yesterday, race day...

Yesterday was race 6 of the Qld Gatorade Tri Series, so it was up at 4:30 out the door at 5 and off to Raby Bay. The rain of the previous days went away meaning that the 3 hour wait between setting up and race start was not as bad as it could have been. I was not feeling overly confident about this one as my training leading in had fallen away and become a little sporadic. A tight muscle in my back meant I had not done a swim 3 weeks.  The muscle was feeling good and loose as I was standing on the pontoon waiting to get in and I was thinking that it would not be a problem, and I was right. Muscle no problem, 90 of my best mates, big problem. The swim was 400m, 200 down 200 back in a narrow area between moored boats. There was 91, 30-34 year old males crammed into this area and when the hooter went it was on for young (30) and old (34). Because of the short distance there was no clear water just chop, wash, arms and feet. I am no threat to the leaders, I do my best then I try to do better, and I am certainly no fish. My goal at this distance it to get out of the water without an 8 in my time.  It was not to be this time, 8:04, but considering that it was a very crowded and violent swim I am happy with the result.

Into transition and onto the bike.

I have been having trouble with my bike shoes, they have come of during transition 2 times this season which I had put down to bad luck, after yesterday I am putting it down to gear failure that needs to be addressed. Heading out onto the bike my shoe came off at the mount line as I went to put my foot on top of it. I had to stop, run back grab my shoe put it on get on my bike and get going, the fact my other shoe was still on the bike made that little bit more difficult. So I am in and peddling and feeling really good on the approach to the hill for the first time. Up I went, attack the hill work to the out maker, take in water, work to the hill rest down the hill fast steady pace to the turn and back out to the hill, repeat 2 more times that was the plan. Plan was going great till i got just about to the bottom of the hill and was nearly blown off my bike by the wind. I HATE THE WIND. I can never tell when it is behind me and can not stand peddling into it. Peddle into it I did though. Again I am no Cadel.  Your probably thinking now "he can't swim, can't ride, why does he do Triathlon?" Well I will leave that for another Blog Post. But back to the bike, 3 laps, 15k done. Back into transition and all i could think was, "gee I hope my shoe does not come off". Guess what, shoe came off. It has to be gear failure and I will need to sort it out has it is very frustrating and even though I am not at the pointy end I still want to do my best each and every time I toe the line. 33:18 for the bike, I like to believe that this time includes most of both t1 and t2 but i have not had that confirmed.

I did not put the stop watch on this race, I decided to note the time of the start and work the times of legs of the time of day and use mental calculations to gauge how I was going. Looking at the time I calculated that if i did the run in under 18 min i would finish in under 1 hour, pretty much bang on on reflection. 4 1/2 min k's I was not to confident as pushing into the wind had taken a bit out of my legs. I took off and started at what felt like a good pace,  but about 400 in a felt myself slowing. Then I started to fidget, I played with my hat, played with my zip, decided I did not want my hat, yes i did want my hat. This went on for the first 2k, rounding the turn at the 2k mark a guy I meet at the Noosa Tri was heading out to start his run. He is older than me and is at the pointy end of his age group. I thought I would run with him for a bit to refocus. It did the trick, after a little bit (I am talking 10-20 metres) I thought bugger this just go 2k's left run it hard. I took off, I felt like I was running fast and I felt good.

I crossed the line and checked the time, going by my start time I thought I had done a 58:something.

I was happy with that, I felt my swim was solid considering I am a middle to back of the back swimmer. I thought I may have given to much of my legs to the bike but I stuck to my plan and rode as strong and consistent as I could. I was a little disappointed with my run as I felt I should have been running the way was in the end for the entire 4k. One of my goals has at this distance has been to run under 16min. Not knowing what time I had run I felt that if I had of started the way I finished I would be able to do so. So when I got home it was time to jump on the net and check the times.

57:19 on the back of a 15:56 run. In the wash up it was a good day out for me, a 20sec BP at Raby Bay for the distance and sub 16 run. The funny thing is I can not stop wondering what time I would have run if I had started how I finished, or if i did not cross paths with the guy I know at the half way point of the run. I also wonder how much time I lost chasing after stray shoes.

Oh yeah I came 51st out of 91 starters

There is a bit of a break until race 7 at the Gold Coast, so I have a bit of time to sort my shoes out, get in some quality training and then my favorate tapering. If there is one thing I am good at it is tapering.