Jacqui Slack - Elite Triathlete

Introduction

I've been competing in triathlon for 7 years now and have been professional for 2. For the last 2 years I have taken a career break from my job as a firefighter to pursue my Olympic dream and make the GB Olympic team. Triathlon consists of 1500m swim, 40k bike and a 10k run. I travel all over the world competing in triathlon amongst the world's best athletes. My best results to date are 17th ITU World sprint championships, 2nd British Elite series, 1st Strathclyde European cup champion, 12th ITU World Cross Triathlon championships, National Cross Champion.

April's Blog...
Posted 25 April 2012

Last weekend I got my first Xterra victory over in New Zealand. http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Triathlon-Slacking-Jacqui-claims-World-Tour-title/story-15874787-detail/story.html

It was a good race for me as I lead from the start to finish and felt super strong for the whole race. The day was made even better because my boyfriends Mum and Dad were there to support and my boyfriend Ben Allen also won the men’s race so it was a double celebration. Rotorua was an amazing place and the mountain biking is some of the best in the world I just wish we had more time to ride the trails.

I’m now on my way back home back to Stoke on Trent. After 4 months of travelling I can’t wait to see my family and friends but I have to admit I’m not looking forward to the cooler temperatures.

I have 4 weeks to get some training in then it’s off to Sardinia to start the European Xterra tour.

You can also follow my race reports on my blog www.jacquisblog.com

March's Blog...

Posted: 28 March 2012

Xterra World Tour begins Guam, Philippines and Saipan!

Since I last wrote to you I’ve done 3 races in 3 weekends in 3 different countries. Yes it’s been crazy and yes I’m exhausted but I’ve come away with a third place and 2 second places which is a super start to my Xterra season.

Most of you are probably wondering why I’m not racing in the Olympic qualification triathlons. Last year I suffered a serious illness and I was unable to race and train for pretty much the whole season.

This meant that I missed out on crucial races in order to generate points to gain Olympic qualification. I sat down with my coach at the end of last season and we made the decision not to chase Olympic points it was too far out of my reach. I didn’t want to take the risk of getting ill again. It takes time to build fitness back after such a series illness and I just didn’t have the time. I am totally gutted that I cannot race in the Olympic qualification races the Olympics is every athletes dream (especially London) but sometimes you just have to make a decision even it's it not really what you want.

I’ve been interested in the off road tris for a couple of years and this year I thought would be a good time to start. My ultimate goal is to be a world champion and this is the start of a long term plan. I will be racing on the Xterra world tour.

So what is Xterra and why?

Xterra is a triathlon you do a 1500m swim a 36k mountain bike and 10k off road run. I love the adventure of Xterra as you will read from my reports the world tour is taking me to the most amazing places.

Xterra triathlon makes you tough and makes you strong minded. You have to deal with so much more than a straight forward triathlon. It shows your strength of character and how far you can push your body in difficult situations. You have to deal with super technical courses, crashes, punctures, wrong turns you just never know what’s going to happen. Xterra is growing fast and I hope someday it will become an Olympic sport in its own right. Xterra has already attracted the world best athletes such as Julie Dibens, Olivier Marceau 3 time Olympian, Renata Bucher (World Cup mountain biker) and some guy named Lance Armstrong I think he's won the tour a few times.

Take a look at this news article to see where my Xterra journey will be taking me this year. http://www.xterraplanet.com/news/press_article.cfm?id=3221

You can also follow my race reports on my blog www.jacquisblog.com

February's Blog...
Posted: 19 February 2012

Australia Day Aquathlon 26^th Jan.

I couldn’t think of a better way to start Australia day than with a hard hit out at the Australia Day Aquathlon. The race is run every year and I’m pretty sure that everyone from Wollongong to Sydney is there for the celebrations. I was really excited to race it’s been 4 months since my last race and around 7 months since I’ve felt anything like fit, excited, motivated and happy to be racing again. I knew the course well as local Benny Allen showed me some top tips for the swim leg and we probably run the course around 4 times a week during our training sessions.

I knew there was some tough competition as the New South Wales institute of sport tri squad are based in Wollongong and they would be looking to race well before heading to the Australia sprint champs the following weekend.

It was a wet suit swim although I didn’t think the water was that cold but every little helps. My swim went well and I exited in 4th. I could see 2nd and 3rd but not first place obviously she was too far ahead. I over took 3rd place early in the run but wasn’t making any ground on the 2nd girl. I held the gap and finished strong in 3rd place. I was chuffed with my race it was a good little training session to find out where I was at and I was pleased with how I felt.

Training has been going so well. The progression of my sessions is coming on nicely and I’m definitely adapting well to the training set by my coach. I’m still in the build phase of my training and my fitness feels better than ever. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a good base fitness so hopefully these miles in the bank will get me through a busy race season. I can’t wait to see how I will perform at my next lot of races; I’m going into them full of confidence.

Next races up are in March Xterra Guam, Xterra Philippians and Xterra Saipan. I hope to qualify to race at the World Xterra Champs in October.

Happy Training.

To find out more visit:

www.jacquislack.com

www.twitter.com/jacquislack

November's Blog...
Posted: 20 November 2011

I’ve been in Wollongong, Australia for 3 weeks now. I’ve just started a new training block set by my coach and I have to say things have been going real well. I’m still building into training so pretty much all of my sessions have been steady and some tempo. This block is about building up my training volume so in December/January I will be able to hit the sessions hard.

A typical day in Wollongong involves an early morning swim usually a 5.30 start and we cover around 5k. This is followed by a small breakfast then out on the bike for a few hours before the sun gets too hot. We will generally have a rest after lunch before our last session of the day which is a 1 hour run. Wollongong is a great place to train I am swimming with a squad of surf swimmers at the university. I did my first 5k open water ocean swim the other day which I won. It was pretty scary as the course went out to sea and followed the shark nets along the bay, luckily I was concentrating so hard on where I was going I didn’t get chance to look for the sharks or jelly fish. I’m enjoying being by the ocean not only is it great for surfing it’s also good for recovery after a hard session. I’ve been having 1 day off training a week; I usually get a massage and Ben and I go surfing. Surfing is so hard especially when the waves are battering you, it’s actually like doing another training session I love it though!

Well not long to go now just 8 more days and I fly back to England for an English Christmas. If my training continues to go like it has been then I’ll be fully on track by January and I can’t wait to get stuck in to some gruelling sessions again. I feel like I’m totally over all my illnesses now and am so excited to see how far I can push my body to perform well next year bring it on...!

To find out more visit:

www.jacquislack.com

www.twitter.com/jacquislack

October's Blog...
Posted by: Jacqui Slack on 21 October 2011

Since my last blog I've taken some time off from training, this is known as an end of season break. It's really important for me to take a break to allow my body and mind to recover and prepare for the season ahead. I will usually take around 3 -4 weeks off from any constructive training so I tend to do what I feel like, and avoid the rain! I do plenty of conditioning work mainly core, stretching and some Pilates. I've been using a machine called the reformer.

Athlete Matters kindly allow me to do a session a couple of times a week at their physio clinic. It helps with my core strength and will prevent me getting injured when my training volume increases. I love it and I'm sure the next

Jacqui Slack

day I have a six pack it's like getting instant abs, however you do have to put the effort in to get them. Besides that I've enjoyed catching up with friends and family but to be honest I'm ready to start training again.

I've had a few photo shoots over the last week one was for a fitness article going in the Sentinel and one with an exceptional photographer Michael Swallow. It was actually hard work being a model; he had me in freezing cold water and cycling and running up and down the Cat and Fiddle. It was cold but I do believe we got some super shoots I'm looking forward to seeing them.

I'm also looking forward to November as I'm spending some time in Australia in a place called Wollongong it's about 40mins south of Sydney. Here I will start to build my training base and check out my training location for next year. Bring it on sun, sea and a little surfing. Hopefully I will have some good stories to share when I'm back!

To find out more visit:

www.jacquislack.com

www.twitter.com/jacquislack

September's Blog....
Posted by Jacqui Slack - 25 September 2011

National Scott x tri Series Champion - Yeah!

Yesterday was the final round of the Scott x tri series. With 2 wins I was leading the series and just needed to make the podium to win the series. I was keen to support this new off road triathlon series that's been introduced into the UK, I also wanted to give something back to my sponsors as they have continued to support me throughout the season.

It was a beautiful morning down in Camberley. I was just focused on the race I knew it was going hurt as I've not put the training in over the last few months but like I said there was a job to do. I also love racing so deep down there was nowhere I would rather be no matter how much it hurt. Swim, bike and run all went ok, I actually felt better than I have done in a while, I felt strong just not fast and no extra gears. The bike course was pretty straight forward mostly flat, lots of fire roads and some single track, a totally different experience to round 3 in Scotland. The run was fast and flat through the woods which was lovely I was cruising along at what I thought was a good pace. Little did I know I was being chased down. I was leading the women's race the whole way through until the last 150m when Kerry McPhee came storming past me to take the win - I had no idea she was coming and couldn't respond. I was a little gutted not to take the win but Kerry had a cracking race and was the better athlete on the day well done Kerry. It's exciting that the female race was so close and I look forward to battling with Kerry next season. All in all the series had given me a bit of something to focus on and all though I wasn't feeling at my best at times I thoroughly enjoyed the races and hope that they get the same support next year only with more athletes. It feels great to end this very bad season on a high and with a title at least! At the moment I can safely say I'm a very happy girl and totally motivated going in to next year. Can't wait to start training properly again.

It's not all been bad this year I finished 12th at the ITU world cross champs whilst suffering a crash and several mechanicals, 2nd at the Blenheim elite triathlon as I was just coming back into form, 4th at Sardina Xterra pro race and now national cross champion it's really not that bad just know I'm capable of much more!

Hope you enjoyed reading this one. Thank you so much to my sponsors Internet Central, Royle's, Champion Systems and Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service. I will Keep you posted on my decisions over the next few months

To find out more visit:

www.jacquislack.com

http://twitter.com/#!/jacquislack