Hayden Meikle: How does it feel to have your ticket booked for the Olympics?
Nicky Samuels: It feels great. I'm very excited. There is a feeling of relief, too.
HM: What are you most looking forward to in London?
NS: The race. I don't want to lose sight of what I came for.
HM: Will the New Zealand triathletes work together, or will it be every woman for herself?
NS: We have had the green light from Greg Fraine, the national coach, to race as individuals.
However, you are not out to penalise your own country. If someone is in a position that could mean gold, you are not going to get in the way to spoil it for them.
HM: What are your realistic expectations for the race?
NS: I want to get in the best shape I can over the next 10 weeks and this will set out my expectations for my race.
I have had some really good progression on my run and if I can keep this progressing over the next 10 weeks, you never know.
Another 30sec or a minute and all of a sudden you are challenging for that podium.
HM: Of the three disciplines, which is your strongest and which needs some work?
NS: My strongest is my cycling. I need work on the first 300m of my swim as I always get pummelled at the first buoy and would love some clear water.
I also need to work on my run speed. If I could go out at a speed closer to the front, it might be easier to get pulled along in a group rather than working my way through the field.
HM: You've had some issues with arrhythmia. Tell me about that, and how it has affected you.
NS: I had two heart surgeries in six months. I had a monitor surgically implanted into my chest in March 2011, and from the data on that I was diagnosed with right outflow track tachycardia.
July 2011 was the earliest date I could get on the public list, so I travelled back from Europe especially for it.
The timing wasn't great, as I had the Olympic trial selection race in London just three weeks later.
I was much better after the surgery, but still at that top-end physical level I was getting a 250-plus heart rate.
I was fortunate enough for Dr Ian Crozier in Christchurch to say "let's have another go" in January. It was a harder surgery this time.
I took it a lot easier after this surgery and built back into training. Since the second operation, it has been fabulous.
I have been able to complete all my key run sessions and race well.
My running is improving with every training session, so it is very exciting to be able to push 100% again rather than 80%-90% of my max.
HM: You also had an appendix problem a few weeks ago. What happened there?
NS: My appendix flared up just before the Oceania championships. I took antibiotics and it went away. A month later it came back, but was more severe and localised.
By the time I got home, saw a doctor and drove to Queenstown to get a scan, I was advised to drive quickly back to Wanaka because I would be sent to Dunedin Hospital that evening.
I had it removed exactly one week after the Sydney world series race.
I was forced to leave New Zealand two weeks after surgery to race the following weekend in San Diego.
Then I had to travel to France the next morning. At least I know it's out now and won't get in the way of the Olympics.
HM: What's the hardest thing about training for triathlon?
NS: Getting into a swimming pool. The water is always so cold until you warm up.
HM: What does your weekly schedule look like?
NS: I'd normally do about seven hours of swimming, 11 hours of biking and seven hours of running.
So 25 hours in a normal week, about 22 in an easy week, and up to about 30 hours in a hard week. By the time you add in some core work and computer work (updates, media and sponsor involvement) it's basically the same as a working week, except I get only one day off a week.
HM: A very old-fashioned colleague of mine once said triathlon was for people who couldn't run particularly well, couldn't swim particularly well and couldn't cycle particularly well. How would you respond?
NS: I would say the complete opposite, actually. I think they are so talented to be able to do all three well.
How many top runners can swim? Not many - they are so skinny, they sink.
How many swimmers can run? Not many - their bodies break with the weight-bearing activity.
I think triathletes are some of the fittest in the world and are getting closer and closer to the single-sport athletes. In the New Zealand 10km road race this year, the winning time was 34min 45sec.
The three women triathletes in the London Olympic team have run faster than that winning time, after a swim and a bike. Kate McIlroy and I raced the New Zealand road championships in January this year for training and came up against New Zealand's elite women cyclists.
I was first and Kate was third - the first time a triathlete has ever won a New Zealand cycling title.
HM: How did you get into the sport?
NS: Sam Warriner was my teacher in my last two years at Whangarei High School.
In 2003, I returned home for the university holidays and worked as a lifeguard at the Whangarei Aquatic Centre.
Sam had no-one to swim with and wanted a training partner.
This grew to "come running, come riding, enter a race". Four weeks out from the national champs I entered the race in the 20-24 age group.
I was third and automatically qualified to race the world champs later that year in Queenstown. I came second and there was no looking back.
I had no money to travel to races the following two years as it was all put into university, but I kept training.
At the end of 2005 I had my double degree and started applying for jobs, but I was encouraged by a friend to apply for a French triathlon team.
I got a few "sorry" letters back from jobs, and got a "yes, come to France all expenses paid for six months" from the team I still race for today.
I owe a lot of my early development to John Hellemans when I was at university in Dunedin.
John said it was a seven-year project and I would be in a position to race in the London Olympics.
Until then I was always a hockey player and played representative hockey in Otago.
HM: Do you think it's a sport with general appeal? Is there a chance it could get bigger and better?
NS: Triathlon is one of the most rapidly growing sports in the world. It was among the top three most-watched sports at the last Olympics.
The potential of triathlon as a fast, action-packed TV sport is only just starting to be realised.
The International Triathlon Union has developed the world series, in which the best athletes in the sport are brought together on eight separate occasions in iconic cities.
In the last two years there has also been the invention of team racing - two girls and two guys from one country racing tag-team style over a super sprint distance triathlon.
This has just been included in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games programme to trial for Rio in 2016.
HM: Can you make a decent living out of the sport? Or is funding always an issue?
NS: I receive some assistance from High Performance Sport NZ through Triathlon NZ, and also locally from the Skeggs Foundation.
However, it is really only enough to get by. In terms of sponsorship, it is relatively hard. It's OK to get product sponsors, who can supply you with gear to race and train in as you need it.
Financial sponsors are a lot harder to come by. There are always race winnings and the odd appearance fee that you might be able to obtain, but these are never guaranteed.
At the moment I don't have any financial sponsors as times are tough for a lot of businesses, so I am relying on good results/prize money to get by.
I also race for a pro team in France in a separate Grand Prix series.
HM: What has been your most memorable performance?
NS: My second Olympic distance triathlon, the world 20-24 champs in Queenstown in 2003.
My goal was not to come last! I came second and didn't believe anyone until I saw it in writing on the results board.
I was way in the deep end, had borrowed most of my gear, including my bike, even my running shoes. I got out there, did it with minimal training and did well.
It was the start of my involvement with triathlon.
HM: Favourite city you've visited through triathlon?
NS: Kitzbuhel, Austria. Love the place and the people. Kind of like an old-school Queenstown.
HM: Fancy doing an iron man?
NS: No. That kind of everlasting pain doesn't really appeal to me at the moment.
HM: Every New Zealand team has to have a nickname. Are you the Tri Blacks? The Multi Blacks? The Black Skinsuits?
NS: We have talked about this in the team but never came to an agreement. Something to work on.
HM: Do you think you will keep competing after London? What does the future hold after triathlon?
NS: You never know what the future holds, but yes, I will definitely keep competing after London.
I have a lot of events yet to tick off on my triathlon bucket list.
