The Nepean triathlon

The Nepean triathlon is Australia's oldest triathlon. The current distance is 1km swim, 30km ride, 10km run. Second week into the race season and this is the second event. A little longer than the club race but not a heap. Held at the regatta centre again. The difference with this race and the club race is the ride heads out on the streets and the run is laps around the lake. An advantage of this race heading out on the streets is it follows a similar path to the 70.3 ride I have at the end of November.

It was another early start. Everything going as planned. At rego they printed your age group on your calf so you know who you are competing against. It was another wetsuit optional race. My wave was once again about last to head off. I started a little slower than normal hoping that I could get into a more controlled pace than last week. Soon I was back into my normal pace but I was close to the end of the swim so that was good. Once again I was hoping I was ahead of Mike. I jogged out of the water a little faster than last week.

Getting into transition I could see Mike's bike was still there. Woohoo I am in front. I do what I need to and get out of there as fast as I can. Out of transition I jump on the bike and start to peddle. I try to keep a good pace without overdoing it. About 1km into the ride I have Mike passing me. Damn it that's way too soon. I duck in behind him and get a little draft happening before I decide I should let him go. From there on I am trying to just keep a good pace while keeping the heart rate down. Sure it was little disheartening to see a hill half way around the ride. Lucky it wasn't that big. Apart from some guy not knowing how to stay to one side when being passed and almost running me into a cone it was a pretty uneventful ride. I had lost touch with Mike and the others I knew competing were also nowhere to be seen. But as I was feeling good I was happy so far.

I jumped off the bike and ran into transition. I could see Mike had left already so I took some extra time to put my socks on for the longer run. It didn't take much longer. The run started and once again it was faster than my normal pace. I slowed down a little during the first lap so I could make it to the end. The sun was out and it was now really hot. The drinks stations became a mouthful of water and the rest of the cup tipped over my head. After the first lap I started to think about if I could make it at the current pace. It was still fast for me and the heat was taking its toll. That's where I try to convince myself that 5km is less than 25min running. I can do that. Its not even half a training run. I remember with 3.5km to go thinking I should be done in about 18min. Easy you can do this. Just keep the legs going. I ran for what seemed like ages, looked at the watch and thought damn it I have only run 500m. This is going to be harder than I think. But then I see something that cheered me up. Not far ahead of me was Mike. Yay I can see him and I seem to be catching him. I get right behind him with about 2.5 km to go. We had just past a drink station so there is a small group of people. I start to consider what to do. Do I say hello and have a chat. Maybe he will speed up to beat me if I do. Do I follow a small group past him and hope he does not see me. If I do that he might still see me and then I am just rude and he still might speed up. Either way I could be in trouble here. I don't want to leave it to late in case he kicks at the end but I also don't know if I have much more in me.

Well I decide to say hi. We always high five as we pass each other and try to cheer each other on so I decided not to be sneaky. We have a little chat about how we are going and soon I hear him say he will see me at the end. I was pulling away. Don't look back I kept thinking to myself. I might give it away that I am hurting. Knowing that we are close and that we only have a short distance to go I push even harder. I can see the line down the end of the path. I am just hoping that I have made enough of a gap to keep him away. I cross the line, grab my medal and get out of the road. I can't talk as I am done. I need a drink and to get out of the heat. Walking to the drinks I see a guy using a hose to fill the drink buckets. Lucky for me he was willing to hose me down. It helped. A few drink and a little sit down in the shade and I was feeling a lot better. Damn it was hot.

With a time of 1:53:53 it was the fastest race I have done. The bike was super fast at 37.54km/h average and a pace of 4:38 per km on the run I was really happy. Now I just need to slow that down a little and get through the next race which will be the longest race I have ever done.

Race season has started

Yep that's right the racing has started. Two weeks and two races are now done and dusted. Lucky for me the first three races I am doing this season are at the same location which I am very familiar with. Based at the Sydney international regatta centre in Penrith which is the home of the Hills tri club.

The first race of the season was a Hills club race. Distance is a standard sprint. 750m swim, 20km ride, 5km run. Shouldn't be a big deal with all the training I have been doing. Normally our club races are in the afternoon once the heat of the day has gone but this one was early morning. I like that as it gets it done and you have the rest of the day to do what you like. With my bike stripped down to the bare essentials for a short race I was ready to go.

Ready to race

View of the swim leg

It was a perfect morning for the race. It did feel a little cold at the start but no wind and with the sun coming up it was going to get warm later. The wetsuit optional call went out while we were setting up which always makes me happy. With the bike racked it was time for the long walk down to the start point.

This race is a straight swim. So the long walk to the start and looking all the way down to the finish can be a spirit buster until you get used to it. Its not as fun as when you have a few turns to think about. Anyway soon we were in the water and racing. My group being the older males is always the last to leave but soon we were catching some of the slower swimmers. My race typically revolves around trying to see if I can keep up with my old trainer Mike. We like to start a bit away from the rest and get a good run down the lake. I took off at the start trying to make sure I did not fall to far behind Mike. But I lost him. I didn't know if he was ahead or behind but he was gone. Half way through I was hoping that I didn't go out to hard. I find it hard to pace myself on the swim. I just swim stupid and feel it when I get to the end. I tried to calm down and swim relaxed but that's easier said than done.

I exit the water puffing away as always. I don't run right away. I walk out of the water undoing the wetsuit and make sure that I am not the guy that falls over as they stand up. As I start to speed up to a nice jog into transition I see Mike run past me crossing the timing mat 1 sec ahead. He made sure he gave me a little crap as he past me just to rub it in. We both strip down and grab our bikes and head off. This is the first time I had my shoes set on the bike and was going to try a flying start. Being closer to Mike than I ever have gave me some hope that if I could just get close enough I might finally beat him. Well I jump on my bike get both feet in and peddle up a small hill. When I get to the top I do up my straps and look up for Mike. Yeah 20m ahead and leaving me behind. The guy is a beast on the bike. My heart is racing, I am short on breath and I start to realise that my hopes of catching him and maybe cheating a little off him is rapidly becoming less of an option. But not to worry if I go hard enough I might be able to get him on the run. Well thats what I tell myself. By the 5km mark I start to wonder why am I doing this. Whats wrong with me. I question my training and wonder how am I every going to make the full ironman if I can't even complete a sprint without this much pain. I do everything I can to slow my heart rate and get myself under control. Yeah maybe I should have slowed the legs down but knowing I was falling behind that's not an option. I never said I was smart.

Soon the ride came to an end. No I had not been able to calm down but I thought that if I get into a good run then it would all work out. Looking in transition I see the normal view. Mikes bike neatly racked and him gone. Damn it. Oh well I rack my stuff, put on my shoes and head off for the run. It's a two lap run up and back on a path. So you get to see everyone a few time. The run starts off a little fast for me. It tends to happen as you try to keep up with people. I try to slow a little which does work but its still hard. I push on and see Mike as he passes going the other way. I then try to work out how far behind I am. The state I am in I wouldn't have been able to count to 10. The rest of the first is pretty much the same. Some people pass me and I pass others. I look at my watch and I am still travelling at a fast speed for me. I just assume that if I just put my head down I could make it to the end like this. I actually start to feel better for a while. Then I hear someone catching me. As he gets along side me some guy says "you are a hard man the catch 47". Yes that was my number. We chat for a moment about how the race is going. While I am being nice on the outside all I can think of is you bastard why do you sound so fresh. If I was hard to catch why don't you sounds like you are struggling. Anyway he soon continues on and leaves me to push to the end. I come across the line with nothing left. When I finally got myself settled I checked out my time. Faster than last years times by about 6min. That cheered me up a little. I later found out that I was only 49 seconds behind Mike. Yes he beat me again but I was getting closer. My run really help out.

Build phase 1

Wow its been a while since I can added anything in here. So whats happened the last few weeks. Well the build phase. Everything is harder and wow can I say some of it was very hard. As I don't have a lot of extra time on my hands than what I am already doing we just do the same timings but add difficulty.

I remember one swim race prep session I struggled to even keep the timings. Well I say struggled to keep the timings. I actually didn't. I had to have a couple of longer breaks than I was supposed too. I made it to the end but man was I in pain. I will say I was happy that the coach had a go at that session and also found it very difficult. Made me feel better about my effort.

The magpies are still out and about causing trouble. It can't be much longer till they bugger off. Our club organised an open water swim at the regatta center where the 70.3 will be run. It was good to get in the water and have more time in the wetsuit. The water was a little cold but not to bad. I am back there this week for the clubs first race of the season.

Last week I spent four days in Malaysia. It kind of ruined the normal weekend training. I had to use a spin bike and treadmill for the Saturdays brick session. Wow what a pain that was. Hot, boring and just not right. I don't know how people do that sort of thing all the time. Then Sunday I didn't do anything as I had a big night out on Saturday. Monday after I got in I missed the swim as I couldn't keep myself awake. But all up I guess I didn't miss a heap. I tried to get as much in during the start of the week as I could. Even went for a run at 5:30am the morning of the flight out.

Training in Malaysia

This week is another recovery week before the next build phase. Time to take it easy with training and let the body recover. So it should be fun. Plus with the Hills tri club race one on Sunday its going to be a good week. Then next week we have the Nepean triathlon which is in-between a sprint and an olympic distance. Then its the final push to the 70.3.

On the injuries front everything seems to be pretty good. Nothing stopping me from doing what I need too.

Now for something crazy. I left Australia and it was 33°C. I come back four days later and its low 20's. The second night I am back and it snows in the mountains an hour away from home. We don't have that much snow there even during winter. Just crazy. I think last year we had bush fires in the mountains. The world has gone crazy. :)