Posted: February 23, 2005

Triathlon: Natasha Filliol's February Update

Welcome to my first update of the year! I'm ready for a great season, focused around the ITU World Championships in Japan on Sept 11th, and the Hawaii Ironman in October. I know it'll be a challenge mixing short course and Ironman racing, but I've got a huge asset in the best coach in the biz, so I'm conifdent I'll be able to pull it off!

Natasha set for the year in her Asics gear

I'm taking a slower start to the season to focus on some areas that I've neglected over the years which will lead to some big performance gains down the road. So far this winter I've spent most of my time training at my base in Victoria BC focusing on building strength and increasing flexibility. I'm working on correcting some muscle imbalances I discovered while doing my first block of Ironman training in the fall. I am very fortunate here in Victoria where there are many of top therapists to work with and I've be making some significant gains so far. I am confident that my strengthand flexbility work will pay off and when I set off to the races, I'll be goiing stronger and faster than ever!

While I can't say the weather has been wonderful (it's been rainy everywhere on the west coast this year), I did get away for a short but sweet weekend down south. My travels took me to Palm Springs California, where my Coach Joel of Competition Zone was running a camp consisting of his long-course athletes preparing for Ironman Arizona. A few of us took a nice drive over the mountain range to San Diego where we got the awesome opportunity to do some wind tunnel testing at Allied Aerospace. I was really excited and eager to go in the tunnel and get my optimal aero position dialed in and of course having my new Guru Trilite made it even more fun! Finding your optimal aerodynamic position is one of the key ingredients to a fast bike split, so visiting the wind tunnel enabled me to maximize my power and find the best position without jeopardizing comfort. Now I don't have to play the guessing game!

This season I have two new sponsors who have joined my team! I will be working with Guru bikes, riding the custom TriLite I tested in the wind tunnel for Hawaii, and other non-drafting events, and then Carbon RaceLite for draft legal tris such as the World Champs in Japan. The guys at Guru bikes in Montreal did a fantastic job building my bikes to my exact spec and the paint is awesome!

Natasha in the Allied Aerospace Wind Tunnel on her new Custom Guru Trilite

Asics is also coming on board with running shoes and apparel. When I first started racing triathlons as a junior back in 1995 the first pair of "serious" running shoes I purchased were the Asics Keyano's! It's funny how things come full circle... I'm going to split my training between the Keyano's for longer runs and the Nimbus for base training. For up tempo runs and track workouts I'll put the DS-Traing through it's paces and for racing I'll use the Magic racer for short course, and for Hawaii I'll toe the line in the Flash-DS which offers a little more cushioning and support. Asics have a well deserved following amoung serious runners and triathletes for good reason - just slipping on a pair of Keyanos makes me want to head out the door for a run. Great quality apparel all through their technical lines, including the socks, which are without a doubt the best running socks I've ever used.

I also want to thank and welcome back my existing sponsors and supporters: Marco Travel in Paris Ontario for helping me organsize my world wide travel, MRR Accounting for figuring out how to write off triathlon expenses, PowerBar for fantastic race and training nutrition support, Rudy Project so I can see where I'm going and look good goign fast, Orca for slick racing suits and the fastest westuits, Triathlon Canada and Sport Canada for supporting amateur sport and running triathlon in Canada, and of course my husband and coach Joel and Competition Zone.

My next move is to head to Kona in March for a Triathlon Canada training camp with the national team prior to the Honolulu World Cup. I am also looking forward to an Asics photo shoot under the Hawaii sun to sport their hot new apparel for '05. I will head to Mazatlan Mexico the folllowing weekend for another World Cup before shifting my focus to the Disney Half Ironman in Florida in May. I love the heat so my first few races promise to be right up my alley!

See you at the races!

Natasha :)