Honda North Australia Day Triathlon - TriathlonOther

Was really nervous before the swim. Plan was to stay close to shore and to avoid the masses. Went out doing freestyle but kept getting uncomfortable. Stopped many times to look around, don't know why I did this but I did it often. Think I wanted to be sure I wasn't coming last. Over the 400m I think I would have done maybe 150m worth of freestyle and the rest breast stroke (a weak one at that). I didn't like the taste of the salt water at all, I wasn't swallowing it but just having it in and near my mouth made me feel sick. Felt nauseous when I got to the shore. The run up to the transition area was slow due to nausea. Not a great experience to be honest. 24th out of 35 people out of the water in my age group.

This was my first ever open water swim, I really should have practiced more in the ocean. Get familiar with the salt water and get a better handle on my motion sickness.

Still a bit ill from the swim, fumbled with race belt, the toggles fell off the end when i was trying to put the belt on.

Number more secure on the race belt.

At this point I still wasn't feeling great, had some water to rinse my mouth out and tried to hammer down. I passed heaps of people during the bike leg, had no idea what my average was as I messed up with the multi-sport mode on my garmin. Some of the hills suck, mainly the small long incline near the transition area. Anyway felt like I was flying, wish the bike leg was longer :) The time above included both transitions so average speed were lower than actual. Estimated transition time to be a total of 3-4 minutes, therefore bike average should be between 31-32.5 km/h. I was 6th fastest bike in my age group. Made alot of ground here.

Drink more, however hard to find the time when its a sprint! Don't want to lose too many places :)

No problems with transition, had to remove my timing chip to put my calf guards on. Noticed some people had these on during the swim, maybe I'll do that next time to save a few seconds.

I couldn't be bothered trying to work my garmin so again I had no idea how fast I was running, just wanted to finish. I was tired, was hoping for a quick 3 km but didn't happen, just kept same pace all the way to the end, well almost, had a sprint finish towards the end. Knee was hurting but just pushed on thinking pain is only temporary. I had the 7th fastest time in my age group.

First time in open water was my biggest downfall I believe, felt like it was my first time swimming because all I could muster was a weak breast stroke. Was not prepared for this. Also motion sickness slowed me down during the run to transition area and a bit on the bike leg. Fatigue during the run and knee pain slowed me down also.


Came 5th overall in my age group - very happy to have gained 19 places during the bike and run but it proves I really need to work on my swim. No longer a Triathlon virgin :)