A few months late but i wrote this a few days after the race.
I awoke at 5am (I’m one of those people who like to wake up slowly and not feel rushed out the door) Breakfast was just the normal peanut butter & jam on toast with a cup of tea half an hour after waking. I knew i had to get food in a good 2 hours before starting so my stomach wasn’t full. Shower to warm up (something i do before races now as i read it was good once?) any excuse to have a shower is a good excuse to me. Got changed and checked the weather. Windy with a high of 22 degrees. It was already 19 outside so i knew once i got into the run it would be a warm one.
Google told me it would take 20 mins to drive there from my house. It took about 15 and i went the speed limit. Got a park right across from transition so I’m glad i got there early. However getting there before 7am and then realising we didn’t start till 8am made for a long wait.
I figured bringing the kids would be painful for me and the other half. They would have got so bored waiting from 7 till 8 and then waiting till i got in and not to mention waiting for prizegiving arggh.
8am finally rolled around i was in the first wave so i was right at the start of the race. First time ever and it felt kinda strange. There was a countdown from 10 over a walkie talkie coming from the pool as the first wave for the Triathlon started at the same time. And we were off, i thought to myself i’ll start off slow. As i started i knew i was pulling away from the ladies. I was hoping someone faster than me could go ahead and show me where the bloody hell i was going. I tried to maintain a comfortable pass following the lead bike till we got back to the transition area.
The first 1km was out of the park and back around, as i entered the park i was passing the walkers who had started their 500 metres. I looked over towards the pool and there were ladies coming out to the bike already. I was surprised they could have swam that fast in 4 mins. Though i don’t know how many laps they had done.
I fumbled a bit getting my helmet on, i decided to change to bike shoes but i felt it was a good choice for me.
The run out of transition with the bike it felt like it took ages it was probably only 100 metres or so.
5km into the ride and I could see the lead car with about 3 riders behind it.
The bike was 20km 2 laps of the same course. Around the 10km mark there was the massive head wind. It knocked me down to 25km/ph argggh gross! I really hate wind, actually hate it. Even walking in it. I was passed by 3 women on the first lap (though i could tell at least 2 of them were in the triathlon race as their hair was wet haha). The second lap wasn’t too bad, i knew where the wind was going to be and how to take the corners. I was passed by 3 riders after my chain fell off around 15km (they were obviously bloody drafting too) Luckily one of those girls told me to keep pedaling and my chain flicked back on. I was a few metres back from them until we got into transition for the second run.
Heading into the 5k run i was feeling pretty good. I passed one of those girls who passed me on the bike. There were loads encouraging words on the footpath as we ran. By the time i got to 3.5km i could feel my speed dropping. I wanted to stay around 5 minutes a km but i was losing it. A women sprinted pass me and i told myself she was probably doing the short course because in these races you don’t know who’s doing what and it kinda made me feel better. I was hoping to do a PR for the 5km but i ended up being a minute over.
That was it. I came down to the finish line and a lady yelled out “You are now an Ironman” i laughed thinking i would have loved to have just finished that distance and feel the same. I came in 3rd place for my age group and 6th overall. I was 2 minutes behind the lady in 2nd place.
(Transition from bike to run)
