1 Year ago I was feeling sorry for myself nursing a broken
little toe.
This week was redemption from 12 months ago.
On Monday I put up a little funny post on Facebook which
read, “To my little toe on my right foot and your 9 other brothers, A year ago
today you managed to end up an a very strange angle and stuffed up my summer
race session. You still give me grief from time to time, but I have spoken with
the TV Cabinet and he has agreed to keep out of your way if you could do the same that would be
great. Thanks”
Pier to Pub Race Report
I did my normal training week and on Saturday was the 2 ½
drive to Lorne for the Pier to Pub Open Water Swim. I have never been on the
Great Ocean Road, well at least I can recall. After the drive to Geelong and
then onto Anglesea then onto the coast road; I must say it was stunning, never
seen anything like. It was hard to watch the road as well as the view. When I got to Lorne I started to
look for parking, $25, $20 all day parking. I turned up a street near the pub
and found parking all day FOC. Perfect just one issue a steep hill. I grabbed
my MP3 player, left my gear bag in the car and went for a bit of walk.
Once I got down to Surf Club I found my way to rego and
collected my kit, with heaps of time before my race I went for a wonder down
the main street getting some food and hot chocolate. Followed by a walk up to
the pier where the start line was and then back to the car for the gear bag and
drop off what I didn’t need out of the race kit.
I found the change tent put on the wetsuit (half way)
grabbed my swim cap, timing belt and goggles and headed up the beach. I ran
into a few from my Tri Club had a bit of chat and then headed up and the beach
and bumped into 2 from my swim squad and bit more of a chat.
When I got near the start line I zipped up the wetsuit and
went in for a bit of dip, the water was clear and little cold, again this was a
true open water swim not a bay swim. When I got out of the water I saw a
penguin, you could see he was scared with all these open water swimmers around;
thank goodness that everyone kept a good distance.
It was not too long before we needed to line up in waves, as
we all did I noticed Dave from our Tri Club there in the wave before me. I went
up said g-day and good luck before he started.
After Dave’s waved started we were asked to make our way
down the boat ramp into the water. It’s a straight course with a deep water
start. You basically hover over rope between two buoys. We were give a 1 min
and 30secs warning followed by a shotgun blast to start our wave. I hit the
start on the Garmin and headed straight down the course. You could see the
buoys on the left hand side of the
course counting down from 20 to 1. Half wave down the course I had a look
around I could see I was one of the first 5 or so. This was going to be
training race, but I changed my mind and pushed I wanted it bad. As we got
close to the beach I could feel the waves starting to break, I used this to
come into the beach. I ran up the beach and over the line as I did I heard
someone call out my name, not sure who it was but it was welcome. From what I
could see it was 4th not bad.
My time was 18min 29secs
After changing and catching up with a few peeps I know it
was time to head home, followed by getting ready for the Olympic Distance the
following day.
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| Start Line at the Pier |
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| Finish Line at the beach |
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| Just a little dash up the beach to the line |
Gatorade Triathlon Series Race 2 Race Report
Sunday, up early like
4:30am earlier, then heading down to St Kilda for the Tri. I needed to pickup
my race kit, T-Shirt, etc. When I got to
our teams tent I said g-day to Ollie Head Coach and asked for 5mins to chat
before the race. He had a few things to do and asked for 15mins which I took to
rack my bike and setup. When I got back to the tent Ollie and I sat down and
had a chat about today’s race. I wanted to know how to race this one, what
efforts to do, etc. I have raced over 7 OD’s but today's race was about Prep for
Challenge Melbourne it was a full dress rehearsal Ollie said to me, good you thinking about the
Race A. He basically said race it like I
will be racing Challenge. Think about your
form, think about the process, think about the putting it together. It was what
I was thinking and we chatted about my Prep and how the Pier to the Pub was. I
thanked him for his insight.
After a bathroom run, it
was that time, race time, on with the wetsuit grabbed my swim cap and goggles
and headed down for a warm up swim. The water was not very clear and you could
see the Southerly wind blowing. I line up in my wave start the horn sounded
and off we went.
Out to the pier across
the back in between boats, to the U turn and back again and into the beach.
Followed by a little run into T1. Off with the wetsuit on with the Helmet and
sunnies grabbed my bike and then headed out. After mounting my bike and getting
my feet into the shoes and headed up towards the first turn. After the turn
heading out for the first of three laps you could feel the head wind. I pushed
through the wind and pain to the bottom of course, and the bottom you could feel
the trail wind back. I was happy with this, little bit of recovery heading back
to Transition. This was the same for the second and third laps. On the final
lap coming up past Luna Park I started the dismount process getting my feet on
top of the bikes shoes. As I came to the dismount line, I dismounted and run the
bike into Transition. Re-racked the bike, removed my helmet on with my socks and
runners.
Typically I don’t use
socks for OD or less, but as this was dry run for the half just a few weeks
away, It’s was important to get the process right. I grabbed my visor and
headed out on the run. As I headed out on the path, Ollie was there he give me
a high five on the way through. I felt good on the run, only walking through
aid stations when needed. As I came around for the second lap I got some banta
given to me from our squad members on the side lines. The average pace was not
great, but not bad either. I felt good, that was the important thing. I
remember come back to Transition on the second lap with the wind on my back,
feeling good and strong thinking this is how Challenge Melbourne will feel.
I crossed the line in
2hrs 48 mins and 07 secs. 30sec PB at this distance, not bad for a training
race
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| Swim Start |
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| Doing Laps on the bike |
Great Australia Day Swim
Race Report
For the last few years I
have always done the Australia Swim. The TA crew where out in force, the day
was ordinary weather wise. The bay had a nice little swell to it, and a rain
front that lasted a 3 or so mins. After doing my rego and bumping into a work
mate it got to that time to change into the wetsuit and go racing.
As I walked out on the
pier you you could feel the wind from South West and swell was coming in from
the same direction. I jumped in and did a bit of a warm up swim, it was not
too long before my wave lined up. When the horn sounded it was on not just the
swim but washing machine, bodies and people everywhere. Normally this last for
a few hundred meters, but no it was all the way. After the 2 kick to my nose,
lucky nothing broken. I dropped my pace a little to try and get some clear
water, I was not going to be that lucky, I had to push and push hard over the
top or around other people. Once we got past the breakwater and turned into the harbour the swell dropped right away and
the water was flat. I increased the stroke rate to find my way through the
traffic but no luck. I got to the shore run up the over the line. At the end of
the event I got catching with other TA members and 2 who where in the same wave
as me commented on how violent our wave was. I wrote it off to experience before
Challenge Melbourne.
My time was 25 mins and
49 secs.
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| TA Crew |
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| Finish line |
