Sarah Crowley - Make Each Day Your Masterpiece
Professional Triathlete and Wahoo Fitness Ambassador Sarah Crowley chats to FE Sports about her journey within the World of Triathlon, a renewed motivation to push herself to improve and how her partnership with Wahoo Fitness is helping her to reach a new level of performance.
Where it all started
I am originally from Adelaide and watched an Aquathon event at Glenelg beach in Adelaide in 2003 when I was about 19. It was an Enduro format and I found it so exciting that I signed up to a club and daily training the following day! I think my first actual Triathlon was an Olympic distance event at West Lakes in Adelaide. It was tough going but I must have enjoyed it enough to get hooked and I think I won my age group.
In Adelaide, at the time I really looked up to the Kosztovits twins (Maria and Edi) who had raced the Accenture Series and were South Australia's best triathletes. I wanted to train with them so I joined the Meteors Triathlon Club coached by Leon Holme. He had coached Dean Luken to gold in the 1988 Olympics in Weight Lifting and had a raft of experience with cyclists and other athletes at the South Australian Institute of Sport (SASI). I was lucky because the club was in my local area. I continually progressed until I decided to race the Hamburg ITU worlds as an age grouper back in 2007.
The early ITU days
Fast forward to 2009 and I was fourth at the International Triathlon Union (ITU) Oceania Championships on the Gold Coast and Oceania Champion which looking back was the start of my progression to racing the World Series. Following the Gold Coast race I had achieved the required points and ranking standard from Triathlon Australia to earn a spot in a World Series race. I had raced and won a Continental Cup in Asia earlier in the year and also snatched a couple of podiums and was fortunate enough to have been given the chance to race Yokahama and the London World Series.
Injuries and 70.3 racing
In early 2010 I sustained an injury to my hip that we were struggling to diagnose and repair so after two and a half years as a full time athlete I regretfully decided to return to the workforce. I worked for Deloitte Corporate Finance who were very supportive and allowed me to spend some time away from sport getting my injury sorted. But as any athlete would understand it was very hard to keep away from competition so I decided to give cycling a go and raced the Cycling Australia Women's National Road Series. I also joined Red Dog Triathlon Training to stay fit and trained with their age group squads. Despite my significant time out of the sport I still had not given up my Professional License so after a few months back training I decide to race the Port Macquarie 70.3 later that year.
I continued to get good results in half Ironman events until I suffered another injury after getting 4th at the 2013 Oceania 70.3 Champs in Auckland. I had a flicking syndrome with my Plantaris Tendon causing friction on my Achilles. I had qualified for Des Moines and the Las Vegas 70.3 World Champs and only just managed to get there albeit in an unfit state following surgery in March 2013. Loosing conditioning, my ITU base and working full time meant that it took me a very long time to get my form back.
Full Ironman and the Big Island
Lots of athletes at Red Dog aspired to race long course and I was curious about what it would be like. After a few years of racing the 70.3 distance I decided to give the Cairns Full Ironman a go as many of my mates had participated regularly and I was keen to share in the experience. Cairns was fun. I hadn't had nerves racing for a long time so it was rejuvenating getting that edgy feeling before the race. I guess the biggest change I made for this race was to focus on my nutrition and pacing and I learnt that the race really only started in the last 10k despite the huge total distance.
I had been in the sport for a long time and the Kona Ironman was something that I shelved for most of my career as something that I would do once I was a lot stronger and had more years of training in my legs. I didn't want to go and do the Ironman distance too early and risk either burning out and turning away from the sport or injuring myself (more than I already had). I started getting some good results again toward the end of 2014 and decided that I would attempt to qualify for the Kona 2016 World Ironman Championships.This was a taste without putting any pressure on myself. It was terrific and I look forward to going back this year.
Since connecting with my coach Cameron Watt from TriSutto I am more excited than ever about the coming year. We have been working together since the start of 2016 and have found there are just so many areas that I can focus on to improve. I was close in 2016 and just can't wait for 2017. We are going to focus on racing the big events this year. I am not going to race for the sake of racing and just make up the numbers. We will come out swinging! I enjoy all lengths of Triathlon and all formats. I am quite versatile and although I race long course now, I still really love a non drafting Olympic distance race, especially the run. But for now it is full steam ahead, direction Kona!
Partnering with Wahoo Fitness and FE Sports
With big goals I have purposely sort out the best equipment. The Wahoo KICKR is the leading smart trainer on the market. The data it provides my coach allows him to monitor my progress more closely helping me to squeeze every little bit out of every session. We pair it with the Wahoo TICKR HR Monitor and Cadence Sensor to provide comprehensive training data. I have also been fortunate enough to be using the new ELEMNT Bolt which is a very aerodynamic, simple to use yet powerful bike computer and pairs perfectly with the TICKR and Cadence Sensor. One big thing I have found is how easy the data loads to my Training Peaks training software, a massive time saving bonus!
I am excited to partner with FE Sports and to share my story and passion hopefully inspiring others to do the same. I am also happy to spread the message about Indoor Training and how useful it can be for busy time poor people and particularly women who may not yet be confident to go outside and ride. I have a corporate background and know how important it can be to have a quick, quality training session when you are under pressure to get to work. In the past while living in Adelaide I trained indoors quite a lot and would have loved to have had access to all the online software available today such as Zwift and Trainer Road. I also have lots of friends that lack the confidence to ride in big groups and can see the value in using the Wahoo Smart trainers to ride with others from the privacy and safety of their own home.
Gone are the days of boring home trainer sessions staring at the garage wall and wishing it would all end before it started. With Wahoo Fitness and the many training software options now available the (virtual) Training World has changed forever and dare I say it I actually look forward to the home training sessions when I see them on my training program!
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