A short presso on why i do traithlon for Room 7 at Waihi school. Hope you enjoy it Lauren :)

2. Do you have a special diet you're on when you are training? Yes I do! When you train a lot (I usually train for 20 hours or more a week) you need to put extra food into your body to keep it running. So I eat 5 times a day – with lots of fruit and veges and energy foods like eggs and pasta. I also eat lots of energy bars and energy gels when i train to get the energy I need

3. How do you pay for bikes and things? I’m lucky to have sponsorship to get my bike, nutrition and other things paid for. But mostly you have to pay for it yourself. I have to pay for all my events and travel and a lot of other things, but it’s all worth it as I love the sport.

4. Is there a program of your competitions? (I think they mean is there a video of you competing?) There are a few videos you can watch of the events but unfortunately i’m not in them! You can watch the video of Ironman NZ on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agRZ8elfi_A

5. What is the coolest place you have ever competed in? It has to be Germany when I competed in the World Champs for New Zealand. I started by swimming in a fresh water lake, rode through the alps and then ran along a river. It was amazing! Check out the photo in the next slide

7. What is the furthest you have had to swim bike and run? An Ironman is a 4km swim, 180km bike and a 42km run. I’ve done two of these and they are the longest races I’ve done. The race last race I did took me 10 hours and 12 minutes, for some people it can take 17 hours! I’ve also done a 5km sea swim and a 250km bike race.

8. Do you have to wear a special uniform? People wear all kinds of clothes when they are racing but I wear a ‘Triaithlon suit’. Its a tight lycra suit that I can wear all day and not have to change form swimming to biking and running. There are little pockets to put food and drinks in and padding in the shorts for when i’m riding my bike.

10. Do you make friends in your races? You get to meet HEAPS of people after races and I know have lots of friends who also race. Triathlon is a great way to meet people who like exercising and keeping fit. When I raced for New Zealand we travelled as a team and I made lots of friends as we spent lots of time together getting ready for the race.

11. In the long races do you stop to go the toilet? Great question! There are lots and lots of portaloos at races so you can stop whenever you like. It can be a long day and everyone has to go, but I usually don’t stop and go to the bathroom on my bike. But only number 1!