How to train for the world’s ultimate race when you live in the bush
When farmer and ironwoman Caroline Ashby sets off to ride the district's gravel roads, friends in the area leave out water for her at their front gates.
The 180-kilometre rides, on roads the mother of two often shares with grain trucks, do not pass shops so the community helps out with 'water stops'.
When temperatures soar above 40 degrees, she gets spoiled with the occasional esky with ice.
Her 'no excuse' approach to ironman training extends to swimming where, without a local pool for part of the year, she found a dam and former claypit to swim laps.
"The rain just fills it up and keeps filling it up and filling up and it ends up being, well this year it was full and overflowing so it was 120 metres so it is a perfect distance," Ms Ashby said.
"An Olympic [pool] is 50, so it's almost three times that."
Getting creative in the bush
Ms Ashby lives on a farm with her husband and two daughters at Eneabba, a town with a population of 180, a three-hour drive north of Perth.
Her extreme training has earned her the nickname the 'Eneabba Express'.
At 41, she has twice competed in Hawaii's famous ironman triathlon where competitors swim 3.8 kilometres, ride 180 kilometres, and run 42 kilometres.
Ms Ashby said while the dam's brown water was a far cry from the Pacific, the fierce Midwest winds were good training preparation for the ocean swim.
"It is good for the ocean actually because it is open water so it is big long stretches of 120 metres and when the wind comes up it can be really choppy in there."
In winter, temperatures in the dam drop to 12 degrees and thermal gloves, booties and caps are needed to prevent hypothermia.
Sharing the dam with birds and beasts
Despite never seeing a snake in the water, Caroline admitted she had "jumped" a few times when her leg knocked a piece of poly-pipe.
The more regular visitors are border collie Lulu, resident ducks, grazing sheep, and the odd black swan.
"When it is nice, when it's 20 degrees it is surreal swimming in there.
"It is beautiful. The ducks are there, it is peaceful and water smells and looks like the Darling River where I grew up in New South Wales."
Ms Ashby's coach, Nick Baldwin, is based in Perth and analyses her runs, swims and bicycle rides using data from her fitness device.
They also speak frequently by telephone.
"It is very different and challenging in many, many ways that we around Perth won't ever be accustomed to or have to deal with," he said.
"So it is fantastic. It's a real additional challenge for her and long-distance triathlon training is hard enough anyway when you're putting in as much training as Caroline does," Mr Baldwin said.
"Caroline's very frequently putting in 20-plus hours training per week and when you then have the additional challenge of the facilities and environmental factors that she does, it can make it really difficult sometimes. It would be really easy for motivation to wane."
Inspiring her daughters
Daughters Charli, 15, and Lilli, 13, said their mother had inspired them and others to become more active.
"She has definitely convinced many other mums all throughout Eneabba to do fitness," Charli said.
"She just makes everybody feel good around themselves.
"She makes it look fun, so everyone wants to try it out."
The next Kona Hawaii Ironman triathlon is in October and Caroline Ashby is aiming to qualify for a third time.
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