Mish's Blog

Posted 5th Sept 2010

We are just inside a week away from the World Champs and its very exciting times for Team Dillon Coaching after having 12 athletes qualify for the British team to race in Budapest. We have a very good chance of a few medals too which makes it even more exciting with the first of the races kicking off on Sat morning early.

My Elite squad has grown recently, inspired by Stuart’s win at Kitzbhuel Clark Ellis the kiwi came to train with the team. Not only has Clark loved training with us he feels that is in the best shape of his life and in a good mindset. I really wish him all the best and hope all his dreams can come true and everything comes together for him on race day. Some of my World Age-group athletes Richard Todd & Jill Parker also dropped in for a few days just to put the icing on the cake so to speak and hopefully give them the edge for next weekend. They both have been training exceptionally well and both have a chance for a medal in their age-group.

Both Jodie and Stuart are aiming high too and will be good to see what they can do on the day. With some luck and a good run in they should both do well. Some of my other guys Nick Beer & Tom Curtis are in hard training for the National Sprint champs in a few weeks, they have only been under me for a short time but in this time have made some improvements,. So lots of racing come up and I am very much looking forward to it. I will be out there taking photos and supporting the team so will keep you updated. Best wishes to anyone competing.

Posted 25th Aug 2010

Its been a while since I wrote a blog and one of my athletes Richard Todd told me the other day that I need to write one. So here I am writing to you to let you know what has been happening in my world.

Well I did race the national road champs about two months ago, unfortunately leading up to that race I had got a virus and felt rough a few days out from the race. I had to make the decision whether I was going to race or not and I decided to give it a go since I had put in so much hard work. It had to be one of the toughest bike courses I have seen and at the pace was on from the start.  It certainly wasn’t the safest of courses and after the first descent I had just tagged on to the back of the main pack a crash happened. Two women came down literally in front of me and I had nowhere to go so slammed my brakes on and some how a gap appeared and I managed to squeeze through. The main thing for me was to stay on my bike as I have had major surgery and didn’t want to come off and cause myself some serious damage.

Once I was through the gap I continued down the descent and then a motorbike came from nowhere and stopped the race. Apparently the next pack behind us had gone into the back of one of the support cars that had squeezed in between the lead pack and the second pace. What a disaster and it wiped out half the field. Now the race was stopped while the ambulances had come onto the course and they were trying to clean the broken carbon up that had shattered in the crash.

They finally restarted the race and by this time I think it was just about to refocus and be careful on the descent. My main aim was to stay on my bike. They had now shortened the course and on lap two I found myself in around 7^th place in a nice pack, the hill was tough and by the top I just couldn’t hang on. I drifted back to the next pack which still had some strong girls in it and we rode strong but couldn’t catch that small pack in front of us. It came down to a sprint finish and in my pack it was for 10^th place, I cramped so let it go and was happy to finish a solid 14^th in my first national champs and still not feeling 100%. I was asked after the race if I wanted to ride for a professional women’s team which for me was a real eye opener that maybe I could be good at this.

Since the race I hadn’t been too well and had been having some bad headaches and dizzy spells so took myself off to the doctors and then to hospital to have some tests.  Nothing serious was found thankfully but the doctors warned me that I might be over doing it, possibly burning the candle at both ends. So for me I had to back off and the headaches continued, so I went back to the doctors and again still over doing it. So I decided to go on a detox to see if eliminating Caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and dairy would help. Well so far so good and on my 4^th day I feel like the headaches are not as extreme as they were. I only want to do this for around one week and see how I feel, although all this could just be coming from my back? So still trying to sort that one out.

Apart from all that going on I have to say I am the happiest coach right now. Stuey finally won a World Cup and did it in style. I was there to witness the race and I must say he had me on the edge of my seat. Changing his strategy of racing is starting to pay off for him and its so exciting to watch. He deserves results more than anyone he works so hard. I’m looking forward to the Grand final as well as the end of the season where I get to go on holiday so bring it on!!!  Will update again soon and thank you for reading my blog. :-)

Well I had my first  road race at the weekend. it was 80km on a tight road circuit in the country lanes and it was a little chilly which made me the only person wearing not only arm warmers but leg warmers too. Oh and I was wearing booties too how funny but at least I was warm. :-) Im not sure what I expected but being on a fairly flat course there wasn't much chance for anyone to break away which meant the majority of the pack stayed together for most of the way.  It all came down to a sprint finish and I was happy to finish in the pack for my first up race. At the moment I am learning the tactics of road racing and enjoying being out there racing again it has been a while. My next race is this weekend so I haven't given myself much of a break but I am trying to get as much experience on the race circuit as possible before the National Road Champs on June 27th. I heard its a hilly course which I prefer for a few reasons one of them is that the climbs will keep me warm! One of my athletes Jodie Stimpson is racing with me as I am preparing her for some big races on the triathlon circuit this season and I know she will not only benefit from the tough racing on the bike but enjoy it too. Stay tuned to see how we get on. :-))

Sorry its been a while since I updated my blog. I have been super busy with Team Dillon and working hard on the business as well as training daily on my bike for my up and coming races this season. Since my last blog A few things have happened. Mooloolaba World cup was a successful trip with Jodie finishing 6th in her second World cup and Stuart finishing 2nd to Brad K. It was a great race and it showed all their hard work was starting to pay off. We then went to Sydney where unfortunately we all picked up a virus and both Jode and Stu seemed to perform well below their expectations. We know that sport can be a rollar coaster so you just have to expect things like this are going to happen and move onto the next race.  Thankfully we had a little celebration after Mooloolaba, I tell my athletes you have to make the most of all your successes as you never know when the next one is coming around. Its so true in the highest level of any sport and you should never take a WIN or podium for granted as the competition is feirce and you never know when you will do it again. Keep working hard though and it will come around again that is certain. Now the season has only just begun I am looking forward to seeing what all the TD athletes can achieve. All of my age-groupers and elites have worked so hard this winter and already showing signs of great things, I just cant wait to see what 2010 has in store for us.

I am still training on the bike and really looking forwward to my first road race on May 9th. I will also look to race the National road championships on June 28th. Sorry its short but I will keep you updated as my races on the bike start to happen. In the meantime I hope everyone is getting ready for a fantastic season ahead. Best wishes to everyone.

I have just come back from my first ever cycling race with a BIG smile on my face. I must admit I was very nervous going into this race. It was only a 30min Crit race around a tight circuit, however I looked at the start list the night before and started to google some of the names on there. Lol To my surprise I found there was some strong girls racing from the Queensland institute of sport and some had very good results. What did this mean to me though as I have never raced these women before! So head down and just get out there with them.

It started off pretty fast and I thought here we go, then the pace kept picking up and then slowing down. There were a few girls trying to jump away and I would try to cover all of them. I just wanted to be close to the front so I could see all the moves being made. Then with about 10mins to go Simone Grounds jumped away I waited until I felt this was the one, then when another jumped across I decided this was it and bridged the gap to the two girls and we were away.
At this point I could hear Stuart my finacee yelling at me as he knew it was the break, I had all my support crew there in Jodie, Bex and Spike all showing there support for their coaches first race it was great. I couldn’t let them down that was for sure.
With 3 laps to go the pace had increased and I was hanging on thinking the legs are burning but I have got to stay on. I did that and coming into the final corner the sprint was on, I was happy to finish 3rd at the line and on my first podium in my first race. I am here pictured above in the sprint finish in the red Jersey.
On to the next one now which will be much longer 90km on May 9th I can’t wait already. More training needed I feel. :

Watch our lastest Training session

Since I last wrote my blog so much has happened. I couldnt believe it when I was told I won the 220 Coach of the year award last month! What a lovely surprise, it really shows that if you put in the hard work with your athletes it pays off no end. I feel absolutely privileged to have won this award. A good friend of mine John Coxon did the most amazing write up in the Womens Sport report magazine and just want to say a very BIG thank you to John once again.

We are now into the month of March and only weeks away from the start of the triathlon season. TD elite squad members have all been training well, Erin O Hara one of the newer additions to my team has her first race in Singapore for the 70.3 which is over the Half Ironman distance. I believe Erin has a lot of talent and im really excited to see what she can do this year.

My other elite’s Stuart, Jodie and Bex will be lining up in Mooloolaba where one of the first World cups will be staged. There is no doubt its going to be competitive as always and looking forward to seeing how my team fairs in what will be their first race of the season.

I have been riding my bike around 5 times per week and really enjoying the training, each week I see improvements in my own performances in training and at crit racing so I have decided to race on 21st March in a Women’s Crit race in Brisbane. I really do not know what to expect by all I can say is I am really looking forward to racing again. I feel like I need this before I put myself on the line in some road races back in the UK early May.

Apart from training our group gets to go out on a social every week, last week we took out our Mascot Sunny who we see every day at the pool. Sonny is an older guy who we have grown very fond of over the years and now we have made him part of our team. We have lots of fun when he is around and occasional take him out for dinner with us. Sonny is shown in my picture, he has so much strength for an old boy that he made me go crossed eyed. lol. I wish everyone a great start to the season and will be back soon to fill you in on how my first race went and how the TD elite team got on in their first race. Mish )

Im Happy to say I finally have the sun shining down on me again after a good month in the snow. I have been back on the bike again and cycling daily. Feeling pretty good so far and love racing the crit every Saturday. Each week it  drives me to want to get back on the bike to do some training so I can come back and ride stronger. I am once again running my training camp out in OZ and each year it just gets harder as the training increases. This year I feel is going to be exciting for Team Dillon as a few changes are being made with my website so stay tuned to see what takes place here. I have some new athletes I have recently signed up so looking forward to working with them to help reach their potential. Lots to look forward to, Happy training :-)

Happy New year to everyone and I hope you all had a great Xmas. I certainly did because Stuart proposed to me on Xmas day after Xmas dinner in front of his family how sweet is that. Im such a lucky girl, what a great guy I have to spend the rest of my life with.
So there was definitely so much to celebrate for me and the presents and champagne were flowing. Boxing day was lots of fun too and I had planned to go down and run a 5km race locally which I had not done in a long time. I knew Richard Stannard and Emma Davis was doing it and a few others, so I invited some of the Team Dillon athletes to come down and have a hit out. Peter Curry & Jeanluc Harnay turned up. The picture above is us before the start of the race, it was a bit wet and cold but once we got going we warmed up quickly.
I set off and ran with Emma Davis for a while then passed her at around the 2.5km mark and moved on to win the Womens section. Pete Curry & Jeanluc both ran strongly and recorded PB’s over the 5km distance so all in all Team Dillon did well.
Once back home again we continued with more celebrations,  more family members came over and we partied on.  I woke up the next day a little hung over but It was probably one of the best Xmas days I have had. I hope you all had a great day too and best wishes to everyone in 2010 I hope you all kick arse in everything you do.

 NYC to the Gold Coast for the World Champs, Sept 16th

 I have been doing a lot of traveling lately and feel very fortunate to have such a great job which enables me to travel to so many nice places such as NYC to watch my athletes racing in some of the worlds biggest triathlon's. We had alot of fun in NYC recently and had the opportunity to have a look around this wonderful city for the second time after visiting New York the same time last year for the same event. But more recently I was on the Gold coast for the World Championships where I was able to support my athletes in the led up to the World Championships. Here I am picutred with Tamsin Lewis who won the gold Medal in the 30-34 age group. What a great weekend we had with a Gold & Silver as well as a top ten, it was well worth the trip. Stu also won Malibu Triathlon again for the second time after winning there last year and it topped the weekend off to be one of the most successful weekends for Team Dillon athletes yet. Team Dillon are going from strength to strength and growing all the time. We have lots to look forward to in 2010 with some exciting new things coming up for the team, yet to be announced. Stay tuned.

Working with the BBC for HYDE PARK, AUG 15th 2009

Well it was lots of fun and great experience for me to get the invite to work along side Graham Bell presenter & Stuart Storey in the commentary box to help with the commentary for the World Championship series race at Hyde Park in London.

You can watch the full race here at this link. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00m6xsx/Triathlon_World_Championship_Series/ .Keep in mind its 3 hours 30mins long so make sure you have a drink and some snacks ready. lol

Training again, 20th July 2009

Sorry I have been quiet lately but been super busy with my coaching and getting back into some serious training on my bike. Thanks to Scott they have set me up with my CR1 for training and have also given me the Plasma Time Trial bike. So I realised that although I can jog it causes me too much injury and while I do it occasional I have now focused more on riding my bike. This week I did 2x3 hour rides and 1 hard session with some recovery 2 hour rides in between and feeling much fitter. My legs have grown a bit of muscle too so I know I am getting my strength back. Im a little concerned because in 6 weeks of building my training up on the bike already my legs have grown, what are they going to look like in a year! Yikes! I will have to buy some new jeans I think. lol I must say I am really enjoying being out there again on the bike and being able to push myself hard in training. I have plans to do some racing in the very near future but will keep you updated on which ones. I feel strong so it could be sooner rather than later. Uh yes I found this picture on the internet and it brought back some lovely memories for me when I placed 2nd in Lisbon world cup in 2007. Smiles all round and Im hoping that will happen again someday where the winning smile will come shining through across the line of a race. I hope everyone is training well and also want to congratulate my Team of late as everyone is kicking arse and doing so well I am so proud of all of them. Team Dillon are Rocking!!!

A Fantastic Few weeks, 11th June 2009

Me & Jodie recently at Bleheim after her fantastic win. 

I love my job I really do. I couldn't be doing anything more that would make me happier even if I tried. Coaching to me is so satisfying and it almost matches being an athlete now that I have been doing it long enough. lol I mean of course there are the up's and the down's in anything you do right well of course and that goes with coaching too. However when your athletes get great results it makes you feel so good and happy that as a Team we have worked together to achieve them.

Recently many of my Team Dillon athletes have shown so much improvement I dont think they can believe it really. It's all the hard work they have put in over the winter months starting to pay off. They are all on highs and cloud nine after some fantastic results which you can find on the news page of the website and we have so much still to look forward to. Im enjoying getting to the races  to watch some of them perform first hand too lucky me that means more travel. Everything is going well in my fitness department too and Im not only riding but doing some running too which is nice. I love running its what I think I was born to do hence the back problem from too much early days. But loving it and getting that itch back slowly but surely to do a race. I wish hey lets just see what happens. Good luck to everyone with there training and if you need a coach you know where to come. :-D 

 Watch this interview from August 2008 London Triathlon

Almost there, 9th May 2009

I have so much to be smiling about these days. Firstly Im so pleased with all of my athletes, they have all put in so much hard work over the winter months and are ready to race in 2009 and I know they are going to give it there absolute best. Im so excitied for every single one of them. Good Luck Team!!

I had my follow up scan just last week on my back to see if everything is healing and thankfully my surgeon Mr L. Wilson has done a fantastic job and its all going along very successfully. I never thought I would be doing the things I have been so soon after the operation and I'm now back riding my bike more regularly things are really looking up. I am going to focus on doing it slowly just to make sure my back is ok but hoping to compete in a few TT's and then the National TT champs later on in the year. I am just smiling :-)

Enjoying the coaching in OZ March 15th

I have been out in Oz with my elite squad getting them ready for the season ahead. Some of them pictured above are from Left to Right include Jodie Stimpson, Billy Parker Brown, Me, Stuart Hayes, Irina Kirchler, & Aparna. As you can see by the pool in the background the facilities are amazing and the sun is pretty much always shining so its been very easy to stay motivated day in day out. After this camp my athletes head back to there countries to maintain their fitness and then hit the race season. I am very excited to see how they will all race this year, in fact its very satisfying to have spent so much time with these athletes and then be able to watch them go after achieving their goals.

On another note I have been doing some riding and my back is on the mend. Im really pleased with how fast my recovery has been since the recovery can vary so much with this type of operation.  I havent given myself a chance to really think about how long its been because I have kept so busy which I think has been the best thing in the long run in getting through it. It's been about 6 months after the Operation and so looking forward to getting some strength back in my legs again when I ride  my New Scott Bike. Happy Days..

Recovering in the sun, Jan 10th

Im happy to say that I am recovering well from my back operation after spending some quality time in the Sun with my family in the land of OZ (Australia). Here I stand with my lovely sister Natasha on a warm night in Coogee.

I spent Xmas and New year in Sydney and now back on the Gold Coast where I reside & help some of my athletes prepare for their season ahead.

Its very exciting to have my own group of athletes this year coming out to OZ which will be a mixture of some promising girls and guys. The group will only be small but full of quality never the less. Since being out here I have been fortunate enough to swim a few times in the sun drenched pool which is 50m long as well as ride my mountain bike. I was a lucky girl this Xmas when Santa brought me a lovely mountain bike to help get me back into the swing of things. I have been riding it every second day as part of my re-hab to get myself back onto a proper road bike again. Im really excited about riding properly again and being able to do some climbing up some hills. Hopefully it will all go very smoothly and I will be back ridng in a month or so. I wish everyone happy training although I heard the weather is very cold in the Uk at the moment but what dosent kill you will make you tougher Ive been told by one of my athletes Kelly Kjonnerod. Thanks Kelly!

My Retirement from Triathlon Nov  20th

This story is posted by british triathlon at www.britishtraithlon.org

Michelle Dillon came from an international running background and she competed for Australia at the 1994 Commonwealth Games at 21 years of age. Dillon’s Personal best time was 31:40 for the 10,000m but was forced to hang up her spikes a short time later after enduring more than several stress fractures which would keep her from reaching her potential as a runner.

Dillon took up duathlon in 1997 and won the silver medal at the World Championships in only her second attempt at her new sport. A short time after she decided to give triathlon a go and in 1998 she won the European Cup Series in her debut year. The success continued and Dillon won her first ITU World Cup race in Noosa in 1999, the following year she made the British Olympic Team for the Sydney Olympic Games.

In 2001 she won the European Championships in Carlsbad and a year later finished third at the World Championships in Cancun, Mexico. She delighted home crowds with her win at the Salford World Cup in 2004, and later that year finished sixth at the Athens Olympic Games. Dillon was crowned World Duathlon Champion in 2005 and won the prestigious London Triathlon in 2007.

However, after several injury prone years Dillon underwent serious back surgery for a double level fusion of her spine in October of this year. She is now recovering well but has decided that enough is enough and it's time to take a step back from competition.

Dillon said:
“It is tough to hang up your shoes when you aren’t ready to do that. I felt like I was getting stronger each year and really wanted to continue as I felt like I never really got to reach my potential because I was always dealing with some sort of injury. On a positive note I do have some great memories of racing around the world. I'm also really enjoying coaching and working in my own business so still very much involved in the sport.”

An interview with Michelle Dillon will appear in the December edition of TriNews magazine.

Team Dillon Training Camp Oct 25th & 26th
I hosted my first training camp weekend just last weekend and I really enjoyed the time I spent with all my athletes. We went through training sessions & I shared all my secrets I had learnt through my years of training, racing & traveling around the world with everyone. We even had time for a big of socializing and a few drinks (non alcoholic) of course.
I would like to say thank you to my Team for making the weekend a success and as we enjoyed ourselves so much we thought we would run another one at the end of Nov. See the training camp page for full details.




My Back Operation
Posted: Thursday Oct 16th

Just to keep you up to date on what's been going on with my back, I'm now just coming up to 4 weeks since my back operation and I must say time has gone quickly which is a good thing. I have kept myself busy with my coaching and preparing for my up & coming training camp. Also doing bits and bobs laying around while I wait for my back to heal. The swelling is finally going down and the pain becoming less each day, this week I saw a big difference in the way I felt. I did my first swim yesterday completing 1km! It felt good and although out of breath it was great to be out doing something. I never thought I would enjoy swimming this much.! I think we take for granted how fit we are when we are in full training. We always want to be better or faster but believe me enjoy it when you are fit because you know it when your not.

To be honest Id like to get like this profile picture to your left again. lol I think i'm trying to inspire myself again and that's why I choose to put it up, HA HA. But again I am positive for a full recovery and will keep you posted.

Posted: Thursday Sept 25th

I have only today come out of  hospital after spending the last week in a hospital bed after having my back operation which has caused me so much grief over the years. I must admit this was a shock to me when I saw the last scans before going under the knife on Friday morning 19th Sept. You see I thought I was having a disc replacement at Level 4 and a fusion at L5 but I had one more CT scan on Friday morning before going in which would help us see the bone better in my back. To my horror the doctor called me into a room to discuss my options that morning after looking at the scans I was scared,

The scans showed a big fracture at the vertebrae at Level 4 which had broken into 3 pieces and was making things complicated. Mr Wilson explained to me that if I were to have a disc replacement at this level the chances of it holding up were slim, so he explained that fusing this level and the one below would be the best solution long term. This meant Double fusion at levels 4 & level 5 and after seeing the scans I was shocked. He explained this as a unique case that he had never seen before and that my back had taken a pounding and needed something to be done.

I felt like crying and walking away from the operation as I knew this was the worst case scenario from the beginning. Initially they would only have to go through the front to operate which meant quicker recovery time & more movement with a disc being at Level 4. However now that the operation had changed they had to go through the back and was going to be a bigger operation which would mean longer recovery time and more stiffness.
I decided to go through with the operation although I really had no choice, and said to the doctor lets do this! So before you know it I was being wheeled down to have this done. I spent the night in the intensive care unit on high doses of morphine for the pain with a nurse watching me all night. This operation took 6 hours in total so was given a lot of anasetic. I was talking bullshit all night I don’t think the drugs agreed with me honestly. LOL. I was talking so much the nurse tried to sedate me to shut me up. Ha ha.
For the next few days I was in a poor state and it got worse the days to follow as I couldn’t eat and had a cathiter attached to me so I could go to the toilet. I woke up thinking what the hell is this!
I couldn’t move very much and the pain was bad and after not eating very much due to feeling sick I felt worse because there was nothing in my stomach and so much drugs in my body.
The physio therapist came around to try to get me out of bed to stand up but I couldn’t do it due to dizziness and he tried two more days later I still couldn’t get up. I started to think I was weak and I was being tested so tried to get up and couldn’t it was an emotional time for me.

Finally the turning point came one day when a nurse got me up and sitting up longer than I had before then said just stay there while I make your bed. I kind of had no choice and so had to sit longer which made all my fear of fainting gradually disappear and started to feel more confident to get up.
It was like learning to walk again small steps around the hospital ward and from one lap to 2, then 3, then 4.
As soon as I felt well enough I was out of there, I am such an independent person and don’t like everyone doing everything for me so although I was booked in to the hospital two more days I opted to get home and lay on the lounge rather than in the hospital bed.

I am going to be laid up for a while and the whole process of rehab will take 6 months. However I am confident this will make be better and you never know I might be back to competition down the track we just have to see how successful the operation is.
I have below included the x-rays of my back pre & post op with the chronic degeneration & now with screws in my back to stabilise my spine.

Mish

















The scans of my back just after the operation, they do an x-ray during the op.







































This is the CT scan of my back before the operation, you can see the chronic degeneration at Level 5 where the bones had basically fused on there own already. Then at level 4 where the vertabrae has broken off and floating.
By looking at this I was running with a broken back. !!!! At least this explains the pain. OUCH!