Bunbury Classic

Last weekend I competed in the Bunbury Classic (an Olympic distance triathlon). It was my first race since May and I was very excited to be racing again!  I will give a quick recap of my race and where I am at leading into Ironman WA.

The 1500m swim was split into two laps.  I had a good start in the swim and tried to find a nice rhythm into the chop.  There was a big group that reached the first turning buoy at the same time however everyone was calm which was nice!  I managed to separate myself from the group on the way back into the shore and turned onto the second lap... heading out was hard and slow and I struggled to get into a rhythm.  I swam the last half a lap shoulder to shoulder with Johan and we exited the water together reasonably well placed.

Johan and I finishing the swim

T1

A quick transition and out onto the bike for 6 laps.  It took my legs about a lap and a half to get going and once they were firing, we were moving along nicely.  Johan and I stayed together for the ride and worked well taking turns at setting the pace.  I do most of my bike training with Johan so it worked well as we both know how each other ride.  We kept the race high throughout the bike and averaged 41.2km/hr.

On the way to a 41.2km average!

A quick T2 and off for the 10km run

The run was okay... I knew it would not be fast given that fact I am about to race an ironman, but I felt strong for the 10km which is what I wanted! I cruised home and finished with an overall time of 2.03.54, 6th in the open category.

I am happy with how the race went. I got exactly what I needed to out of it in preparation for Busso (now 7 days away).

I am now well into my taper (this report was written a week after the race) and I am feeling great. Yesterday was the last Saturday ride before the race and I had a nice ride with the athletes from Eclipse Fitness that are doing Ironman (& Lisa!) We did a 90km loop with a coffee stop which was a nice change and I had a short run off the bike (the last brick!).  This morning we all had an open water swim and another coffee - you can tell it's taper!

Almost there!

Looking forward to getting down to Busselton on Wednesday evening and relaxing for a few days before the race.

In other exciting news... Lisa and I are buying a house! It will be ours at the start of the new year!

Cheers,

Andy