Busselton Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

In 2009 Sef swam 31 mins, this time around he'd done lots of training (squad 3 X week) and he's a pretty good swimmer so was confident of going under 30 mins. He was dissapointed with his time but said that the conditions were much harder than 2 years ago - apparently lots of chop and waves. In 2009 it had been like glass. He also said that he found it hard to get any space in the crowded water to swim properly and also found it difficult to sight because the sun was in his eyes a lot of the way. His wetsuit is also uncomfortable and gave him a lot of chaffing (don't tell anyone but his suit is a size 18 women's suit bought on special at Total Triathlon - we got it 2 years ago for Busso 2009 and at the time it was the only one we could find to fit his big frame!). So everything compounded to result in 2 mins slower than last time. I still think he's a bloody good swimmer :)

Pretty quick. I was waiting all kitted out. Sef ran up to me, I removed his timing band, put it on and off I went!

I had done no where near the amount of training I thought I should have done. The last time I rode 90k was the same race 2 years ago! My training rides had all been around 60k, with one 72k and one 78k thrown in during April. And I wasn't fast - all my training rides averaged 25k/hr. So in summary, I was sh*tting myself, I was sure it would take me 3:15 or 3:30. In retrospect it was a bit silly entering this race given that I have a young child at home and a part time job on weekends, I found it really hard to fit in the training.

However, somehow, I had a bloody brilliant race! I was only 2 mins slower than 2009 when I was super fit. How it happened, I don't know, but somehow this little speed demon came out and I absolutely hammered it out for the whole 90k. Maybe it was because I knew that I didn't have to run 21k afterwards, I just gave it my all and absolutely could not have done any better than I did. The last 15-20k were super tough, my legs were screaming, but I just kept pushing because I didn't want any regrets. I averaged 87% MHR for 3 hours, where that endurance came from I don't know. Maybe I am fitter than I give myself credit for - I am my own worst critic :)

It was tricky out there because there's this new 12m drafting rule, you have to be 12m+ behind the rider in front and once you enter the draft zone you have to commit to overtaking the next rider, and you have 25 sec to do it. Jeezuz. Anyway at some points on the ride it got very crowded and I just had to really push to get in front and lose the pack. At one point a technical official was riding next to me looking at me, I was probably closer than 12m but I just smiled at her ... and she moved on. Whew :)

The scenery was beautiful, a lovely ride through the forrest, with all the rain recently there's lots of new green grass coming through. It was very nice.

Did I mention the wind was brutal. It was 2 X 45k laps and on the way out the wind was in your face the whole time. It got worse on the second lap. But then I got to turn around and ride with an awesome tail wind. Still it was tough pushing into the headwind for 45 mins at a time.

Overall ... brilliant :)

Somehow find the time to train more? Life just gets in the way. To be good at this sport you need to make a lot of sacrifices and now that I have a family there are something that I am not prepared to sacrifice.

Rode in to T2 and ran to the bike rack, completely and utterly grateful that I didn't have to run! My legs were like jelly and I was dizzy. Anton took off the timing band and off he went. I collapsed onto the grass for about 15 mins to catch my breath, then had a delicious chocolate muffin and some Gatorade, then went off to cheer on our wild running man!

A bit about our runner Anton. He was a groomsman at our wedding 6 1/2 years ago (when he had short well groomed hair LOL). He's been really good friends with Sefton since primary school. At first they hated eachother, then had a fist fight to resolve their differences and then became good mates. Sefton assures me this is normal for blokes LOL. Anyway these days Anton spends most of his time in a compound on a mine site in south Eqypt. There isn't much to do there so he runs a lot. He was in Eqypt when the big revolution went down, and for a while there we were worried he wouldn't be able to get out of the country in time for the race! Luckily it was all OK.

Anton had a bloody brilliant run. He said he was great for the first 2 laps but on the return leg of the last lap got a bad stitch. HOwever he still managed to run sub 5 min km's. Woot woot. A brilliant run to finish off a brilliant race :)

Beer and food. What else? ;-)


What a brilliant race. How good was our team time?

The event was perfectly organised. Lots of volunteers. Heaps of pre and post race activities. I had a ball. I don't know when I'll be back - chances are I'll be pregnant with our second this time next year. I think it'll be a long time before I can do the full race again, but doing it in a team is manageable and still allows us to participate in this great event. Bring it :)