Swim
Comments: I had decided not to wear a wetsuit, which was just as well as the water was 25C so wetsuits were banned. The water was pretty disgusting, it was very murky with no visibility, and there was a fair amount of chop & current. Luckily though the direction of the current was in our favour, and the water was lovely and warm, and open water swimming does not bother me. I was feeling quite positive. I got off to a good start and kept up with the middle of the pack. I drafted initially but then found I was strong enough to swim past people. On the return leg there was a girl I was swimming side by side with. We were exactly the same pace! We couldn't shake eachother. She was good for sighting and direction though. Saw Sef & Jacob cheering me on when I got out of the water. Stopped for a quick hello to my boys before continuing into T1. So lovely to see them! What would you do differently?: I am happy with my performance. My sighting was excellent and I kept up with the middle of the pack. I should breathe bilateral instead of unilateral, I can do bilateral easily in the pool, but in a race situation I get puffed and do unilateral. I think bilateral would help me get more stokes in and swim with a smoother stroke and therefore go faster. Transition 1
Comments: Good. Usual slow down because I need to put socks on (orthotics in my running shoes). I think I do this as quick as I can. I have everything laid out well. I found my bike really quickly, I'd memorised where it was. What would you do differently?: I could probably learn how to get into my shoes on the bike. But how much time would this save me, 30 sec? Maybe if I am ever in contention for a podium position I'll learn how to do this ;-) Bike
Comments: The wind had picked up by the time the cycle started. Time includes T1 and T2 - I averaged 28.7km/hr out on the course which I am really happy with considering its a hilly, windy, tough course. I passed a lot of girls, and the only girls that passed me seemed to be the very triathlete-looking ones LOL! I powered strongly up the hills which is new for me, must be all the squatting I do with Jacob in my arms has made me legs stronger ha ha ha!!! Stayed in aero most of the time. I had a Gu at the beginning of the third lap. I'd forgotten how sickly sweet and thick they are. Luckily it was all digested by the time the run came around. What would you do differently?: I'm happy with this. Of course one can always wish to go faster :-) Transition 2
Comments: Good. What would you do differently?: Nothing. Run
Comments: This is a hilly run course and the heat had picked up by the time I got out there. I really am not a good runner. All the girls I passed on the swim & cycle flew past me on the run. I tried my best but all I could manage was a slow shuffle/plod. I was middle of the pack until the run leg, and ended up finishing back of pack. What would you do differently?: I don't really know what to do about my running. I don't want to make the excuse of "I'm a sh*t runner so I am not even going to bother trying to get better" because I believe I can improve. Even if I could improve my speed to 5.5 min/km or even 6 min/km I could get much better race times. I really need to find the time to put in the work to improve - hills, speed work, LSD & tempo runs, bricks. Its just a matter of finding the time, and also having the limitation of really only being able to run in the evenings, because my gut says no to mornings. For the next 8 weeks I really need to focus on cycling for Busselton, but after that I would like to think that in the winter off season I could put some more effort into my running training. Post race
Warm down: I'd given the run my all and was really thirsty, downed about 6 cups of water and ate a banana. FOund Sef & Jacob and also my friend & her husband (we went to school together and our hubbies worked together, Perth is a small world), she's a really good runner but not so good swimmer/cyclist, I beat her in the water and on the bike but she beat me on the run, but I only finished 2 mins behind her so was pretty happy with that! Anyway we chatted for a while and then Jacob started to get restless so we went home. Sef drove me home, it was nice not to have to cycle back. Then Sef made me bacon & eggs for breakfast, yum!!! What limited your ability to perform faster: 1. Aforementioned lack of running speed. 2. My preparation for this race was marred by illness (a cold and then gastro). You know, I shouldn't complain too much. I actually did a PB time over this course! Mar 08 1:51:52 Nov 08 1:38:47 (swim was 250m shorter) Yesterday 1:39:27 Event comments: This is a great race. Last updated: 2010-09-11 12:00 AM
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Australia
Trievents
28C / 82F
Sunny
Overall Rank = 186/278
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 39/52
The day before I worked 11 hours and then went straight to Ballet At The Quarry. Got to bed at 11pm totally knackered, nothing packed and not really looking fwd to getting up early the next morning!!!
Luckily I live 5.5km from the race start, and also Sefton had been kind enough to pick up my race pack the day before, so all I had to do was get there and rack my bike.
I got up at 5.30am, packed everything, ate some porridge, drank some coffee, went to the loo, and left home 15 mins before transition closed! I cycled and all the way was swearing at the road because there was so much smashed glass on the road. Must be from all the bogans that go to Hillarys marina on a Saturday night. Anyway I got there in one piece in 11 mins, racked my bike and set up. How easy was that??? ;-)
I was in the long course. The minis & shorts went off ahead of us, so I had 90 mins to kill!!! I only knew one other person there, so I chatted with her for a while. Then I wandered around the event village, entered a "win a bike" competition, checked wave starts, got body marked and then stood in line for the loo for 20 mins just to kill some time!!! ;-)
I'd ridden my bike down so that was a bit of a warm up, then I jogged on the beach for about 1km and then swam. The water was so warm and lovely I actually swam quite a bit. Then I figured I could hear the race briefing from the water so I just did lots of breast and backstroke listening to that. Probably the biggest warm up I've ever done! Spending time in the water was a lovely way to calm my nerves and it also let me check out the current and the chop, and formulate a good swim race plan in my head.
The conditions for this race were lovely. The past month has been scorching hot with not a day under 30C. Today's forecast was 28C. Its usually also very windy here in the mornings, but today there was only a light breeze.