What a day! The toughest race conditions I have ever seen
which meant everyone’s, even the pro’s, times were significantly slower than
what is normally achieved.
The Conditions – the
day started at about 25 degrees and the wind was building. It was predicted to
get well into the 30’s and the wind to reach upwards of 50km/h, which it did!
The Swim – The
wind made the water very choppy and sighting became very difficult as it was
hard to find any rhythm. I decided to take a line inside the marker buoys until
reaching the turning point. Most of the marker buoys are a guide only and there
were 3 main buoys which you must go around. I chose this in order to have my
own water instead of battling all the other competitors. Also, I believed the
current was pushing across the course slightly and I felt the initial distance
to the first turning buoy would be made easier if I allowed the current to
gradually move me in the direction of the buoy instead of fighting it all of
the way there. This was a mistake. Once in the water, the water was basically
moving straight towards shore and I didn’t get the assistance I was after which
meant I ended up swimming a little further than I needed too.
After the first turn I was able to begin swimming a bit more
fluently as I wasn’t going directly into the water chop. It was more
comfortable but it was still a slow, hard slog around to the swim finish.
The Bike – I
pushed through transition quickly and within the first 500m of riding, I could
feel the effects of the strong wind as it battered me from the side initially
and gave me a few wobbles.
I almost had a bike problem before the race even started as
I had discovered during the days prior to the race, a strange noise coming from
my front wheel. I tried adjusting the brakes, my speedo sensor and even the
skewer but the noise still remained. After looking closer and feeling the wheel
turn on its axle, it was obvious that there was a significant bearing issue.
However, I only discovered this as I was checking in my bike at transition the
day before the race. It was at this point when I realised that I hadn’t packed
my spare wheels before leaving home and I always take them in case something
like this happens. So, I had to borrow a front wheel from my mate, Rod.
Fortunately, he had brought his spares along and he was kind enough to trust me
with it.
Because of the new wheel, I wasn’t able to operate my speedo
so I removed the computer form my headset but this wasn’t an issue because I
had already decided to ride on feel alone and not worry about the numbers. This
was an excellent choice as, in the past, I may have been disappointed when
looking at my speedo and thinking I’m not doing well and then have a negative
mindset from then on. Instead, I didn’t even look at my stopwatch the entire
ride. All I wanted to do was ride as hard as I knew I could by staying in my aero
position to limit the effect of the wind as much as possible. I remained
focused throughout the whole 90km ride and felt stronger on the 2nd
lap, than I did on the first. However, the heat and wind would have the last
laugh.
The temperature was rising but the wind made me feel dry. I
didn’t know how much I was sweating but I drank a lot because my mouth was dry.
I started with 2 x 750ml bottles with a mild electrolyte mix. Normally I would
have one bottle an hour and top up with some water for the remaining part of
the bike leg but I was finished my two bottles within 1 and ½ hours. I took on
a bottle of water and went through that in the next half an hour. I got another
one and that got me through to the end of the bike. There was an electrolyte
drink available on course but I didn’t think I needed it because I had consumed
all of my food equalling about 800 calories and my two bottles of electrolyte
mix. Unfortunately, this didn’t satisfy my body’s need for more things like,
sodium.
Because the wind was keeping my body fairly dry, I didn’t
think I was sweating as much as I was. Therefore, I believed the amount of
nutrition I had consumed was sufficient for my needs, and even when I was
beginning to cramp in my quads I didn’t think it was a sign of a lack of
nutrition. I took this as a sign of working hard on the bike and assumed my
running legs would sort out this when I got on my feet again. How wrong I was.
I completed the 90km bike in 2 hours 32 minutes, which is 10
minutes below my PB from Shepparton but there were very few bikes back in
transition which gave me a sense that I had performed very well on the bike. It
turns out I had one of the top 40 bike splits for the day and only 16 minutes
down on the professional winner Craig ‘Crowie’ Alexander.
The Run – I was
out onto the run at 3 hours and 12 minutes and my legs didn’t feel great but as
the initial run out of transition is a steep ascent for about 200 metres, I
wasn’t worried and thought I would find my run legs once it flattened out. This
didn’t happen. I just did what I could and took little amounts of fluid at each
drink station. My stomach felt full of water as I hadn’t absorbed much of what
I had drunk through the lack of electrolytes.
Essentially, I was quite dehydrated and there was no way of
getting my body back to where it needed to be if I was to continue running and
hope to post a reasonable time. So, I just took in what fluid I could manage while
running and tried to keep my body cool through putting ice in my top and water
on my body. At no point did I feel light headed of jelly legged so I didn’t
realise I was dehydrated. Instead, I thought my slow running was from hard bike
riding and just the heat in general. In hindsight, there were many signs and I
will now have a plan in place to prevent and combat this in future races. My
eventual run time was 1 hour 47 minutes. About 20 minutes down on what I
would’ve liked to do but it was all relative to the conditions on the day.
The Finish – I
crossed the line in 4 hours 59 minutes and placed 11th in my age
group and 64th overall. It
was disappointing not to place much
higher in my age group but there was still one thing left for the day that I
was hopeful to succeed in. That was, gaining a qualification slot at the 2014
Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Mont-Tremblant, Canada.
The ‘Roll Down’ ceremony took place a few hours after I had
finished the race and it was an anxious wait as they went through the female
age groups first and then from oldest to youngest in the males. The ‘Roll Down’
process is that a total of 30 qualifying slots are allocated to the race and 15
each to males and females. They are then distributed amongst the age groups
with a minimum of one per age group and then the rest are distributed to the
larger age groups as a percentage of the total number of participants in that
gender that it forms. This meant that my Male 25 – 29 category had 2 slots up
for grabs. They then allocate the slots to the highest placed finishers in each
category, who are in attendance at the ceremony. Only if you attend the
ceremony can you accept a slot so you never know who is there and if you might
just get a slot despite finishing down the list.
When it came to my group there were three of us hoping to
get one of the two spots. When we went to the presenter to state our names for
him to check his list and see who were the highest placed from us three, I was
the highest. I couldn’t believe it. I was so relieved after missing out by so
little at Shepparton.
I am going to a World Championships and I’m going there to
win!! I am going to be more focused than ever and be in the best shape of my
life so I can produce an incredible performance on September 7. I have looked
at the course details and I believe it will suit me with a mostly flat ride
with a few sharp climbs and an almost flat run course with just gradual up and
down hill portions. It won’t be hot and it is a fresh water lake swim.
I have learnt so much from my race this season and I have a
lot of new knowledge to take into my training for the next 6 months.
Tell me, what have you learnt from racing this past season?
