What a nightmare, my planned relaxing drive down the WA coast, building the bike, checking in and checking out the race course, having a nice lunch, then an afternoon snooze to prepare, had now changed into a slog just to even get to the start. After arriving in Perth tired and with weather that resembled the UK in Feb, we picked up the hire car, and started the drive down to Perth. The forecast was not looking good, it was supposed to be rainy and wet and cold tomorrow for race day...excellent! We finally made it to Busso' after 3 1/2 hours and managed to check in, by now it was starting to get dark, it was rainy and blustery down on the sea front, the ocean looked angry. I was then told I had to have my bike in the transition area before 6:30pm, no exceptions, I pleaded that we had just arrived from HK, but there was no exceptions least of all for any pom's! In a wet and windy dark car-park I put my bike together as best I could, hoping I would have enough time tomorrow morning to fix anything that didn't look right now. After grabbing some food from the supermarket and some take out fish and chips, we made off to the resort, hoping for more luck on race day.
One good thing about Perth is that it is on the same timezone as HK, so after getting a very early night, waking up at 4:30am for race day (which is not far off what I do during the week, was surprisingly easy). We made it down to the race site, thankfully although the wind and rain had calmed slightly, the sea was still very angry. I went off to prep' my bike, hoping the sea would ease over the next hour or so before the race start.
Coach Woody had had me doing a 60~90minute ride yesterday to help prepare the legs for today, but as that never happened, I went off for an extended jog, did a series of fast knee lifts and butt kick's, to try and start the blood moving. The plan for the race was to start the swim hard, find fast feet, hang on as best I could to get into the first paceline on the bike. We would take the first 10mins of the bike easy, then build to moderate for the 60km's then if all felt good, drop the hammer for the last 30km's. The plan on the run was to start easy build a rhythm...and hopefully not die to early...simple! but the reality was after a quick warm up, I felt knackered already....blimey this was going to be a long day.
I had completely missed the mandatory race briefing due to our travel issues, so on walking to the swim start, i thought it best just to check with a few people to make sure nothing critical had been missed, no nothing missed 1 loop on the swim, 2 loops on the bike, 3 loops on the run...simple.
As we got down to the start of the swim, I was in wave 3, 18~24 and 35~39 men together, that's a big group, probably the biggest of all the waves. Generally I don't like wave starts, mass starts are the more authentic aspect of triathlon, but today, i was a little upset that it wasn't just the 35~39's....the last thing I needed was more people in my way. My swim prep' had been lacking to say the least and with the way the water was moving with the wind and waves it was going to be a tough swim. I jumped in, damn it was cold and dark....this is WA...where was the crystal blue water, fishes and coral I had seen i the advertising pictures...I couldn't even see my hand. The water wasn't dirty apart from all the seaweed, it had just been so churned up by the storms, it was not an inviting start.
The pro's went off at 7am, and they were getting barraged immediately by the tide and waves. I doubled checked the course as spotting in these conditions wasn't going to be easy. A quick photo and kiss good luck from Asami, and I lined up for my start at 7:15am. It had been a long journey just to get here after the issues with Cathay, I wasn't well prepared, I dint feel that great, and the water was rough...I tried a few deep breaths, and tried to push that all to the back of mind, experience was going to count today, I had been here numerous times, just go with the flow.
Start quick, find fast feet, get out of the water ASAP. Well just as the start of the journey to Aus had been a nightmare, now the start of my race had taken the same course. The cold water got to me immediately even though I had jumped in before, my chest felt constricted, I couldn't breathe properly. The wave was large and my position wasn't the best, I was about 200m's offshore and I really couldn't breathe, I had gone out reasonably fast, and I was near the front of the wave, god 100's of people behind me, I cant breathe, the waves were crashing over me, shit I cant breathe, I cant go left, I cant go right too many swimmers, I cant stop there are 100's of people bearing down on me, where's the lifeguard...no where. This vicious spiral of thoughts continued, damn I had felt the beginnings of a panic attack before under a similar situation and conditions...I had to get to get it under control. I did a few breast stroke's, and tried to calm my breathing, I rolled onto my back to try and get more air in, however all that did was allow to me see the 100's of people coming behind me and around me now, even less chance to get out of their way, a few more breast strokes and few lighter stroke's....I managed to round the first mark, without getting jostled too badly, I was a long way down from where I normally am, and there were a lot of people around me. Spotting the next buoy was tough, and getting there was proving to be tough with the waves and tides, however at least I could breathe now...that was a plus.
Finding the course was tricky, the cold water made my goggles continually fog, and then the sun broke the clouds, and at that early morning angle of it hitting the water, I was literally blinded. God this wasn't fun....just keep going, and it will be over soon. After taking a wrong turn, and missing the 2nd buoy, I eventually turned for home, but visibility and spotting continued to be a problem. Finally I could see the exit gate, thank god, just hang on for a few more minutes. I was out of the water in 38minutes, a horrible time for me, I finished Clearwater in 29mins....my god I really was out of shape, even with the panic attack and loss of direction.
I jogged up to T1 disappointed, not only had it not been fun, that's the first time I had actually wished a swim to be over. The swim is often one of my strongest events, and to exit where I did mid field was a little depressing. I started out on the bike and to the next problem, and this time it was all my fault...a rookie error. I hadn't set my aerobars properly, trying to put my bike together in a dark wet car park, I hadn't aligned them properly, they were not horizontal to the ground, but angling up at about 10degree's. Not much you might think, but when comfort=speed, anything that is not dialled in can cause issues. I umm'd and arr'd as to how I was going to handle this, then in a moment of inspiration, brawn took over, and i was able to muscle them down to where I needed them...we where off...the change in position although slight was a big psychological win...finally I felt comfortable.
The plan on the bike was to ride big gear, keep the cadence low 70~80rpm, and not stress my cardio system. The bike was riding well, and I was managing a steady 40kmh. Finally things started to get better, the sun managed to stay out, and the roads where drying slowly. The course took us through some amazing forests. As the sun started to warm the roads and tree's, the smells where fantastic, I learnt after that we were riding through a forest of peppermint tree's and wow did it smell it good. I finally stopped worrying about how well or badly I was doing, but just enjoyed the ride. I had missed the paceline's, and I was riding pretty much on my own for the 1st half of the 1st loop, it wasn't until i was approaching the turnaround that I saw what was the paceline from my wave, it was only about 3mins ahead of me....wow other people must have had crappy swims as well, i expected to be much further down. I made the turn and dropped the hammer a little, the plan had been to ride easy for 60km's and being mindful of that I wasn't in the best shape dialled it back a little, if I was going to catch them, I would do it slowly. Back out through the forest and to the end of loop 1, the winds were starting to pick up again, but the sun was still out.
Loop 2 meant riding out through all the other waves, so although I had plenty of riders to pick off, it made seeing the paceline I was after hard to spot. I started to suffer a little bit from position fatigue, not being on my tri bike a lot, the position although comfortable to begin with, wasnt after a while, just my body being out of sync being in an aero position for so long. Busso's bike course is pancake flat, so there is no rest bite from the constant output. No hills or descents to rest or change position on I focused on staying small into the wind ( the sun was directly behind me and giving me a great view of how aero I could be, by tucking my head in). Back through the forest, and the turnaround for home, i was keeping my output steady, I felt ok at the 60km mark and picked up the pace a little but not dramatically. I managed to finish the 2nd loop in almost the exact same time as the first...not bad...i hadn't lost that much into the end of the ride.
In to T3, and the sun was fully out now, and was now getting hot. The run was a 3 loop run, along the coast of 3 equal 7km loops. It was a perfect course, dead flat, plenty of aid stations, and a nice gentle sea breeze. The plan as always was to run easy, find a rhythm and then hold it. I felt good, my legs were fine, and I was starting to pass people already. I found I was able to hold this rhythm quite comfortably, I knocked off the 1st loop, and then the 2nd, I could feel some twinge's in my thigh's as it was getting hot now. I hadn't taken any salt tablets into this race, I had expected it to be wet and cold, I was now regretting that decision. I started to work out my time, and if I could hold this speed, a sub 5 hour was possible, that would be a great result, after such a rough start.
I held pace, which is hard to do as now I was surrounded by all the other waves, some people I was passing, others passing me, as they were just starting their runs. I made the last turnaround, with 3km to go, i said to myself make it through the last aid station then go...and I did. Finishing in 4:58:30 and 19th in my age group.
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