Helen Jenkins Getting Ready For Hyde Park Triathlon

Helen Jenkins has had a good start to her triathlon season with second places in Austria and Spain in recent weeks - but she is looking to go one place better when the World Championship Series in Hyde Park.

The Olympian will be looking to bag the qualifying time for the 2012 Olympic Games in London - the Hyde Park taking place on the Olympic course.

I caught up with Helen to talk about how her season is going to far, how her preparation for Hyde Park is going and looking ahead to 2012.

- The ITU World Champion Event in London is creeping ever closer so how is training going and what sort of shape are you in at the moment?

I’m in pretty good shape, I have got second place in the last two World Champs Series; it’s an improvement on last year because I kept getting third (laughs).

I have definitely made an improvement in my overall performance and now I have another block of training before Hyde Park so I just want to get my head down and get into it and get the training done.

- And how does the Hyde Park event favour you as an athlete?

I wouldn’t say that the course favours me a lot because it’s a flat course and I would say that I tend to be better on the hills on the bike.

I think it’s what you make of it on the day and if I can make it a hard swim, a hard bike and a hard run - and not just leave it down to t a running race - that style of racing would favour me. I’m just training to make that happen.

- You have had second place finishes in Austria and Spain over recent weeks so how confident are you going into Hamburg before heading to London?

I’m not doing Hamburg - I’m just going to get a good training block in before London. The main focus of my year is Hyde Park and Beijing, the Beijing World champs final, as they are the Olympic selection races.

I would love to keep racing and go to Hamburg but it’s important for me to get a good block of training in so I’m in top condition, well hopefully that’s the plan, for Hyde Park.

- Can you talk me through a stand week’s training?

It varies a lot - which is one of the good things about triathlon. But I swim about five times a week, ride four to five times a week and then running tends to be more sessioned and that tends to be seven times a week - but that will be split up the shortest run can be twenty minutes and the longest an hour and a half. It all varies a lot but that is one of the things that I enjoy most about the training. 

- Paula Findlay has been a dominating force in triathlon over the last few months so how close do you feel you are getting to her as each race passes?

I think I am getting closer, it’s hard when you keep losing out to her by two or three seconds, people keep saying ‘you need to work on your sprint finish’ it’s not about the sprint finish it’s the 9.6k before that sprint finish.

I just need to improving, racing smart and bringing in the race tactics and getting my best performance out on the day. I don’t think she is unbeatable one day someone is going to beat her - hopefully it will be me (laughs).

- We are now just over twelve months away from the London Olympics so how excited are you at the prospect of a home games?

I think the prospect of the home games is so special - not many people get to be an Olympian so I feel honoured to be one already, so to compete at a home games will be very special.

It’s amazing the hype and attention already we are a year out and everyone is talking about it so much - I think it will be good though and people will really get behind it.

- How much are the Olympics a focus for your training at the moment - or do you prefer not to look too far ahead?

Selection is the first step, and I will never take that as a given that I will be going until I have proved myself and met the selection criteria.

That is what I’m thinking about at the moment. But the Olympics is in your mind and I think about it sometimes when I’m training so it is there but it can’t be the complete focus. 

In the end, although it is the Olympics, it still comes down to the same swim, bike and run and it’s the same athletes so the Olympic stuff, when you are actually out there doing it, doesn’t even come into it as it’s what we do week in week out.

- And is the ITU event in Hyde Park what will be the Olympic course?

This is the first year that it is the exact course, the last couple of years it has been similar, but this year it’s a proper run through - so that’s going to be exciting.

It’s also going to be such a high standard race as no one is going to want to miss this opportunity to be competing on the exact course - for the majority of the athletes this is their selection race so there are going to be races within races as they race for their Olympic qualifying criteria.

- You too are looking to bag that Olympic qualifying time so first of all what is the qualifying time and how far away do you think you are to achieving that?

We don’t go on time in triathlon because the courses vary a lot so we have to be top three in Hyde Park - so it’s a pretty big ask and it’s a big race. It’s a pretty complicated selection policy; it’s first here or in Beijing, which is our world champs series final, but you need to have a podium in  another world champs series event, I am maybe one step closer as I have got a podium in Spain and Austria.

But if you don’t reach the criteria this year there is a chance at the beginning of next year too. 

- The triathlon is a very demanding sport so how did you get into it in the first place?

I was a swimmer, I had always been a swimmer, but I knew what triathlon was as my dad had done a couple and I had done a few when I was young.

But a girl that I swam with was involved in Welsh triathlon and I gave it a go and it just went from there really - it was a change from just doing swimming all the time.

- You are heading for Beijing later this year so how much do you train for the humid conditions - despite the fact that you did compete in the Olympic Games in the city in 2008?

We will be racing in Beijing at the beginning of September so the temperature and humidity will have dropped - it won’t be quite as intense as it was in August.

Humidity is a tough one unless you are from a humid place but you can adapt by training in a humid environment - or in the house you can put the tumble dryer on (laughs).

- You came twenty first at the Beijing Olympics so do you already have a target in mind for next year.

Twenty first wasn’t great I didn’t have a great day - due that year I hadn’t actually raced for a year and a half  prior to 2008 so I did get pretty burnt out by the time I got to the Olympics with actually trying to qualify.

Obviously I would like to improve, no one goes to the Olympics wanting to be twenty first, but I would love to come away with a medal if I could but there will be a lot of girls aiming for that.

It’s going to be the best person on the day and I just hope that I can deliver my best performance and lets hope that will be a medal winning one.

- What tips would you give to anyone, particularly kids, wanting to try and get into the triathlon?

Triathlon can look like a really tough challenge because it is the three sports but you don’t need to go crazy and get masses of equipment you can do it on any bike, swim in any pool.

Find an event that is going to suit you and get the training in before the race, make sure that you can complete the distances and just go for it. If you are keen go to a local triathlon club and pick up a few tips from coaches and getting advice from people can really help. Triathlon can be a pretty friendly sport and people want to help you and help you get on.

- Finally what’s next for you?

The next few weeks is just getting the training in for Hyde Park - and then Beijing would be the next big step. Then it’s about having a good winter training and if I don’t get the Olympic selection this year hopefully I will make it at the start of 2012. Everything over the next six months or so is based around Olympic selection.

Helen Jenkins can be seen in action

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

Helen Jenkins has had a good start to her triathlon season with second places in Austria and Spain in recent weeks - but she is looking to go one place better when the World Championship Series in Hyde Park.

The Olympian will be looking to bag the qualifying time for the 2012 Olympic Games in London - the Hyde Park taking place on the Olympic course.

I caught up with Helen to talk about how her season is going to far, how her preparation for Hyde Park is going and looking ahead to 2012.

- The ITU World Champion Event in London is creeping ever closer so how is training going and what sort of shape are you in at the moment?

I’m in pretty good shape, I have got second place in the last two World Champs Series; it’s an improvement on last year because I kept getting third (laughs).

I have definitely made an improvement in my overall performance and now I have another block of training before Hyde Park so I just want to get my head down and get into it and get the training done.

- And how does the Hyde Park event favour you as an athlete?

I wouldn’t say that the course favours me a lot because it’s a flat course and I would say that I tend to be better on the hills on the bike.

I think it’s what you make of it on the day and if I can make it a hard swim, a hard bike and a hard run - and not just leave it down to t a running race - that style of racing would favour me. I’m just training to make that happen.

- You have had second place finishes in Austria and Spain over recent weeks so how confident are you going into Hamburg before heading to London?

I’m not doing Hamburg - I’m just going to get a good training block in before London. The main focus of my year is Hyde Park and Beijing, the Beijing World champs final, as they are the Olympic selection races.

I would love to keep racing and go to Hamburg but it’s important for me to get a good block of training in so I’m in top condition, well hopefully that’s the plan, for Hyde Park.

- Can you talk me through a stand week’s training?

It varies a lot - which is one of the good things about triathlon. But I swim about five times a week, ride four to five times a week and then running tends to be more sessioned and that tends to be seven times a week - but that will be split up the shortest run can be twenty minutes and the longest an hour and a half. It all varies a lot but that is one of the things that I enjoy most about the training. 

- Paula Findlay has been a dominating force in triathlon over the last few months so how close do you feel you are getting to her as each race passes?

I think I am getting closer, it’s hard when you keep losing out to her by two or three seconds, people keep saying ‘you need to work on your sprint finish’ it’s not about the sprint finish it’s the 9.6k before that sprint finish.

I just need to improving, racing smart and bringing in the race tactics and getting my best performance out on the day. I don’t think she is unbeatable one day someone is going to beat her - hopefully it will be me (laughs).

- We are now just over twelve months away from the London Olympics so how excited are you at the prospect of a home games?

I think the prospect of the home games is so special - not many people get to be an Olympian so I feel honoured to be one already, so to compete at a home games will be very special.

It’s amazing the hype and attention already we are a year out and everyone is talking about it so much - I think it will be good though and people will really get behind it.

- How much are the Olympics a focus for your training at the moment - or do you prefer not to look too far ahead?

Selection is the first step, and I will never take that as a given that I will be going until I have proved myself and met the selection criteria.

That is what I’m thinking about at the moment. But the Olympics is in your mind and I think about it sometimes when I’m training so it is there but it can’t be the complete focus. 

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