Gatorade Triathlon Series: Race 4 - Sandringham - TriathlonOlympic

I was dreading this swim. The distance didn't worry me, the condition of the ocean did, but when I got to the beach and saw it was pretty flat, I felt better about it. The first 200m was crap - too many people - but once we spread out and found our rhythm, it was okay. A number of people swam over me, into me, under me... yek. I was very very pleased with myself though. I didn't panic when we headed into the wind, I didn't give in to the potential seasickness and I just kept swimming. My legs felt like jello coming out of the water though. All I can say is that my fitness pulled me through this more than my swimming ability.

Not a lot. I persevered, I breathed on either side when necessary, I found a great rhythm.

The run up the hill from the beach at Sandy is legendary - and a killer. It's 800m of a pretty decent incline. I was a little wobbly on my legs at first. They were numb, actually. And my lungs were burning the whole way up. But I ran it all and got to my bike with no dramas (see T2!). Wetsuit stripped off easily, and everything went really smoothly.

Again, not a lot. It was a long, long run. It doubled back on itself and just killed my feet but hey, short of wearing neoprene socks...

So here's where things kind of fell over. My legs were pretty trashed from the swim.I was right behind a fellow Athena at the mount line and while she flew off, I kinda just pedalled. I had nothing in the legs - and we'd only just begun. The northerly wind picked up to a real gusty piece of work at about 35mins in. It was great going south but hell coming back into the headwind. I struggled on the hills today and I think it was a combination of the effort of the swim and some dehydration. It was so windy on the return leg that I just didn't want to take my hands off the wheel (so to speak). On the bright side, I cornered really well/confidently and this is my quickest 40k to date.

Drink more. Drop my gears sooner than I did.

Oh, I got lost. First I turned in to the rack before mine. Then I ran past mine and had to go back. Got yelled at by some dufus. Yeah, a terrible start to T2. As for the rest, well, that was a piece of cake - except I left on the sunnies and I don't run with sunglasses, so they annoyed me on the run.

Not forget my rack number! Ninkompoop.

This leg of the race let me down today. Badly. I had trouble breathing, I was dehydrated and I just couldn't move any quicker. I did slow to a walk at every drink station, have some water and then tip 2 cups over me just to keep cool. The run north was hard as it was into the wind but also good because the wind kept me cool. The south return had no coolness. I also don't like races with laps of the same course. I am so bitterly disappointed with myself. I overtook one Athena racer, which is what got me 3rd place but that's little consolation today. I have run this slow in a long, long time. I am pretty sure I know why - and I can address this in training for future races.

It comes down to the training. See, I've been doing sessions where I ride 40k and then run 10k and I've been fine. The difference is that I didn't have a swim in there, so in future, I need to incorporate either a 30min swim or a 30min run beforehand.

Lots of water. Stretching.


Dehydration.


As this is my first Olympic Distance race, I will try to use it as a learning experience and not be so hard on myself. I'm happy with 3rd but I know I can do better - starting next week with Geelong.