The finish line |
its all about the swimming
Live What You Love
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Melbourne 70.3 and Covid
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Cairns 2023
same old murky water and people swimming all over the place and not keeping a straight line. i think i swam around 1.17 which seems standard for me. once in transition not much to do but wipe the brown sludge off the face, grab shoes and helmet and on my way. still took 12 minutes. WTF ?
the ride wasnt too windy and most sections are protected. not really hot either but probably swaeting more than i realised and felt that when i got off the bike. they have changed the course so we do not go into port douglas but take a detour to a plantation estate that is quite surreal. we do this part of the course twice including riding over rex's look out twice. the worst part for me was my back. this hasnt happened in a very long time so i was surprised. but it fucking hurt and was very painful for probably 75 % of the ride. as per usual the last 20k back in to cairns was heading into a nasty wind and was quite an effort to keep up the pace. bike time was 6:53and mainly due to the back. stopped a few times to stretch. last time i rode just under 6 hours. bit disappointed with this. felt terrible in transition so took my time - a whole 13 minutes. who gives a fuck. i am not there to win anything.
so out on the run and it was just fucking awful. i felt like shit. there was alot of walking. some running. then a bit of shuffling. the crowd were awesome. especially the drunk girls out the back part. everyone was calling out your name and cheering you on. no stupid comments about hanging in there or not far to go. the view of cairns looking over and across the wharf at night was spectacular. i loved this run but i have to admit i never felt very good. i dont think i drank enough on the bike or even ate enough. i didnt count on sweating so much. i was covered in salt. talked to a few people who were not having a great day or just hadnt trained enough to run the whole marathon. no matter how bad though i had a great time. the triathlon alley was great fun and support. i would have to put this event up with new zealand. last time it rained so much the crowds were very quiet but this was a whole new experience. i did not feel like i was away racing on my own but had alot of people cheering me on.
so finally crossed that finish line in 15:11:52. first time i have a fifteen hour finish. whooo hoooo.
so that is two 12 hour, 2 thirteen, 3 fourteen and one fifteen hour finishes. i have to make sure it doesnt keep going up.
Friday, June 23, 2023
An Ironman Race Report
arrived in busselton on wednesday and straight to registration. the expo is pretty much non-existent. as usual they make you walk through the merchandise tent and it is a TRAP. for the $1100 entry fee i received another cheap chinese back pack (or as ironman refer to it - the athlete 'gift') and a small red bull. the ugly finisher man shirt would come later along with the pretty but thinner finisher towel.
my nerves were nuts. you would think at this point in my illustrious triathlon career i would be cool as a cucumber. i know that it is just a swim, bike and run and yes this is not my first. however the common sense brain cannot control everything. so i spend wednesday through friday feeling like shit. however i am sleeping well and by saturday i am starting to feel better especially when i am busy.
i am very good at tapering. thursday i rest, friday open water swim and saturday ride down to the jetty. morning tea catch up then finish packing the bike and run bags. drop the bike off, pick up pizza for dinner and home for an early night.
the only thing i hate about the 70.3 being at this race is they start before us but we still have to arrive early to get a decent parking spot. the time seems to go quickly and not as many toilet trips. the nerves are pretty bloody GOOD. get the new wetsuit on and it feels awesome. weather looks okay but it will be windy. cant control it so just let it go.
this swim course is just awful. swimming around the jetty was iconic and just fucking special. there were probably always sharks out there. we just didnt know. so i suffer through two laps of a lumpy course with people swimming all over the place. garmin has me spot on at 3700m but it felt like i swam further and at 1.20 it was slow (5th in age group so maybe we all had a shocker). i thought i kept missing the swim buoys and was always trying to get back on course. never found any good feet to stick with either.
transition was pretty ordinary. keeping to one outfit certainly helps.
the bike was fucking HARD. crosswinds all day and every now and then some relief in protected parts. but otherwise it did not stop. first lap felt good. the roads really are not that smooth and too many out and backs. on the second lap i started to think that i had taken a wrong turn and was heading the wrong way. wind induced hallucination. at some point i realised i was going okay and if i maintained the effort my time would reasonable. my back was good, my legs okay and my shoulder better than expected. i was starting to miss my good cycling bibs though. i think from the splits my second lap was just as good as the first. 4th in age group.
transition was slow. i took my time. on purpose. i knew the run was going to be long and tough and i needed a moment to get it together.
the longest i ran in training was 10k so i just had to do this four times. was it hard, yes. but the people i saw out on course made it just a little bit easier and in a way fun. did i have some low points - absolutely. my feet got all messed up as the socks i had on were too thin and my feet just not prepared for 42k. however experience paid off and i had put a thicker pair in my special needs and that saved me. i was lucky that at each end of the course there were people i knew and in between the huge crowd around the finish line. the encouragement was the right kind. positive and not condescending. running a marathon after a 180k bike and 4k swim just brings a different vibe from people. i focused on the same approach i had at NZ and that was to maintain the same average pace over the 42k. i remember fiona giving me my requested shit comments of encouragement - loved it. stopped and spoke to brett but no idea what i said. alex played my favourite song (go faster - black crowes) and i did for about 500m. my nutrition was all over the place and i need to think about that. i was very happy to finish and loved that the song playing as i tried to look impressive and sprint the finish line was nutbush city limits. very age appropriate.
so the medal was awesome and chatted with a few people i met at the pre-swim while eating the best hot chips and icecream ever. managed to get all my gear together and loaded the car. nice hot shower, cold choc milk with left over cold pizza and then bed. finish time was 14.10 so not my best and not my worst. not great for busselton though. bike was 6.12 so based on the wind factor that was a great effort. this gives me some good confidence going forward - especially if i do the full training required. but my love and enjoyment for the sport is coming back and that makes me happy.
Saturday, April 16, 2022
the imposter triathlete
this is a great article to read (link below) if you have ever felt like you are not quite good enough. some of the people i know who are very good triathletes confess to the imposter syndrome and that really surprises me. i felt it from the very beginning. at first it was just a case of being unfit and a total newbie but i thought as time went on and i improved it would change. when that didnt happen i decided that i just has to go longer and faster and then i would belong. well that didnt work so then i just had to race more events, complete more ironmans and just be in the sport longer. i got involved at the administration level of the sport. i have never been involved with clubs or squads as the travel time and training sessions made it difficult. so the only other missing equation is that i never got fast enough to be at the podium level or to qualify for worlds. maybe that was it. i know people say that triathlon is about participation and all levels of ability are welcome. however i dont believe that but maybe that is the imposter syndrome at work.
this gets even worse for the aging triathlete. so on top of not feeling good enough you are now automatically judged and put in a box because you are older. for me i went backwards from time off from the sport and to come back to a decent level of consistency and pace was harder than any of the training i had done previously and it is still a work in progress. recovery takes longer and the amount of volume has to be managed. sometimes it is really fucking hard but you have to remind yourself that some of the people you are training with are 20 or 30 years younger and you are not an imposter or a failure.
i have less summers in front of me than behind me and my choice of races in the next few years has to be well thought out. i hope that by the time i leave the sport i feel a little less like an imposter and more a part of it.