We are offering lucky Bloggle readers and Wiggle customers the chance to ask elite GB triathlete, Michelle Dillon any questions of your choice!

Many will have learned a lot from Michelle’s regular diary entries exclusively here on the Bloggle… but now you can get an even greater insight in to the mind of the triathlon guru who can still proudly claim to have recorded the highest finish of a British athlete in Olympic Triathlon.

Introducing…
Michelle Dillon Question Time

You can get expert insight into training & recovery tips, info about her bikes and race equipment, chatter about her career past, present and future… It’s up to you!

Simply email in your questions to news@wiggle.co.uk with your name and where you are from and we will take care of the rest! We will send as many as we can over to Michelle for her to answer and we will post them up right here on the Bloggle.

Ask Michelle Dillon a question now!

I arrived in Chicago on Thursday afternoon; it was a direct flight from London, which was great. I decided to pay for a Premium Economy seat so I could get the extra leg room and I feel it made a difference with my legs feeling better than usual from a long flight.

I stayed at the Hilton race hotel and it made my stay very relaxing. Everything was going great in my race prep. Then suddenly from no where the night before the race my knee began to swell to a point were I couldn’t walk, there was no pain but I couldn’t bend my knee which meant I couldn’t walk. After a couple of hours I decided to go the Hospital and get the doc to have a look. After having an X-ray I was told I had swelling but no joint or bone damage and said it was a cartilage injury and to take a couple of weeks to heal then re-hab. So at this point the race went out the window and $1300 dollars to American Health services. I got back to the hotel and went to bed on nothing to eat except for a Megaburn bar which is all I had on me and it was too late to get any descent food.

I Got up the next day and still couldn’t bend my knee so went down stairs for a Greasy fry up and loads of dirty American pancakes with Cream. All of a sudden from no where walking back to my room the swelling started to decrease and I could bend my knee. So I decided to start the race and I felt great through out and took the win by 1min 30 sec, which was a huge surprise to me with what had happened and I think it was a shock to some of the other athletes as well. They had seen me limping around the breakfast hall earlier that morning and I sat down telling them the same story I’m telling you now.

The lesson I have learnt from this experience is try not to get to nervous before the race as it does effect your performance - I had so much more energy than usual.
Stu

As we see the close of the Beijing Olympic Games, I feel myself reflecting on several different feelings I have felt during the last two weeks. As many of you will know, I have been suffering from a de-generative back disorder that has progressively got worse. During last winter the pain and symptoms increased and reached a point where I was physically not able to train with this pain any longer. Since then I have been receiving treatment and have just received the word that it now needs to be operated on. Throughout my career I have suffered my fair share of injuries and my back problems have popped up quite frequently. One of the most memorable times when my back caused distress was before the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, when I received an epidural in my spine before the race, just to get me to the start-line. This makes my 6th place in Athens such an achievement, however at the time I suffered from disappointment as I so dearly wanted to be on the podium with a medal around my neck as all Olympians do. Little did I know that even after the 2008 games my 6th place would remain as the most successful British Olympic Triathlon performance to date.

Watching many of Team GB receive medals in Beijing was emotional knowing what you go through as an athlete and this inspires and motivates me. I cannot describe how privileged you feel to represent your country in your sport and I can only imagine how it must feel when it ends in glory. The thought of standing on the podium listening to your home Nation’s Anthem actually gives me goose bumps, just thinking about it. Team GB’s achievements this year have been fantastic and I hope that the results encourage more people to become involved in sport….

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The success of Team GB out in Beijing has undoubtedly inspired so many people over the past fortnight - and will hopefully keep inspiring us for another four years. I happened to flick the TV on yesterday afternoon just as the team was landing at Heathrow to receive a heroes welcome. With cameras flashing, TV crews jostling to get the best shots and journalists already quizzing our medallists on what it felt like to be back in Blighty, the likes of Chris Hoy and Rebecca Adlington looked completely shocked and surprised. They admitted they’d been in a “bubble” in Beijing and so had no idea just how proud and impassioned the nation had been as they continued to make winning Olympic gold medals look as easy as winning the egg and spoon race at a local school sports day.

I don’t think a day has passed since the Games began when I haven’t been watching the coverage and felt a surge of pride as God Save the Queen rings out again or a rower/sailor/cyclist/swimmer/runner adds to the medal haul. More often than not I’d feel goosebumps on my skin or a lump in my throat as the athletes stand atop the podium to be crowned Olympic champion - because you can see on their faces just how much the medal means to them and what they’ve endured to achieve it.

So when I switched on the telly yesterday and saw Hoy and Adlington being given the sort of greeting usually reserved for superstar ‘athletes’ like David Beckham I couldn’t stop beaming. At that point, I’d been putting off doing a 90-minute turbo for some time. I knew it had to be done at some point, but my turning on the TV had been one of the last-ditch attempts at distraction. Sure, it distracted me - but in such a positive way that by the time the Beeb was showing Gordon Brown chatting away to Tom Daley I already had my turbo gear on and was muttering to myself “gold medals don’t win themselves - I bet Nicole Cooke never slacked off turbo sessions, get on with it Lidbury”. And I have to say, 90 minutes later I’d completed one of the hardest but finest turbo efforts of all my turbo-ing years. I hope Team GB has the same effect on your training.

Enjoy!
EK

Wiggle and Focus sponsored triathlete Staurt Hayes went “from ER to finish line overnight” as he recovered from a swollen knee to win the Accenture Chicago Triathlon across the pond.

Stu spent over 2 hours in the Emergency Room on Saturday night and then took the gamble to race the next day… it paid off as he crossed the line first in 1 hour 48 minutes 9.2 seconds.

“The doctor told me to take off two weeks, I guess he’s not going to like that I didn’t listen.”

Read more about the race on the Chicago Tribune site and we will have Stu’s full report in his latest diary entry later this week.

Matt is our sponsored super-star MTBer and has recently topped the podium at both the Endura Sleepless in the Saddle solo and the Bontrager Twentyfour12 12-hour race solo.

He has been out meeting and greeting and recently met up with the guys from BikeMagic to give them a rundown of his ride - his carbon full suspension Focus First Expert…

Read the full article here

I realise it’s a bit late to write a long explanation about the London Tri so I’ll just give a quick summary. I was disappointed to only finish 4th having won this race twice before. Unfortunately I just didn’t swim well enough to make the lead pack. It’s been a difficult time for swim training as the swim squad I train with have been at the National Champs and so for the 2 weeks leading into the race I swam by myself. Admittedly I find it pretty tough to swim without a group. I cycled hard and myself and Jodie Stimpson did the majority of the work to come into T2 two minutes down on the leader Julie Dibens. I ran well but just couldn’t quite do enough for third spot. Finishing 4th just about made up for the horrendous journey I had from Wales to London, which took over 6 hours in the car – no thanks to the overturned caravan on the M4!

Last week I spent 5 days of pure laziness, slobbing in front on the tv watching every bit of Olympic action possible. I love watching the Olympics – just a pity I couldn’t actually be in Beijing taking part.

Emma Snowsill, winner of the women’s triathlon was superb. I think it’s fair to say the British results were disappointing. I feel gutted to read that an athlete’s main aim is London 2012. What about Beijing 2008?! I was desperate to race in Beijing for a medal not for experience.

Here are a few great quotes said during the Olympics:

Brendan Foster angry at the lack of middle/long distance running success: “I’m sick of hearing about promising youngsters that never quite make it……we need to look at the people in charge.”
(Mmmmm…..)

The BBC’s Matt Chiltern commentating during the men’s triathlon race: “Tim Don’s fans will be glad to hear that his first transition only took 26 seconds, one of the fastest.”
(unfortunately there aren’t any medals for transition times!)

Matt Chiltern commentating nearing the end of the women’s triathlon race: “If she (Emma Snowsill) doesn’t stop celebrating she might not break the two hour mark.”
(as if that would have tarnished her gold medal!)

I raced the London Triathlon last weekend. I was really excited to race as this will only be my third race this season and also because London is such a big event.I was relaxed going into the race, i knew i had to be to get the best performance possible.

I swam a lot better than i did at nationals missing the main pack by only 20 seconds but unfortunately this proved to be too much and i failed to catch the main pack and had to settle with the group I came out the water in. We rolled into transition too far down but i still ran hard as it was a good opportunity to get a hard run in for me.

I was a bit disappointed with the result [29th] but am sure that good results will come.

I got some good news earlier this week when i found out that I’ve been selected for the European Under 23 Championships, so i will be working very hard to get into the best shape possible to defend my title.

Ritchie

British Cycling have put a report of Sleepless in the Saddle on their website with a bunch of great pictures of the intense mud bath that Focus & Wiggle sponsored rider Matt Page stormed to victory at.

Here’s a few quotes from the report:

Read the full review at britishcycling.org.uk

TV sport correspondent and budding Triathlete Craig Doyle was kind enough to take a break from both his busy TV schedule and his dedicated tri training on his Focus Cayo road bike to write us his thoughts on the Olympic Triathlon next week.

Isn’t it funny the things people notice?

I was belting around the Wicklow hills on Sunday trying to put in a few decent miles after months out injured, when out of no where this chap (who was far too big for is lycra cycling gear) came along side me. Now I was 50 km into my ride and facing yet another climb, so was in no mood for a chat.

“Wiggle” he said.

I was thinking who is this sick b*****d who wants me to wiggle?

“What”, I replied

“I see you got your bike from Wiggle”, he said.

The guy was right, although I don’t think he was referring to the tiny Wiggle sticker that takes up the smallest part of my bike, but he was obviously aware that my full carbon Focus Cayo is only available here from the good people at wiggle.co.uk. This was the main focus of my new friends’ conversation. He was thinking of buying a bike off the net and wanted to know what I thought.

“Buy it” I replied, and pushed away from ‘porno bike guy’.

I was a panting mess of chamois cream and sweat when a guy on a mountain bike came along side me – “nice bike” he said in a thick Spanish accent “I like Focus, but what is this Wiggle” - he obviously had eagled eyes and had spotted the sticker. He loved the idea of buying off the net and I think they might be getting an order from a Jose from Bilbao very soon.

Anyway Jose and I got chatting and before long I was boring the nuts off him about triathlon. He was adamant that Javier Gomez would win the men’s race. There is no doubt the Spaniard is some performer, I’ve watched him up close a few times covering the race for the BBC, and in full flow he is very impressive. With 7 wins from 8 races this season, bookies rightly have the current World Champion as favourite; I’ll certainly be backing him….

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