Meelup Classic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I was very nervous about the swim when I was on the beach, the conditions were the worst I've ever seen in a race before, great big rolling waves and chop.
However once I was in the water I just felt at comfortable. it was definitely tough but my surf lifesaving skills all just came back. it was really tough to navigate as you just couldn't see hte buoys for the waves. had a bit of a battle to find some space with the girls around me at the start but settled down once I rounded the first buoy.

it was a very hard swim. but I loved it! Rounding the second buoy on the way back to the shore I realised that the waves were surfable. so was checking on my breath stroke where the waves were, and threw in a few big kicks and surfed waves back in. I passed alot of people. I think that definitely helped my swim time too.

on the second lap back in I did the same and did not see a guy directly in front of me, because of the waves, I did a big kick to catch the wave and I actually swam right over the top of this poor guy. Opps sorry!

I need new goggles these fogged up so it made a difficult swim even more difficult.
I think i should have pushed the swim even harder then I did. but very happy with a 14min 1k' I have a feeling the swim might have been short.

I focused on this transition, and had a quick transition for me. nothing went wrong it all went smoothly

Nothing (oh I will some day learn to put my shoes on on the bike though

Jumped on the bike out of transition and tried to settle down and get the cadence up to over 90, It took a few k's to feel comfy on the bike. I thought I was doing ok, had a few sips out of the water bottle. god hot gatorade wasn't good. (I will regret thinking that!) at least I got rid of the salt water taste.
at around about the 4 or 5k mark, I hit a fairly big set of bumps, my bottle jumped straight out of the holder under my bike. I did a bit of a bunny hop to avoid hitting it and goign over the handle bars. but I looked at the bottle rolling off the side of the road down the cliff and probably into the ocean. This is where the race went downhill!

So I had a fairly big stress about doing 30k ride with no drinks on a very hot day. which also meant no gel's either as I had nothing ot wash them down with.

turned the corner while still stressing only to see the big hill on the course. it really was a tough course. 3 times up a very long hill was really hard work. I really couldn't do the over 90cadence thing so I stuck to between 80 and 90 for the most part. obviuosly on the hill it was a bit different.

coming down the hill i was a bit cautious, I normally fly down the hill but my top speed was 59k's it was a very bendy hill and a bit tricky, I felt comfy at that speed so stuck at it for the second 2 laps as well. people were flying by but I didn't like the look of the bush and ocean on the other side of the road, didn't want to visit them flying off my bike.

I got through the ride ok without water but I knew I was in trouble, it was very hot and I was very very thirsty

I'll be at the bike shop this weekend replacing my bottle cages. the side cages obviously don't work. I think the new strategy will be replace the front side cage with a proper cage, and just use half bottles as my frame is too small for big ones. take of the other cage and buy a behind the seat thingo.

so I wouldn't ever have to be without drinks in a very hot hilly ride again.

had a good transition, again I was pretty focused and did it all too plan,

take my shoes off on the bike

Ok I was in trouble from the word go on this run. it was very hot, I was dehydrated (looking back on it) my foot was numb from the bike I think, I gradually got feeling back in my foot and my toe was hurting quite badly. but I kept going. I stopped at every drink station and had water I tried really hard to drink alot of it but didn't want to drink too much to get a stitch.

I started feeling hot and cold and a little bit dizzy, my toe was hurting and the hills just were hard work, managed the first lap and seriously considered pulling out. started the second lap and was a long way out when I really did want ot pull out. I'm embarassed to say I actually cried while I was running. I then had a bit of a suck it up buttercup, and a dry your eyes princess moment. I just wanted to get back to the finish line so realised that if I wanted to get ther eI would have to run. if I pulled out I still would have had to walk back anyway.

so sucked it up and ran(well if you can call it running to the finish line)

drink on the bike, way way more running training, probably not run on a toe that probably shouldn't have been run on

crossed the finish line. there was an official there saying slow down slow down the surface is slippery. I looked at him and laughed and said mate its not possible to run any slower then I'm running.

I crossed the finish line and it all goes a bit blurry from here on. one of the officials grabbed me and helped me sit down. I was very dizzy and felt like vomiting, she got gatorade and water and I don't relaly remember much of that bit.

found out later that I had sunstroke, I was very very dehydrated had a fair few vomits and dizzy spells and hot cold spells. it was a crap day.

But I finished albeit very slowly.


What did I learn from this race, sort out the drinks situation on my bike. And most importantly if you have an injury pull out if it isn't right and if you are not feeling well also pull out.




I like Trievents races they are very well organised and fun. pity about the weather conditions for the swim Meelup is generally such a beautiful flat beach.

even though I really struggled to do this race I still enjoyed it. its a very tough course but also very beautiful!