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.