Challenge Melbourne - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Firstly, the course ended up being longer than 1.9km. The last course marker pulled its anchor and drifted further out to sea. Actual swim distance was estimated to be about 2.1km depending on which wave start you were in.

Overall, the swim went well. I essentially do no swim training, I use my limited training time for the bike and run legs. I was very happy to swim a decent time for me (given the extra distance) and keep the heart rate down the whole time. I can really flop in races if my heart rate is high during the swim.

I tried to draft but the set-up of the course seemed to make people swim a bit all over the place. I latched onto a range of different swimmers for a while each, but they all ended up heading off my intended course after a while. Dont think I gained all that might from drafting this race.


Nothing other than try and draft better.

The swim for me is just an issue of getting it done. When I push myself I don't actually go any faster, because of my average technique. If I got serious about my race times I would need to get some technique coaching, and spend a LOT more time in the water. I would also need to practice in my wetsuit, as I never do OW swims in training.

Long run from the beach uphill to the transition area, and then a long run right to the end of the transition area before coming back to grab the bike.

Transition was relaxed and went smoothly. Less frantic given the odd second here or there was not a concern for me. I had to apply a little sunscreen this time given the weather conditions, as well as put on my socks and bike shoes.

Nothing. Given the size of the transition area and the location of my bike my aim was to do T1 in four minutes (excluding the run from the beach). I did it in 3:49. The run from the beach took 1:21.

Bike went really well. I planned to go a little faster in the front half simply because the temparature was due to rise fast after about the half way point. I went well faster than I expected and the ride was surprsingly comfortable. I stuck with the plan, went comfortably hard for two laps and tried to really conserve the legs during the last lap.

Probably nothing, although I could have handled a slightly faster speed, particularly on the last lap (I reckon I oculd have average 34 or a little higher). But given the weather was due to be super hot really early in the day I did not want to push it too much and find out the hard way on the run!

After dismounting, I got stuck behind some very slow competitors who were not running with their bikes. I was basically walking behind them as I had no way to get past. It slowed me down quite a bit and would have cost me some time.

T2 was always going to be slow because I had to apply sunscreen all over my legs. I would have fried badly had I not sunscreened my whole body, I am just prone to it. As well as that I had to pick up a sponge, get two gel flasks into tight pockets on my tri top (this took too long), and grab my tube of sunscreen (I applied sunscreen to my arms and upper body while I was running).

I would have put the gel flasks down my shorts and then moved them to the pockets whilst running. The pockets were tight and were also obstructed by the race belt which didn't help.

Apart from that I would have tried to make sure I was not going to get caught behind anyone coming into transition. I could have pushed harder at the end of the bike to make sure I beat these tired guys into T2.

That all being said, I expected T2 to be 3+ minutes.

The transition times just feel very slow to me because in my last race my combined T1 and T2 time was about 2:40

After trying to conserve energy on the last lap of the bike it was great to get on foot and feel the effects. I started out really strongly and felt great. I had to slow myslef down to make sure I didn't blow up later on.

I felt terrific for the first lap. Early in the second lap the mental challenge started. I found myself thinking about intermediate goals, points I could reach one at a time that were attainable distances (rather than focussing on the end of that lap or the end of the run course).

The half way point was a good milestone. Then 12km because it meant I had less than 10km to go (single figrues after that point). Then it was the end of Lap 2 (14km). Then it was the first aid station as there was a bit of a gap. Then it started to be individual km's and individual climbs on the course. Apart from the finish line the best point was the last climb. After that I knew it was flat and I could get home.

Nothing at all. It was my first half marathon distance in a race environment of any sort (I'd run one in training which was a 1:58) so I had no idea what to expect. The run certainly went better than I had hoped. I really wanted to break two hours but given the heat and the 90km ride beforehand I didn't think it was very likely. In the end I ran a 1:54 which included a bathroom break and stopping or slowing at all 21 aid stations. My average run pace was about 5:15 per km which equates to a 1:50. I was very happy with that.

But at the end of it all I was just happy to get over the line.

After chatting to my family/friends I walked down to the beach and jumped into the sea (fully clothed). I just needed to cool the body temp a little.

Then I got some food. Half a sausage in bread, an icy pole, some sweets and a banana. I needed it because at the end of the race my stomach started to really hurt. It was just the lack of solid food (I can't really eat solid food while riding/running, so I use gels and sports drinks).

After that I went home, had a shower, and tried to sleep a little (didn't really work). I suffer from post exercise nausia after a big session (it comes on some time after). The only thing to gets rid of it is a lot of food, or some sleep.



Lack of experience about how my body would cope with a long event like this.

Lack of swim training.

Lack of training in hot weather.

A very poor lead up in the month prior (I got smashed by work in the three weeks immediately before my taper and did very little training).






From the point of view of an age grouper I thought it was a great race. The multi-lap courses meant I got support from my family and friends multiple times (rather than just once). Also, the organisers did an amazing job of putting a great contingency plan in place given the forecast extreme weather conditions

There were some complaints about the elites and things that impacted them, but I guess it was the same for all of them.