as strong winds on race day, with Yvonne Van Vlerken (Holland) 2nd at Kona 2008, Dede Griesbauer (USA), and Linsey Corbin (USA) all strong contenders. Sam had a narrow victory over Van Vlerken in the Geelong 70.3 back in 2009, winning by just over a minute while Griesbauer has consistently finished in the top 10 at the World Ironman Championships in Hawaii.
Warriner has been based in Borrego Springs (San Diego) for the past three weeks with her coach and training partners, and a big focus has been gaining strength back in the wrist that she broke whilst racing the Takapuna Sprint Triathlon back in February.
"I have no pain at all in my wrist now, when I first got to camp I was still wearing the brace I was given, but I haven't felt I've needed it for about two weeks now.
"My swimming is improving every day, when I arrived at camp I was doing my 200's on 2 minutes 40, I'm now consistently swimming them at 2.28 and I still feel there's a lot more improvement to come. In Oceanside I wasn't able to capitalize upon my strength on the bike because I exited the swim with the pack and then couldn't get away from them. But now I've got some of my swimming form back I'm hoping to get a small gap on the swim and then really get stuck into the bike leg without having to worry about others coming along for a free ride in the strong winds."
Siri Lindley (Sam's Coach and former World Number 1) has been working on the mental side of things with Sam too since being back in camp.
"I've been spending a lot of time one on one with Siri just talking through the past year. I have been carrying a lot of emotional baggage with me about breaking ribs last year and then the wrist this year. Siri feels I take a lot of that baggage into races and it's stopping me from letting go and just giving my best effort.
"The focus on Sunday in New Orleans will be to run free and just focus on the now, if I can empty my mind and just let the body do it's thing the times I've been producing in training point toward a good result. I'm just going for my own personal best effort, if I can say at the finish line that I gave it 100% and couldn't give anymore – then I'll be happy"
And with the ITU Dextro Energy World Championships Series getting underway last weekend in Sydney with Bevan Docherty and Andrea Hewitt finishing first and second respectively, Warriner hasn't discounted a return to the shorter form of racing this year.
"I'm taking racing one step at a time still, but I would like to get back to ITU racing. If my swim times keep improving as they have done I think I could possibly be back racing on the World Championship circuit by sometime in June. I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I'm at a race I'm not ready for though. I need to be producing near to 2.20 for my 200m in the pool before I'll commit.
"That said, I've had so many emails from friends back home who watched the coverage of the Sydney ITU World Championship race and it's the first time they've seen live what we do, they loved it, and that makes me really motivated to get back on the ITU start line!"
Sunday's race begins at 7am in New Orleans which is midnight Sunday night New Zealand time. The athletes go off in 'Waves', the pro men being first at midnight NZT followed shortly afterwards by the women at 12.04am NZT.
There will be live text updates at www.ironman.com through out the race, along with 'twitter' updates on Sam's page: http://twitter.com/samwarriner.
For further background information about Sam's preparations, she has been updating her diary on a weekly basis: http://www.samwarriner.co.nz/html/diary.html
