Geelong 70.3

Race Morning
Geelong is an interesting place at 5am walking down Moorabool Street (there were a lot of people from the night before stumbling around the streets and out of the few clubs that were still open). We heard a few funny remarks from some a few people as we walked down in our sober state with bike pumps and Lycra!

I set up my transition area, pumped the 808s and mentally went through my race. I went and had a look at some of the pros getting ready, pretty awesome seeing the World Ironman Champion setting his bike and transition up. I went for quick run up jog and got ready for the race start.

Swim
The swim was a mass start and was a triangular course. I started towards the front of the swim and went out hard from the start. I felt comfortable on the way out to the first turning can but I didn't have the best line going out. There were some big, hard jellyfish in the bay which freaked me out a bit, although I think I was one of the lucky ones who didn't get stung. After turning the first can we were heading into some chop with the sun shining in our eyes making it hard to sight the turning can. I existed the water in 27.35, slower then I was hoping. I didn't make good decisions in the swim with my lines (partly due to difficulties is sighting the cans).

Into T1 i whipped my wetsuit off, helmet on and I was out onto the bike in 1.50

Bike
My goal was to ride conservatively and save my legs for the run. The bike course was 3 laps and some what undulating. The drafting throughout the bike course was terrible and the TO's didn't do much to help the situation. I rode honestly all day and leg the big groups go by me (which in hindsight was the wrong move, again, i did this at busso half last year, I need to just go with them). It was really disappointing and drafting is becoming a joke in these races. It looked like a Sunday morning group ride which is basically was. People were sitting on each others wheels. When a group came past me i sat in with them for a while, the legal distance and people continually dropped in on me pushing me back and back so I sat up and let them go. Often a TO was sitting next to the group and then continued to draft with the TO's doing nothing!! And this was all in the first lap. Once I let the group go i assumed that the TO's would do something to police the situation (assuming i would see people in the penalty box as I came through the gardens), but not ONE person was in there!!

I rode the first lap with Johan before he got away in the 2nd.

On the third lap I was trailing behind a small group with a few female pro's. A TO was on the bike next to this group with age group men and these pro girls and one of the pro girls who was clearly riding legally was given a penalty. I went up to her and said that was rubbish and i will back her up if she complains (if that was possible).

I was generally happy with my ride, although I need to learn to just go with the groups. I stuck to my hydration and nutrition plan and hit T2 in 2.24.51 feeling great and was out on the run in 1.08.

Run
This was going to make or break my race (obviously). My plan was to go out easy and build into the run. I did just that for the first 2 laps. I was ticking over nicely and felt comfortable. I was getting my gels down and having a drink of water at each aid station. I slowed a bit in the third lap but I managed to run the whole way this time (unlike busso last year!). Towards the end i was looking at my watch trying to work out what time I was going to finish in (I had put down 4.35 when i entered but i was hoping to go under 4.30). I completed the run in 1.38.15 and crossed the line in 4.33.41. It is a PB by about 12 mins. I am happy with the overall time of my race but there are some aspects I need to work on!

I had a great trip over to Geelong with Lisa (our support), and Johan (who smoked the course in 4.13) and Helen (5.17, just missing out on 3rd). I am generally happy with my race and the direction things are heading (although I am starting to realise it is going to take time to get to the top in these bigger races).

Cheers,
Andy

Time to pack my bike

Finally all the work is done. We leave for Geelong tomorrow night and I can't wait. My build up to the race has been fantastic. No niggling injuries and I am feeling better then ever. Hopefully I can use the experience I have gained in my last 2 Busselton 1/2s to put together a great race.

My first DNF

The Australia Day Triathlon in Perth is held at Point Walter and is a sprint distance race. I was really looking forward to this race was it was 12 days before geelong so was a good hit out to make sure everything is working and it a tough little course.

I had a good swim exiting in 5th position, and caught the competitor in front of me in the run up to transition. I had a quick transition and just got my feet into my shoes, and as i was going down the first down hill section my back wheel went flat so that was my day over :(

Not much I could do. I dont carry spares in a short race so made the walk back to transition and was keeping splits on the leaders. Scott Neyedli dominated all day and made the bike course look easy. We had close to a 3 min lead off the bike and extended that on the run. Karl Reindler had a great race finishing 3rd in the open category with a smoking bike/run combo.

I woke up this morning went to swiming, with the feeling we were going to have a time trial. I was right and after a warm up Stu got us going for the TT. I has a reasonable swim 11.27 for 800m which is my 2nd best time. My best is 11.09.

Most of our long training is done for Geelong so i will focus on my swiming over the next 10 days. I am hoping to swim around 26min there.

2 weeks

Well I have finally finished the last of of my hard training weeks. I was absolutely wrecked in the middle of last week. I had a tough interval run on Tuesday night followed by a long hard fin set in the pool on Wednesday morning which almost killed me. I had a 24km run scheduled for the evening. I got through 22km and called it quits. The next couple of days I was flat and very tired. So i had Friday evening totally off and went to see Avatar.

Saturday morning came and i was feeling great again. We road up to kalamunda and did a 13km loop 3 times. It was a tough little loop, but I rode well and felt really comfortable on the bike. Back home and I got just over 110km on the spedo and I was off on my 8km run off the bike. I felt strong and was able to hope a good pace.

I have one more long brick session on Sunday which should be my last big session before race day.

I am racing the Australia Day Sprint Triathlon tomorrow morning in the Open category. It is a tough little course and I am looking forward to it.

I picked up Ian's zipp 808's for the race tomorrow and I will also be using them for Geelong. They look awesome on my bike. I will write a race report tomorrow and post it up.

Andy

17 days to go...

My last hard week and I am stuffed! Have had to re organise my program for the week and my body NEEDED a sleep in yesterday morning and I gave in. Back into it again after a relatively slow start for the week.

Had our regular Tuesday running intervals sessions and it was a tough set. The main set consisted of 4x1km efforts, 4x400m on 2mins, 2x1km efforts. Covered about 12km including warm up. I could hardly walk by the end.

I have a long run tonight which thankfully the Perth weather has decided to cool down to only 31 today which is a nice change the the 40+ temps we have been getting for the last 3 days.

I am having my second hit out in the open category in the Australia Day Triathlon on Tuesday. It is a sprint distance race over the rough Point Walter course. I am looking forward to having a good hit out prior to Geelong in full race trim to make sure everything is ready to go for the big race.

Looking forward to tapering that's for sure!

Geelong 70.3 - 3 Weeks

The last 4 weeks have been really tough. Just back from a training camp in Busselton with a few guys from my squad. We did some quality sessions over the weekend and I am feeling pretty tired now. We have have some hot weather in Perth over the last couple of days and I am feeling the effects of it!

I have one more hard week of training before I start my taper for Geelong. I am really excited about the race and I am feeling great. Looking froward to putting all the hard work into action.

Left Bank Triathlon

This was my first race in the open category and I was pretty nervous. I had not tapper leading into the race as it was purely a race to get under the belt. I did my normal Saturday morning ride with Eclipse Fitness and we worked pretty hard all day into some strong winds.

I opted to ride to the race venue for a bit of a warm up and to test out my bike (I have my position on it by lowering the bars and shortening the stem). My legs felt pretty heavy on the way which wasn’t a good sign.

The swim was 400m and going with the current. I decided to wear my orca swim skin as it is easy to get off and being such a short swim I didn’t feel I would get an advantage from the wetsuit. I went out hard from the start and felt strong. I came out the water in 3rd place and made the long run to transition. I had my swim skin basically of before I got to my bike. A quick transition with my helmet and race number on and I was off.

This is where my problem for the day started. I had a clear run for the mount onto my bike. I did it smoothly and then as I sat on my seat it angled down to 45 degrees. I didn’t know what to do so I continued riding and got my feet in my shoes and tried to force the seat back into position. It was budging do I made the decision to forget about it and push on. I was in 3rd place behind Troy Main and Paul Mackay. I was pretty uncomfortable on the bike due to the seat failure but I rode as well as I could considering. Leigh Willison and the Paul Gardner putting me back into 5th passed me.

I had a good T2 and passed Paul Gardner in transition. I left transition fast while expressing my anger towards my seat to Lisa and Ben. I maintained a good speed up until the hill where I slowed a bit. At the turn around I assessed where I was in the field and pushed hard down hill to turn around to bring me back to lap 2. My pace slowed a little on the 2nd lap although I maintained the same distance to Troy Main which was a good sign. At the turn around I push hard to the end and finished 4th. No one passed my on the run which I am really happy with.

I was really happy with the result for the race, being my first open race. It was a club point race so I think I will get a few points towards the club series. Next race in the interclub race in Mandurah then State Sprint Champs in Rockingham which I will race age group.