Triathlon Pink - TriathlonMini Sprint

I realised during the race briefing that the elastic on my goggles was about to give way. Moral of the story - always bring a spare pair! I didn't have a spare and hoped they would hold out. I didn't stress too much though because I figured it was 300m, I could swim that long without goggles if need be. Luckily though they held together!!!

We all lined up in our race number order, and they let us go one at a time every 5 seconds or so. I was #493, Agata was #350. This meant she went off a fair amount of time before I did and I was near the back for the long course girls. The swim was great. I jumped in and just started drafting, and drafted the whole way. The girl immediately behind me swam past me almost immediately but then I hung onto her toes for the rest of the swim! There were lots of girls breaststroking and it got quite crowded at times around the buoys and at the finish, I pushed past and/or swam over the top of quite a few and got some surprised/indignant looks - I know I should be more considerate of weaker swimmers especially because this really is a novice event - but hey, its a triathlon!!! If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen ... ;-) I was very pleased with my performance, I pushed comfortably hard but didn't let my HR skyrocket, breathing was excellent etc.

Not a lot. Train more, swim even faster, usual story.

Quite a long run into T1 from the pool, along GRAVEL. Ouch. Wasn't able to run too fast 'cos it hurt, hence long T1 time. Once I was in there I got sorted/dressed and out on the cycle course pretty quickly.

Suggest to the organisers to lay out some carpet or something softer to run on??? A few girls had left their thongs (American translation: flip flops) by the pool exit and this was a good idea in retrospect. Might bring some along next year if I do this race again.

For the record, this was meant to be 9k, but my bike computer registered 10.3k and an average speed of 28k/hr. Just sayin' .... anyway, so as soon as I enter the cycle course I spot my sister ahead of me, now on her third lap because she'd finished her swim long before I even jumped in the water. Anyway, she is drafting behind three other girls. So I zoom past her and give her a ribbing, I yelled "Oi! No drafting, sista!!!" and she yelled back "Well so are you!", and I yelled back "No I'm not!" because I was being a good girl and following race rules. Not that they were penalising drafting today anyway, its a novice race. Ha ha ha ... anyway. I managed to stay ahead of her and rode fast all the way around. Used aero bars etc. Passed HEAPS of girls. Lots of girls out there with mountain or hybrid bikes. The turn around points were very tight and crowded so I had to slow right down and then get up to speed again. Overall very pleased with my performance.

Not a lot except the usual - ride more, get faster!!!

All good. No issues.

Nothing. One of these days I should learn how to get out of the shoes whilst still on the bike.

So I run out of T2 and into the athletics stadium expecting it to be three laps of the flat athletics track ... but theres a HILL!!! And I'm thinking "What the??? This is meant to be an EASY race!!!" ha ha ha. They'd structured the laps so you can half of the lap on the flat athletics track and the other half of the lap on elevated ground behind the track. Anyway it was fine of course, I ran the whole distance, passed a lot of girls that were walking and was myself passed by a lot of girls who I'd beaten in the pool and on the cycle ... I'm such a slow runner, its definitely my weakest leg, if I was a better runner I'd get much better times because my swim and cycle is not too shabby. And for the record, 5 min 50 sec k's??? When did I start to run this fast? I think the course must have been shorter than 3k. Or I was being fast for once. Who knows, it doesn't sound quite right, but I'll take it ;-) My sister cheered me on at each lap.

Maybe one day I will run faster. A girl can dream ... and train ;-)

I really floored it in the last 500m or so (as much as this turtle runner can floor it!) so I was really puffed when I finished and felt a bit dizzy. My sister handed me some sports drink and I walked for a minute or so to get my breath back. Then I realised I hadn't seen Sef & Jacob so we went looking for them, couldn't find them so went back to transition to pack up and called his mobile - he hadn't realised I'd finished, in fact he'd missed my whole race, on account of the fact that he didn't see me when I jumped in the pool so even though he'd looked for my on all three legs couldn't find me. Ah well :-) Agata went off to study for an exam and Sef & I went home, scrubbed up and went to a friend's BBQ!


I am actually very pleased with my performance. My first triathlon in 18 months and my first one since the Busselton Half!


I had a great time. I was really happy with my performance. It was great to race again. Its also great to race in a novice female race because you automatically do much better than a lot of the girls and get an elevated sense of self importance ;-) Now I have to step up the training because I want to do a 750/20/5 in 6 weeks time. This will be a REAL triathlon this time.

I've attached a few photos. One is of Agata & me before the race. The other one is of me sitting down with Jacob listening to the race briefing. I can be a mummy and a triathlete! xxx

PS - I BEAT MY SISTER! Woot woot. Don't really know how because she's actually a lot fitter than me right now. Comparing our times, it looks like it was my super speedy cycle and a slightly faster T1 that got me over the line.

My time 50:42
Swim 6:12
T1 3:59
Cycle 20:43
T2 2:12
Run 17:34

Agata's time 51:07
Swim 5:53
T1 4:10
Cycle 22:42
T2 1:31
Run 16:48