Athlete:
Tamsyn Moana-Veale
TAMSYN MOANA-VEALE
Triathlete
Tamsyn was born in New Zealand, with Maori heritage in 1993. She moved to Australia and competed in her First Triathlon in late 2008. In 2011 she joined Jamie Turner’s High Performance squad and competes overseas in the European summer.
What does your standard training week involve?
In full training load, I swim 6 times a week doing an average of 4-5km each session.
Ride 4-5 times a week.
Run daily, at least twice a week double run days.
Gym sessions daily.
3 sessions a day (plus gym) except Sundays.
Where is your favourite place to train?
Falls Creek, Victoria.
What is your favourite 2XU garment? When do you use it and why?
Race Bathers. Who doesn’t love racing? Plus the bathers are really comfortable and supportive as well as breathable and tight enough to reduce unnecessary drag.
What is your favourite training accessory?
Garmin running watch.
What has been the toughest experience in your career and what did you learn from it?
Stress reactions in my shins. These sidelined me from racing for several months both times. It is a learning process about what suits my body and adapting my training to get the most out of it by doing the least.
What’s the most common training mistake you see on the circuit? Any suggestions on how to avoid it?
Not being warm enough! It’s much easier to take layers off and cool down rather than spend hours trying to warm up and put yourself at risk of injury. The body adapts to heat and gets fitter, cold just leads to stress.
What motivates you to train and race harder?
My competition and desire to win.
Describe your diet/meal plan leading up to a big race:
I have found it’s better to increase carb intake in small additions in the days prior to race, rather than trying to boost in one massive and heavy high carb meal the night before. Otherwise, I like to keep my diet pretty similar, it’s not worth trying anything new!
How do you balance your training and racing life with life outside the sport?
I do online university so it keeps my brain occupied on things other than triathlon. Mostly though I know my time in the sport is relatively limited and I’m more than happy to be completely focused on triathlon. There’s not really a ‘balance’ during the season. It’s all or nothing. My end-of-season break is the time to catch up with friends and have a break from all things triathlon related.
What type of nutritional supplement do you find most helpful (either for training or competition)?
I try to avoid supplements, there have been so many cases of accidental doping and for me, the risk isn’t worth it. I work with a nutritionist and together we work out which foods fit my needs.
Best and worst thing about being a professional athlete:
The best thing would be doing what I love, being outside, seeing the world from a different perspective and pushing my body.
The worst thing would be being away from family for 11 months of the year and travelling with bike bags.
In five years time, I'll be:
Racing at the highest level of ITU triathlon and working towards Olympic selection.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
- 2011 Australian ITU Junior Champion
- 3rd Palamos ITU World Cup
- 2011 Australian Junior Champion
- 1st Cremona Elite Continental Cup 2013
- 3rd Palamos ITU World Cup 2013
- 3 years representing Australia at the Elite (2 x Junior, 1x U/23) ITU World Championships