Western Sydney Half Ironman Race Report
Another race year done and dusted. I know the Australia Race season has only just started but I have been working on the North Hemisphere race season this year. It started all back last year in December when I got my ballot place for Escape from Alcatraz. My first off-shore race, it’s an iconic race for North America very much like Noosa is for us. Due to Bruce (aka a Fish issue) in Busso last year I got given a discount code to use.
I had already signed up for Sunny Coast Half Ironman and Noosa. I had a discount code and I needed to find a race, Busso entries weren’t open so I picked Western Sydney. Weekend trip up to Sydney for a little race and back on Monday, easy right? No. I trained with the Busso 2018 crew but cut the program short by 1 week for taper. Worse was I had a little dismount accident 10 days out of from Noosa so I missed this last bit of training.
This weekend had it all, it started with a delayed flight follow by flights having to Circle work into Sydney due to high winds. With that being said it was one of the smoothest lands I have ever had. Western Sydney is some hour and bit away from the airport. The Hotel I stayed at was only 10mins away from the race course. Saturday morning I did a little roll over the run course and little run. The body is feeling tied from big builds, lots of racing. Sydney in the leadup to this weekend has been super windy, dust storms, etc. but this morning there was next to no wind. I setup my bike, dropped my gear off at the gear tent and made my way to the swim start, it’s held in the Sydney Olympic Rowing venue. A fresh water swim no bay swim, yesterday the officials made the call that it’s a wetsuit swim for the Age groups. Normally this event is non-wetsuit, thank god I brought my wetsuit. Also no warm up swim, my wave start was right after the Pros, the hardest part was seeing up the rowing course due to the sun, also no currents either to work with. Lucky for me my bike was rack right at the end of row, nice and easy to find my position. Off with the wetsuit and on with the helmet and grab the bike and head out. Yesterday I drove the bike course and noticed the roads where not in great shape, lots of potholes, and poor road surfaces. My choice of not running at 120PSI was the right call. They say this course is flat, it’s not, few hills and technical with a few tight turns. Two laps of this course kept us all honest. After coming back into T2 and swap the bike shoes for runners. Just a little Half Marathon to go. The temp was on the raise, again the first half of the run course had a steady climb but once back around the rowing venue the course is flat the clouds cleared the sun was out in force and the wind increased. My feet where killing me felt like my shoes where 2 sizes smaller, but they weren’t. I recently have been advised by my Physio that I was am suffering from Morton’s neuroma (google it). It time to see a podiatrist. The run hurt, it hurt bad worse than I have experienced before, but I am glad to complete this event and if you are looking for something different in the 70.3 distance I can recommend Western Sydney. Huge thanks to all the messages of support over the last few days, to the Busso team and to Pam Fikriye for getting me there.
Another race year done and dusted. I know the Australia Race season has only just started but I have been working on the North Hemisphere race season this year. It started all back last year in December when I got my ballot place for Escape from Alcatraz. My first off-shore race, it’s an iconic race for North America very much like Noosa is for us. Due to Bruce (aka a Fish issue) in Busso last year I got given a discount code to use.
I had already signed up for Sunny Coast Half Ironman and Noosa. I had a discount code and I needed to find a race, Busso entries weren’t open so I picked Western Sydney. Weekend trip up to Sydney for a little race and back on Monday, easy right? No. I trained with the Busso 2018 crew but cut the program short by 1 week for taper. Worse was I had a little dismount accident 10 days out of from Noosa so I missed this last bit of training.
This weekend had it all, it started with a delayed flight follow by flights having to Circle work into Sydney due to high winds. With that being said it was one of the smoothest lands I have ever had. Western Sydney is some hour and bit away from the airport. The Hotel I stayed at was only 10mins away from the race course. Saturday morning I did a little roll over the run course and little run. The body is feeling tied from big builds, lots of racing. Sydney in the leadup to this weekend has been super windy, dust storms, etc. but this morning there was next to no wind. I setup my bike, dropped my gear off at the gear tent and made my way to the swim start, it’s held in the Sydney Olympic Rowing venue. A fresh water swim no bay swim, yesterday the officials made the call that it’s a wetsuit swim for the Age groups. Normally this event is non-wetsuit, thank god I brought my wetsuit. Also no warm up swim, my wave start was right after the Pros, the hardest part was seeing up the rowing course due to the sun, also no currents either to work with. Lucky for me my bike was rack right at the end of row, nice and easy to find my position. Off with the wetsuit and on with the helmet and grab the bike and head out. Yesterday I drove the bike course and noticed the roads where not in great shape, lots of potholes, and poor road surfaces. My choice of not running at 120PSI was the right call. They say this course is flat, it’s not, few hills and technical with a few tight turns. Two laps of this course kept us all honest. After coming back into T2 and swap the bike shoes for runners. Just a little Half Marathon to go. The temp was on the raise, again the first half of the run course had a steady climb but once back around the rowing venue the course is flat the clouds cleared the sun was out in force and the wind increased. My feet where killing me felt like my shoes where 2 sizes smaller, but they weren’t. I recently have been advised by my Physio that I was am suffering from Morton’s neuroma (google it). It time to see a podiatrist. The run hurt, it hurt bad worse than I have experienced before, but I am glad to complete this event and if you are looking for something different in the 70.3 distance I can recommend Western Sydney. Huge thanks to all the messages of support over the last few days, to the Busso team and to Pam Fikriye for getting me there.
This is number 8 of the 70.3 Distance and my last for me (for a while) – So whats next? Off season, sleep-ins, smell the roses and think about what is next. Stay tuned.
Time 7:07:42
Swim 46:41
T1 2:11
Bike 3:08:10
T2 2:32
Run 3:08:07
