Kia Ora and welcome to www.tkrobb.com
From here, I'll be keeping you up to date with my latest news and results. I'll also be sharing tips on how you can train more effectively to achieve your goals, share some of my delicious recipes and bring you news about what's happening in the world of Triathlon.
About me...
I'm a triathlete based in Wellington, New Zealand. I'm a full-time university student and athlete chasing my dream of competing successfully in the international triathlon circuit. I'm currently in training for the 2010 World Triathlon Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
I've just completed my New Zealand season and I'm off to spend the summer based in the southern French city of Toulon. From my European training base in France, I'll be racing in the French Grand Prix circuit, the French National Championships and various other club and national level races around the greater European region.
Profile
Name: Te Kawa Tangata Gordon Robb
Nickname: TK
DOB: 30-10-1981
Nationality: Maori
Home: Wellington, New Zealand
Height: 181cm
Weight: 68-70kg
Racing since: 2006
Head Coach: Graham Park
Swim Coach: Tim Brazier
Strengths: Incredibly driven, a love and passion for the sport, consistency and listening to my body
Weakness: The sweet tooth
Family
Father Andrew, mother Alison and two amazing younger sisters, Mahuru and Moana.
Goals
To inspire and motivate others to achieve beyond their wildest dreams.
Philosophy
Carpe Diem. Seize the moment, seize the day. Live your life to the fullest.
Leave the world in a better place than you found it.
Inspiration
Chris Lieto, for his world class performances while treading carefully on the earth,
Dan Hugo, for not only his motivation, passion and drive to succeed, but to still be able to engage and appreciate the world and people around him,
Matt Reed, for being a devoted and loving father and husband, all while being a world class athlete.
Chrissie Wellington, humble, talented and incredibly driven.
Odd bits
Slight weakness for pizza and chocolate,
Organic tendancies and ethics,
Passionate about the environment and about living sustainably.
Hobbies
Coffee with friends,
Playing the guitar,
Photography,
Surfing, Swimming,
Procrastinating
Biography
Growing up in Wellington, New Zealand meant having the sea right on the doorstep and the bush in the back yard. Most of the houses that Te Kawa lived at during his childhood were close to the sea, so spending large amounts of time at the beach and in rivers for family picnics meant that Te Kawa always felt at home in the water. After school and weekend adventures always involved climbing trees, running through the bush and enjoying nature to the fullest.
Through his school years, Te Kawa tried his hand at a few sports, mainly soccer, which basically involved him booting the ball back to the forwards and then standing around waiting for it to come back. Once at college, Te Kawa took up Underwater Hockey and Rowing. Relishing in the incredibly demanding and punishing training regime for these very different sports, Te Kawa made the national Underwater Hockey team which dominated the national scene for 5 years and was the stroke for the Maadi Cup Rowing Team 8's, 4's and Quad's.
With a brief break from sports after college to focus on education and work, Te Kawa picked up motorcycle racing. After winning the most improved award for the club and looking promising for the future, Te Kawa took up cycling in order to lose a few kilos and gain some free speed in anticipation for the upcoming season. A huge motorcycle crash at the race track and a night in hospital at the end of the season cut that dream short.
A customer at the café that Te Kawa served coffee in encouraged him to participate in a local triathlon and on the 23rd of January, 2006, Te Kawa lined up at Scorching Bay, Wellington for his first race. To the surprise of his family, but mostly to himself, Te Kawa went on to win that race by a considerable margin - about 6 minutes! Naturally not wanting to let an opportunity pass, Te Kawa fully committed to the sport of Triathlon and decided to set his sights high for the future.
Within 4 years since that first race, Te Kawa has achieved some very credible results locally, nationally and internationally. Te Kawa has competed in two World Championships events and has recently competed in his first ITU Premium Cup. In early 2010, Te Kawa gave up full-time work to pursue his sporting dreams while also studying Exercise Science full-time at University, giving him the tools to become a coach to future sporting stars.
Te Kawa has a number of people to thank for the quick rise in the sport; his head coach and mentor Graham Park who instils strong belief and physical capacity, Tim Brazier for taking his swimming to a whole new level, Logan Cowdell who first encouraged him to try a triathlon, Dave Creamer who helped him with his technique and form in the early days of training, the sponsors and partners who have all believed in Te Kawa's ability and future in the sport, the numerous friends in the local triathlon community who have supported him with all his goals, his friends who always support him and stick by him despite seeing very little of him, his sisters whom he strives to be an excellent role model for, and of course, his parents, who passed on the genes and instilled the drive, focus, and perseverance along with a desire to push himself to new limits.
Te Kawa has a bright future in the sport and with his dedication and commitment and 'never quit' attitude, Te Kawa is one to watch for the future.
News
Visit my blog site http://blog.tkrobb.com here
Follow me at www.twitter.com/TKRobb
European Adventures - Part 1
8 July 2010
Southern France; its actually living up to everything I expected, and much much more. I was having to pinch myself on a daily basis to double check that I'm actually alive and that I'm actually here to live and train for the next 4 months. What a dream! The bruising has become too much though, so I've accepted the reality that I AM in fact in Southern France, I AM actually training better than I have ever trained before and I'm feeling much more alive than I've felt in so long. Its so great to be here. Living the dream!
The last two weeks have been about adjusting to the new way of life, a new routine and a new climate. Man it gets hot here! It got to 35 degrees yesterday and my homestay family said "Oh yeah, this is starting to warm up".?! As a result, the daily routine here works around the sun. Morning's are the best time to go running before it really starts to heat up, midday's are spent swimming with the team either at the beach or in the pool and afternoons are great for cycling, when there might be a bit of cloud cover but the evenings stay warm late in the night. Depending on what you want to get out of your running, you can switch the run to the evening to get a super sweaty session going. Thankfully, my Workout Zone Outdoor Defence system has been earning its keep!
Lately though, my running has taken a break. I've been resting a slight niggle I've had hanging round for a number of months now, so I've taken the last two weeks off to get rid of it. Might go for another week before I ease back into it slowly. Nothing major, but still annoying bringing an injury over to the other side of the world. This has meant I've really boosted up my swimming and cycling in particular. The last week has been averaging about 80km a day. Topped off with a 160km ride from Toulon up the coast to Nice last Saturday too. Best way to see the French Riviera - Martian-like red earth and terracotta mansions on the left and deep azure blue waters of the Mediterranean on the right. Stunning.
This weekend is going to be a mixed bag of training with recovery from a big week the key. Will have a lot of outdoor swims and maybe some intervals on the bike today with an easy ride tomorrow. And maybe an Aquathlon too. Taking the run easy, of course. And then its back into a big block of training before the club races get going in a few weeks. After that, I'll move my base o Sigmaringen in Germany, and hopefully off to Geneva and the Czech Republic to race and putting the finishing touches on the World Championships campaign in September. Hard to believe were already halfway through the year and that there is only 70 days until the World Champs. On that note, I better get out the door before it heats up even more!
Train hard and smart.
A bientot,
Te Kawa
European Season 2010
30 May 2010
In 2 weeks time, I'll be on my way to Europe to spend 5 months training and racing my guts out, which I'm very excited about! Not being a big fan of winter, I'm thrilled to have been accepted into a French triathlon club based in Toulon, on the Mediterranean coast. I'm incredibly lucky to have been accepted into their team as there are very very few spots for international athletes to race in the French Grand Prix circuit, and as you can imagine, these are highly sought after and virtually impossible to get.
Everything has come about quite suddenly, so I've been full-on at University getting my papers tied up and in one case having to cram in a double semesters worth of work into one semester! Moving out of home and getting organised to put my life in NZ on hold for a few months has been quite an interesting experience. In amongst that, I've had a trip to China for an ITU race and obviously I've been training hard for my European season too. I think coffee has been the only thing keeping me going some days!
First up is a two day stopover in London to settle into the new time-zone and catch up with lots of my school friends who all live there now. Then I catch the bullet train over to Paris, and head up to Vieilles Forges in the Ardennes for my first race, the French National Standard Distance Triathlon Championships. I'll meet up with the Toulon club president there and a few of the club athletes who are competing too, and after that, we'll head straight down to Toulon to train with the team before the French National Long Distance National Triathlon Champs two weeks later in Dijon. Two major races in two weeks; the French sure know how to put together a challenging National Champs calendar ay!
Back down to Toulon, I'll get stuck into training with the team, integrating into the French way of life and getting ready for the next phase of races, which are mostly national club level races, using the many regional races as solid training days. Of course, this will be made slightly easier by the fact that we are based in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. It will be hot, sunny and spectacular to say the least. A far cry from the big cold and wet New Zealand is getting smashed with at the moment!
Already being in Europe means that my lead-up to the World Triathlon Champs in Hungary won't be fraught with the challenges of training through an antipodean winter, dodging the flu and generally trying to keep warm and healthy. There are a number of big races around Europe that I have on a shortlist, so depending on how I'm feeling at the time, I'll duck over one of the many surrounding borders for a cheeky race here and there, which is an awesome concept! As mentioned, most of my school mates moved to Europe to live and pursue their careers a number of years ago, so I'm really looking forward to catching up with them in the many different countries they live in. Some of them live in the cities that the races are held in, so it'll be a perfect excuse to go over for a race, catch up with them and check out the local sights. Win!
I must say, I'm incredibly stoked that all my supporters and sponsors who have all supported my drive to achieve my dreams, have been incredibly supportive of my opportunity to travel to Europe and live the dream for a few months. I'm proud to be representing all of you, and honoured that you all believe in my dreams and are sticking with me.
Im a bit sad to be leaving my close-knit network of family, friends and training buddies behind though, but they've all been incredibly supportive as well, so I know I'll be doing them all proud while I'm overseas.
Anyway, that's all for now. Remember that you can follow me on a daily basis through Twitter at www.twitter.com/TKRobb and keep in touch through Facebook at www.facebook.com/TKRobb.
Thanks for supporting my dreams.
I'll write again before I go, but untill then, train hard and train smart,
Last days in China
18 May 2010
Once I got the post race media stuff out of the way and snuck in some chill-out time back in the hotel, I went back to the race course to watch the reminder of the elite womens race with Dan, the Hong Kong coach. He said he was keen to go out for pizza for dinner and had spotted an American chain brand in a mall somewhere and invited me to join them which I was stoked about as, in all due respect, I was totally bored of the food Id been eating for the last 5 days. So after committing gastrointestinal suicide with all the super cheesy pizza, (Im intolerant to dairy) we went to Dairy Queen (what was I thinking??) and had some fruit smoothies.
The next day, I was looking forward to some tourist time around the region, but I was feeling quite tired so didnt end up leaving my room till after midday. Went down and watched the Age Groupers race and hung out with my translator friends for a bit then decided I should make the most of the road closure and get out on my bike to loosen the legs. Turned out to be a great idea as the sun came out (been a very rare sight here!) and the roads were clear and dry.
I had dinner, cleaned and packed my bike and went to bed looking forward to be heading back home the next morning. I was feeling a bit bloated and uncomfortable, but nothing serious. Well, that changed at about 10pm when I woke up feeling horrible. Tossed and turned for a few hours then the guts started doing somersaults then I got that ominous sensation that I was going to see my dinner again. The rest of the night was spent running to the bathroom and getting well acquainted with the porcelain. Gross.
First thing I thought was what the hell am I going to do about getting home??? Was I going to be ok in time to get to the airport? Would they let me fly? Was I going to have to visit a Chinese hospital???
I got online at 4am and with the amazing power of Skype, I got in touch with my best mate Abby back home who after her freak-out started to get the ball rolling back home with all the things that I was in no state to organise or even comprehend because I was so dehydrated and tired. Insurance was organised, flights were postponed, family and friends were notified, emergency money transferred and messages of support flowed in. All while I was in the local hospital.
The local organising committee jumped to my aid hugely too and got me to the hospital at 6am and helped translate things between myself and the doctors and nurses there. They did some blood tests, gave me fluid via IV and pumped me with electrolyte replacement drink, gave me a few pills and drugs and put me in a room to recover. Later that day, they cleared me and sent me back to the hotel to rest. I had a massive sleep and felt much more alive after that.
Anyway, that was a bit of a freak-out, but my guts came back to normal pretty quickly and right now Im sitting in Fuzhou airport about to start my travel home. A huge thank you to my family and friends, travel agent, insurance broker and the local Chinese organising committee who put back their own plans for the day to look after me and make sure I was ok. And of course a massive MASSIVE thank you to Abby for all the amazing organising and communicating she did with everyone while I was down for the count. Totally picking you up a bottle of Gin in duty free!
A few people have asked, and all Im going to say on the matter is after going through the Chinese healthcare system, I will never again complain about our healthcare infrastructure, although they didnt have a waiting list and the doctors and nurses were as lovely as ours. And a couple of tips Ill give anyone else about to go travelling alone to another country, get comprehensive insurance, have an amazing travel agent (Tina Arthur at The Flight Centre is a total legend!), make sure you have a number of people with your travel, contact. location and insurance details and any other important information so that if anything goes wrong, they all have each others contact details and someone can co-ordinate things back home. And get Skype. The ball would have been virtually impossible to get rolling without Skype. And its totally free!
So despite having an absolutely amazing experience here, Im really looking forward to getting back home and enjoying all the little things we take for granted. As always, thank you to all those that helped make this trip possible. It has changed my perspective on a lot of things, given me a huge insight into where I am at and what steps I need to take to go even further as well as having a trip of a lifetime.
From here, Im going into a heavy block of training leading up to my trip to France where Ill be based with a French triathlon club in Toulon for 5 months. First race is the French SD National Triathlon Champs. After that, races will include the French Long Distance National Champs, the French Grand Prix races, World Tri Champs and likely a few ITU races as well. Its a very demanding calendar, and the number one priority will be maintaining excellent health to get me through it all before coming back to NZ for a brief recovery period before hitting the 2010/11 NZ domestic season.
Naku Ra,
ITU Premium Continental Cup, Fuzhou, China
15 May 2010
Well, today was an amazing experience. Obviously never having done an ITU race, I was in for a whole bunch of unknowns and firsts. The whole atmosphere surrounding these events is amazing. The volunteers are passionate, the officials are very helpful and the venue was awesome. Knowing that I was down the list of athletes in terms of rank meant I was happy to go into this race not knowing what to expect from the others or from myself for that matter.
Heading down to the water, I was trying to get myself in a position as close to the Aussies as possible, knowing that they were going to be strong swimmers. Annoyingly though, the officials put us in order of rank, so I was stuck closest to the shore. Figuring I would just smash the start and try to bridge across to the fast pack, I didnt realise until well after the start that there was a massive current flowing. This definitely favoured the top ranked athletes who were further out on the start pontoon, getting a much stronger current, which gave me a huge handicap right from the gun. Anyway, smash all I tried, the leaders were boosting off like nothing I've ever seen before, regardless of how elite and experienced they are.
Anyway, out of the water, the 600m run uphill to the transition was a meaty effort, but I was stoked to be on the bike and was raring to make up lost ground. Sure enough, I started pulling back the field fairly quickly with my solo TT, especially once a couple of others I caught 3 laps later started to work with me. We pulled in more packs and held our own against the larger lead and chase packs up ahead. I was very wary about doing too much work though because this can seriously take the sting out of your running legs, but I was determined to make up as much ground on the front groups as I was willing to.
Into T2, I was in and out as fast as possible, keen to make a gap on the others in my group. A few went with me, and then a couple went ahead. About 1km into it, I could feel the legs didnt have the top end that they usually have, so it meant I was already giving it all I had which was stink because I knew the engine had a bit more in it. Anyway, the 10k came and went and I tried to hang in there as much as possible and give it everything.
Finishing the race, I was proud and stoked to have given it everything I had on the day and played the cards I was dealt as well as possible. I finished 24th overall of 47 starters. I'm stoked, seriously stoked.
24th overall
1:58:53 Total
22:24 Swim
1:25 T1
59:16 Bike + T2
35:47 Run
Thank you all for all your support in helping me to get here and put my first ITU race under my belt. My gear was amazing, thanks to 2XU, Shoe Clinic, Brooks Shoes and Penny Farthing Cycles and big thanks to Workout Zone, The Immigrants Son Espresso and Service Printers also.
Big up's to my whanau and friends who've entertained me with emails from home while I've been in a non english speaking country too haha.
Next stop, 5 months based in France!
Day 4 - Race Day Eve, Fuzhou, China
14 May 2010
With my body still firmly set on NZ time, I wasnt surprised to wake up at 4:30am again, but as Id put myself to bed at 8pm last night, I was well rested. I jumped straight on to Stuff.co.nz to see whats been going on as well as checking emails from home, but alas the world is still intact and no-one has missed me yet. So I went back to bed.
7am, went down to breakfast which was the same as yesterday, though the steamed buns were filled with what looked like creamed corn (which I love!) but tasted more like creamed foot, so I passed on them and nibbled on the fried egg and spring rolls. Im so happy that I brought some muesli from home. It seriously tastes so good!! A couple of the Aussies brought some Weet-Bix from home which the others tell me is causing some tension in the room ha ha.
Then I started to get my gear sorted for the race; numbers on the helmet, gear check, putting elastic laces in my racers etc. The organisers closed the race course for a few hours today, so I was able to get out on the bike for the first time and check the seat height etc and that everything was tight and tuned. Need to give it a huge clean now streets filled with lots of muck.
Bike course is pretty plain, just a 6 lap out and back course with some very minor rollers and few corners, will allow for a couple of break-aways towards the end, but anyone getting a lead on the swim will be brought back if a big chase pack forms and works well together. So aside from two 180deg turns at each end, it will come down to good positioning at the end of the bike and a fast transition to make any gaps on the field.
There are a couple of good athletes here, good meaning top rankings, so it will be interesting to see how they go in the race. Aussies will no doubt have a good swim as well as the Ukranians and maybe the Hong Kong athletes too, but the others are all pretty much unknown, including me, which is a nice feeling. I can just do my thing and no-one is marking me or sussing me out.
As with any drafting race, the run will be key to a good result. Which is why I wasnt too impressed that my Achilles was feeling a bit stiff on my jog after todays bike. Anti-flamme is already on it and will give a rest for the rest of the day and hope that it comes right tomorrow.
Lunch was nice today, much of the same, but a real step up in quality and taste. I was stoked to see some clean steamed green veges, and quite unlike me, I got seriously stuck in to the broccoli, much to the amusement of the Chinese. Im thinking the Chinese must have a very protein-rich diet, with some form of meat in pretty much everything served, but thats only based on what Ive seen in the last few days.
Went for a wander round the local streets before to try and find some food. Woah, what an interesting place! Its so hard to explain what I saw and experienced on my little 30minute solo adventure because virtually everything I saw was different youll just have to wait for the photos. But I did find some tasty stuff to nibble on, thanks to the packets having clear windows so I couls see what they were. Cant find any fruit though, so stuck with the watermelon and rockmelon they serve us with our meals for the time being. I do miss some of the stuff we take for granted back home like access to fresh fruit and veges at any time of the day. And coffee. And Facebook ha!
Just doing some emails now, then a last check of my race gear then off to have a nap. Ive been invited to some dinner party at another hotel which I think is an official event, but I cant read the invitation ha ha.
Hope youre well and looking forward to a nice weekend whatever you're doing.
2010 Race Schedule
20.06.10 VIELLES FORGES, FRANCE - French National Triathlon Championships
04.07.10 CAGNES, FRANCE - for Team Toulon Triathlon Mutuelle Verte
11.07.10 SAINT LAURENT DU VAR, FRANCE - for Team Toulon Triathlon Mutuelle Verte
14.07.10 SAINT AMAND DUN, FRANCE - D3 Semi's for Team Toulon Triathlon Mutuelle Verte
25.07.10 SETTONS, FRANCE - D3 Finals for Team Toulon Triathlon Mutuelle Verte
12.09.10 BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - ITU Standard Distance World Triathlon Championships
26.09.10 HYERES, FRANCE - for Team Toulon Triathlon Mutuelle Verte
03.10.10 CARQUEIRANNE, FRANCE - for Team Toulon Triathlon Mutuelle Verte
10.10.10 PARTHENAY, FRANCE - French Club Champs for Team Toulon Triathlon Mutuelle Verte
2010 Results
ITU Premium Asian Cup, Fuzhou, China - 24th Elite Men
Oceania Standard Distance Duathlon Championships - 11th Elite Men
Xterra New Zealand National Championships - 10th Pro Men
Aquathon World Championships, Gold Coast, Australia - 12th M25-29
New Zealand Standard Distance National Triathlon Championships - 6th Open Men, 2nd M25-29
New Zealand Sprint Distance National Championships - 2nd M25-29
New Zealand Standard Distance Duathlon Championships - 2nd M25-29
Selection into 3 New Zealand World Championship Triathlon Teams for 2010
2009 Results
2009 Wellington Standard Distance Triathlon Champion
Luke Harrop Memorial, Gold Coast, Australia - 6th M25-29
Thank you to all my sponsors for helping me to chase and achieve my dreams and for encouraging me to push harder and dig deeper. I'm proud to be representing all of you.
2XU:
Brooks Running:
The Shoe Clinic: The Immigrant's Son Espresso:
Workout Zone:
Penny Farthing Cycles:
Inject Design:
Service Printers:
www.2xu.com
www.brooksrunning.co.nz
www.shoeclinic.co.nz
www.tise.co.nz
www.workoutzone.co.nz
www.pennyfarthings.co.nz
www.injectdesign.co.nz
www.serviceprinters.co.nz
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