Gatorade Race 3 Sandringham - TriathlonSprint

I actually really enjoyed the swim. There were big-ish rolling waves coming in, the bay was really clear, my goggles worked a treat and I felt as though I navigated ok. It wasn't too tough to get out to the bouys, but I didn't feel as though there was much help from waves coming in. I felt really comfortable and only took in one decent glup of water!

Slightly disappointed with my time, I would have *hoped* to get a time closer to the 15.30 - 16 minute mark for this. More time in the pool for me! Sandi is quite a deep beach (very different to the shallows of Elwood & St Kilda) & I tried to stand up too early. Next time I swim until I can touch the bottom!

This T1 is a killer. As soon as you get off the beach there's a massive hill up to transition that's quite lengthy. I took off my wetsuit before the hill and carried it up. I thought I was going to be ill! I was able to dump my wetsuit at the TriBal tent before transition, so it was nice to be able to run without it.

Getting my bike & on it there were no dramas and I got into my shoes easily.

Hill training, seriously.

The course is undulating, with a hill that has, in my past been my nemisis. Thankfully not today. The course was pretty tough given I've not really been on the road, let alone seen a hill recently! I could seriously feel my legs working hard. At some stages I reached a 40+ kms/hr, but there were some hills that had me down at 20kms/hr.

I'd love, in one race this season, to average 30+ kms/hr

I didn't have the best dismount, that is I chickened out of swinging one leg over and crusing to the dismount line, so I definitely need to work on this. Well that and just being on the bike some more.

This really should be down to 1.30.

I did run a couple of metres the wrong way & had to turn around. Sadly I stood during the transition set up and thought I had this all worked out! I guess you (I) get a little disoriented.

I passed 2 people (I'm sure these were the two I passed in the first race) and beyond countless passed me. I ran a conservative race, I just didn't want to be sick at the end! The cheers, cow bells & whistles coming from the TriBal group as I was running up the finishing shoot was phenominal.

I know that if I train more in the other two disciplines I'll improve, but running, not so much! It doesn't matter how much I run I don't see a difference. I'm going to try and start training on hillier paths, so that might help.

Mmm gatorade.


Talent. That ol' chestnut. This race really gives me a kick in the pants. In 2 weeks the distances are 800/26/8, phew, I'm going to struggle unless I get to more sessions. Looking at my first sprint tri from december I've posted improvements in the bike & run, minimal, but improvements nevertheless, so this is a little encouraging.


As average as I raced today, my goal was to do it in under 1.40 which I managed, I also wanted to have fun and I really enjoyed racing today. The course is tough and I clearly erased this from my memory after last year where conditions were truly horrible, but I need to remember that not all races are created equal and I need to train more so I can become a MOP rather than a BOP!