Xosize Race Report

With my main races (Noosa and Geelong) over it was time to have a little fun, I wanted to do another Tri before the season was over. My first choice was Portarlington but the cost of another weekend away wasn’t in my budget, so I picked the Xosize at Sandringham.

I picked up my race kit yesterday and walked into transition but they had not finished labeling the racks but you could work out that Row 6 is where I should be.

Race day very different to my last 2 races. Previous you had rack your back the day before not this time it was case of lining up,  get my arm numbered then heading into transition. It was a little crazy people everywhere, as I racked my bike I noticed that the rack height was lower than my seat. This meant that I would have to tip my bike to one side to get it out of transition. OK not much I can do about that just deal with it. I setup my transition area and headed out and catch up with Jo Jo and we headed down to the  beach to see what the water was like. Sometime Sandy can be nice and sometimes bad today was flat as.

Ahhh Sandy Flat and fast

Jo Jo and I before race start

We watched the mini race swim start and exits but before too long it was time to change into our wettie’s and get ready to race. I got in the water and did my warm up swim and the water felt nice and warm almost a non-wettie swim. I lined up with everyone else the horn sounded and off we went. The first 80meters or so was the washing machine style start people on people. I tried to find clear water but could not I had to swim over the top of people to find clear water. I pushed on at the first can I finally found clear water and pushed hard to the second can. I could see the swim finish and I push hard to the shore, then followed by the nice little 800m run into transition, to be honest Sandringham should be renamed Swim, Run, Bike, Run. The run for the mini and sprint guys is always longer than the swim it’s self.

Coming out from the swim

Once in transition I got off my wetsuit, on with the helmet and sunglasses grabbed my bike and ran out of transition, one I hit beach road I could not see the mount line and yelled out to a marshal where is the mount line another marshal started to wave his hand on where the line was. I ran over the line hopped on my bike and headed off. I found the course fast and not much wind around. On my second lap I passed another Tri Alliance member,  Sarah,  as I passed I said to her, come here often and she replied keep going. As I headed back to transition approx 500m away from the dismount line I got my feet out of the shoes and rode with them on top. I did the ye-old step off the bike and ran back into transition, re-racked my bike, and put on socks and my runners. Normally I don’t use socks but as they were brand new shoes I felt this was the best way. My legs felt really heavy and sore. My right quad was feeling it and the run was going to hurt. At approx the 2km I had to stop stretch out the quad before continuing. Shortly after Kate, a friend from Couple on the Run run’s group, passed and said hi. At the turn around I grabbed some water to cool me off as well as getting some fluids on board. On the run back to the finish line  my quad felt a long better. I crossed line loads and caught up with Ellie, who came along to support me and the TA Crew who were racing, Kate and others we call compared races stories.

My Time was 1hr 27m and 08s. At first I thought not my best time, but when compared it to my previous race at Sandy I had sliced off over 4mins.

Another successfully race to a great racing session.

Heading out on the run

Race done

Cerberus Race Report

Cerberus Race Report

One week on from Geelong OD my body has feeling good. I had done a few walks a gym session and an open water swim and not too much else. Saturday saw me complete my 10km recovery run at Elwood with my TA team mates followed by watch some transition practice. After training I headed off to pickup Ellie then head down to Half Moon Bay for the swim around the rusty boat (aka Cerberus). The race start was 12:30pm for the 1.2KM we got there around 10:30am just in time to see Steve (another TA member) head off for his 2.5KM swim. We had a lot of hanging around to do as my wave start was 1:15pm and Ellie’s 2pm. We kept busy watching the 2.5km races before too long it was time to change into our wetsuits, warm up and get ready. My swim would be over before Ellie even started hers. The sun was warm so once the wetsuit was on into the bay for a warmup and keep cool. I lined up the siren sounded and off we went. Out towards the first can and the was the typically washing machine start, people everywhere. As soon as I could find clear water I push, I noticed that the water at Half Moon was very clear for change. I found I was being pushed towards Sandringham away from the first can I changed my aim and passed the can with in ½ meter, up to the second can and again I could feel the push away from the swim course. At the second can it was up behind the rusty boat (aka Cerberus) I felt a bit of a bay chop until I rounded the third can and straight line into the beach.

I crossed the line in 21m 45s.

Rusty Boat aka The Cerberus

At the start of the 2km Swim

TA Crew who swam

Post Race Feed, Beer and Music.

Geelong Race Report

Geelong was going to my second Olympic Distance Tri, the first being Noosa in 2012. My race program this season was very different to last year. I didn’t do the full race series, I trained and complete just one Tri (Elwood) prior to Geelong. Thursday before the race I did my final run with Coach Emma who was pleased with my progress. She commented that if keep this up next season I’ll be fast as, great to hear few days out from the race.  Thursday night saw me complete the last combo session with TA at Elwood. Was a great session, no running, no grind session just tick the legs over on the bike. After the bike came the swim I put my wettie on and pulled the zip up, then the zip came out the top of the wetsuit. Not part of the plan, lucky for me I had a spare wetsuit.

I had arranged to take Friday and Monday off to making it a 4 day weekend, I headed off to 2xu in Hampton to drop the wettie off for repair. I saw my mate Rees, he asked when was my next race, which I replied Sunday, and I said I had a technical issue with the wettie. He commented that the suit would not be fixed in time, which I knew anyway. I left the wettie with him and then packed all the Tri crap up and picked Ellie along with all her crap and head off to Geelong, 2 TT Bikes, boot full of crap, 2 tubs of Tri Clothing and bike spares plus clothes, etc…. Car was full and we head off Geelong for 4 days of Triathlon.

The weather for the weekend was going to be prefect, not too hot on Sunday and when we arrived in Geelong the below pic is what we saw, perfect. We had some lunch then checked out the run/bike turn around and then checked into the Apartment which was just 1km from the finish line. Friday night saw us catch up with Steve (another TA triathlete in Geelong for the weekend) for dinner. Followed by a somewhat earlier night.

Friday in Geelong

Saturday morning saw the standard TA program, a ride, run and swim. We meet at the TA Taj and went for a ride with the coaches out along the Point Henry Road and then back to the TA Taj and little run followed by a slash, nothing too serious. After the session we headed back to the apartment, quick shower for me and out the door as Ellie had signed up for the 1km open water swim.  This was her 3^rd  open water swim but good experience. After her race I collected my race kit for the Tri and we got some lunch and then back to the Apartment to prep my bike for the race. Ellie had also offered her services as lead bike for the 10km run, she had to be down at the transition area at 3pm for briefing and run through the course, at the same time I drop off the bike. One of the nice things you can pick your own racking spot with in your age ground and this I did. The final rack in the of the TA Taj. As they say, position, position, position.  After racking the bike then headed off to the race briefing along with registering with Subaru for a free race belt we headed to Coles for some shopping then back to the apartment. We chilled out for bit and then walked down got some pasta for dinner and earlier night.



Saturday morning pre race session

1Km Open Water Swim Start



Position, Postion, Position.

Alarm went off Sunday morning – race day, breakfast, shower, etc. standard race day prep. Then a walk to transition and setup the bike for the race. I drop the air in the tyres over night, so re-pumped up the tyres, put the spares, water and the feed bag on, laid out my transition area then headed off to the team tent. The long course guys headed off for their start before too long it was time to put on the wettie and head off for a warm up swim.

In our race there was only going to be 3 waves. These would be big groups so the swim will be a be rough but that’s ok arms out. My warm up swim was good I felt ready. We lined up the horn sounded off we went, the water was a little dirty but flat. As soon as I could find clear water I pushed hard, I came out of the swim feeling good. I ran into transition, off with the wettie on helmet grabbed the bike and headed out. I jumped on and way we went. I got into my bike shoes well before the turn and headed up the hill. Geelong is a very technical course from a bike and run point of view. Once I got through the park and out on the Portarlington road I got into the air position and pushed. With the road being opened it subject to winds, in this case the wind was blowing from the South which had it a side winds. Never much fun with a TT bike and Aero Wheels these act like a sail and subject to being pushed to the side.

Swim Done

Head Out on the bike

Heading up the hill

Pushing hard

Finish Line

Kept on telling myself control what you can control and don’t worry about the rest. I came back into the park through town and up to the turn around and back towards the transition. I re-racked my bike off with helmet, on with the shoes and out for a run. Again the run was through the park area. The first km hurt, I needed to pee badly at the first had station was a public toilet I run in to the toilet pee’d, there we a few other triathlete’s doing the same as well. Back out on the run course up and around through the park and then back down towards the transition, past the finish line along the shore line up to the turn around and back down the hill to the finish line. Around the 8km mark I felt the blister that got me in Noosa start up again, but not as bad. I pushed on to the finish line. I reached the finish line saw Ellie on the way through and looked at my time. I had just taken 10mins off my second Olympic Distance event. 10 MINS! OMG! This was huge. I headed into the athlete’s finishing area. I caught up with a few other TA gals and guys who had finished. Lots of high 5’s and congrats.

I headed back to the TA Taj, and saw coaches Sarah and Oillie. Oillie was happy with the effort and time taken off, he pointed out that Geelong is technical and hilly where Noosa is flat. So good effort and Noosa  this year should be quicker again. Once Coach Emma was back we had a chat and time to work on the run. I agree with her my run does need some work. Over all I happy with my time and effort for my second Olympic  Distance. I spent some time in the tent have chat with other Athletes and catching up on race stories.

After grabbing my stuff and shower we headed out for a feed and beer and watch the ITU race which was full on but fun to watch. I crashed early that night and had a sleep in the following morning. After breakie and shower we went for a walk. My body felt pretty good, but was not too long before we had to pack all the crap back into the car another race weekend over but well worth the effort.

ITU Race

Monday morning Geelong Style

Next race 1.2KM Open water swim and Half Moon Bay

Great Australia Day Swim 2013 Race Report

I love this race at Brighton, lots of fun however this year saw me swim the event recovering from a head cold. I didn’t train too much this week keep it light and kept up the fluids. I made  a trip to the doctor for the standard drugs. Race or not to race always the burning question. So the final call was to be made on Saturday morning.

Late Friday I felt ok but still a little blocked up, but an early night and see how I felt in the morning. I woke around 3am and felt a lot better, went back to sleep and woke up around 5:30am. Had a good breakfast followed by the shower, etc. I got down to Brighton Baths around 6:30 and put in a 12km run prior to catching up with Ellie and her mum and then the TA crew. Tri Alliance made the call to have the Short Course Athletes’ do our Saturday session at Brighton Baths. We were encouraged to Run and do the Swim event.

After we got the TA Taj up, Ellie, her mum and I got our race kits and then walked out along the breakwater to view the course for both my 1.4km swim and Ellie’s 650m swim plus to see how the 5km swimmers were going.

We headed back and got changed ready to swim, I jumped in and swam up along side of the pier and I felt good, headed back in to the shore then the walk out along the pier to the start line. Jumped in again another warm up swim cleaned the goggles and waited to be called up. The waves on the south side of the break water had a greater swell then inside the breakwater, the swell was southerly push which meant the swim should be fast. In my wave was some 60 + people, the horn sounded and off we went this group wanted to play rough, swimming over the top of each other. I tried to find clear water which took me some time but after the first can (buoy) I found clear water and was able to leave the rough stuff behind and push on. Passing all the buoys and turning into the harbor I pushed hard and it felt fast. As I was coming in I felt a massive crap in my right calf muscle which made me stop for a min to massage it out then I pushed on to the finish line. I run up the beach over the finish line.

Not my best race but I felt good considering the head cold and the crap.

After the race I catch up with Ellie and she had a cracker of a race. We changed then and made our way back to the TA Taj for catch up with the TA crew and the group photo.

Next race Geelong in 2 weeks. Can’t wait.

Portsea Swim Classic 2013 Race Report

Last Saturday saw myself and TA crew down on the Mornington Peninsula for the 1.5KM Portsea Swim Classic. Some of us drove own and some of the crew rode down.  We got down their nice and early to beat the traffic and get a park spot, the drive is some 100 minutes away from home. After collecting Ellie we started headed south on the way down we saw Steve who was riding down with his brother Mark. We pulled over and offered to take Steve’s bag with his swim gear down which he took me up on the offer.

 The trip down was uneventful we headed down the new Peninsula freeway and got down to Sorrento in around 90mins, time for a coffee before doing the last 4kms down to Portsea just as we hit the National Park. On the way down Ellie and I spoke about if she should do today’s swim or not, her "A Race" is the Great Australia Day Swim the following weekend, we agreed to view the conditions and if she ok with it, she should do it. We had to stop at the visitors centre as the park was not opening until 8am, we bumped into JoJo (Another of the TA crew) who was down early to register for the swim. Once the park opened we made our way in, parked and then over to the rego tent and race pickup.

Ellie & JoJo at the Rego Tent

After we all picked up our race kits we did a bit of a tour of the event had a look displays, the water, etc. and killed some time.

Shortly after 9am more of the TA crew started to arrive and before too long it was time to get ready and head over to the buses to be taken down to the start line. So we changed into swimwear / wetsuits (well put them half on) and head over towards the buses to run us down to the start line.

Steve and Mark

TA Ironman Crew who rode down

At the start line there was a little walk down the lane way to the beach. The beaches are just wonderful down on the Mornington Peninsula much nicer than the local beaches up in the city.

Down to the Beach

After a little chatting and standing around it was time to get a warm up in before our wave starts we all seem to have our own warm ups, after a few photos then in the water we got for our respective warm ups and then a short walk down to the marshalling areas before the start beach.

TA Crew Group Pic

I felt good and comfortable and ready for a good swim. Looking at the previous waves the water entry had a beach cove on one side and very shallow water start with some rocks. I made the call to let the pack go and then find my own space in.

Walk to the start line

Start Line

The horn sounded and off we went we went. The first 200m the water was not deep so it felt like it was going to be 1500m running event, but once the water got to my quads I dived in and off I went. At the first buoy I could feel the tide pulling and it made the swim light work and I went with the flow. Before you knew it I could see the finishing line turn past the final buoy and headed in. The swim was fast, very fast looking at my Garmin I registered a time of 15 minutes and 35 seconds. At first I thought it was wrong until I looked at the time of day and knew it was right. My Official time was 15 minutes and 15 seconds.

Swim finish line

After the race I caught up with Ellie to see how her first race was and she loved every minute of the race.

Us at the finish

A few of crew headed to the Portsea pub for a drink before we headed back to town. Over a beer someone pointed out a long way to come for just a short time to swim, but it was fun.

Drinks at the Portsea Pub

This weekend it time the Great Australia Day Swim at Brighton Baths.

Elwood Race Report

With Geelong coming up soon and being my “A Race” I wanted to make sure that I sorted out my race plan. So I registered for Elwood Sprint which would be a full dress rehearsal for Geelong.

Race morning came and the weather was not too cold nor too hot great for racing. I showed up at the team Taj, got myself ready then headed into transition racked my bike and setup my transition area. I headed back to the tent dropped my bag off and then headed down to the beach to watch the Active Feet race.

The water looked somewhat flat and nice before too long it was time to put on the wettie and head down for my race start. I got my warm up swim in and then waited for my wave start the horn sounded and off we went. 500m of white water fun, for me the swim has got easier over the years. I pushed on through the course and run up the beach into transition.

I grabbed my helmet and bike and headed out for 2 laps on the course. It’s always nice having other TA support from both on the field and from the crowd. Before I knew it 2 laps had been done and I was coming back into transition.  I racked my bike put on my runners and headed out for a quick 5km run.


I finished in a time of 1hr 21m, not my best sprint time but still good. My race prep felt good which was the main key for this race.

Transition Setup Ready to go Coach



Out of the swim heading towards T1



Out of the swim heading towards T1

At the bike turn around near transition

At the bike turn around near transition

New Year and Sorrento 2km Open Water Swim Report

Ok it’s now 2013 and it’s a New Year, as I type this blog up, I notice it’s only some 36 days until my next Olympic Tri (Geelong Mutli-Sport Event). I used the previous Xmas Period to put some training in. My Tri Club runs an event call Hell Week, Basically, Bike, Run and Swim all in one day. It’s more about completing the distance not at a fast pace.

  

I had to work during this period so I had plan my hell week a little differently, lucky Coach Sarah arrange the working days for a 5:40am start which allowed those who had to work to get everything done. I managed to  get in around 55km on the bike, 3-4km off the bike and around 500m-700m swim in.

On the other days I was able to put in a longer ride and swim. Over all I was happy with Hell Week, nothing sore or a problem afterwards.

I also signed up for 2km Open Water Swim at Sorrento my first real long distance open water swim of the season. Few from the club have signed up for this event as well.

Race Day - I got up earlier and did my standard breakie routine, Sorrento is approx a 90min drive from home plus being a Saturday, Holiday Session and a nice day traffic was going to be a little mad. We headed down the coast and got there around 7:30 with the registration tent not opening until 8am we decided to go for a look around Sorrento and get a coffee. Not much open for a beach town at 7:30am. We managed to get a coffee and wait for the registration tent to open, I picked up my race kit, t-shirt, etc and caught up with Steve on of the TA crew down for the race. We listened to the race briefing then a quick bathroom break before heading off to what the Novice Race (600m), on the way down to the start I ran into Ryan Mannix,  who run the Triathlon Level 1 Coach course, we had a chat about coaching, racing, etc. wished each other good luck and head off to the start.

The novice race was fairly quick we managed to get back to the finish line just in time to see the winners cross the line.

Novice Start

We head back to the car to pickup my gear bag then headed down to the start line which was a 20minish walk.

Once there we had some 30mins to the start, so I changed into my wettie, Pam’s Hubbie Sam took a photo of us all before we all did a warm up swim before the race. 

TA Crew at the start line

At 11:10am, we all stood at the start line waited for 11:!5 our start time, the siren sounded and way we went out to the first buoy then a turn to the left and out to open sea. I found this no very fast almost like the water was keeping me steady but I did manage to keep moving. At the third buoy the turn towards the finish line it felt very fast and at the same time being pulled out towards the middle of the bay. I was some 10m away from the buoy line but I made the call to aim for the final turn buoy towards the beach. As I came up on the final buoy I found myself way off course I turned towards the beach and headed in. I found the shore line and run into the finish line. Mr Garmin said my time was 29m 57s but swam another 250m. Oh well, I was happy with that time I did manage to catch up in the swim some other TA members in the previous group. Meg said she thought I had swam some 4mins quicker than she did as she had only been on the beach for minute or so.

Coming into the finish line

Great event certainly I will be back next year and this is a real shoot in the arm for Portsea and Geelong.  I am yet to make a call if I will race at Elwood next weekend or not.