I made it to Huskisson on the Friday afternoon. Had some lunch and checked in the caravan park. I was staying with Adam which was good as everything is always fully booked over the race weekend. We are only a short walk to the start and on part of the run course. That afternoon we watched the open water swimming race. It was kind of funny if you were not in it. The wind and current really affected the race as no one made it back to the shore directly. Many having to scamper over rocks to get back onto the correct beach. I am so glad I did not decide to do that.
The next day was all the shorter distance tri's and fun runs. So we got to sit around and cheer on the people we knew. It was also a good chance to look at the expo for things I didn't need or could not afford. The afternoon was for registration and bike check-in. That night as always it rained and rained. That's pretty much a usual on a tri weekend in Husky. Once again we thought that it was going to be a wet race.
The next morning and the rain had turned into the occasional shower but not that heavy. It was an early start which was good with me. Better to get it started than to have to wait around half the day. I setup transition and slid myself into the trusty wetsuit.
It was still a little windy and which sucked but what can you do. I put my goggles on and they fogged up right away. I could not clear them so I gave up and decided to swim blind. How hard could it be. Actually it was more annoying than hard. I just followed people and tried to guess where I was. The swim was slower than 2 years ago so I will blame the conditions. haha. You could not see the beach flags when heading back in from the last turn around so I don't know how the front runners managed.
At the end of the swim as soon as my hand hit the ground I stood up. Walking out of the water and removing my gear as I usually do. Suddenly I tripped on a little sand lip and no mater how much I wanted to stay upright it was all over. I was on my knees getting up and I hear over the PA system "I see he has his sea legs still". Well the crowd got a good laugh and that's all that really matters right. Thinking about it later on the ride I should have given a little bow before running off..
In transition it was one blunder after another. I think I am getting worse at these. First I could not get my left leg out of the wetsuit. Then I broke one of the holes in my race number so it would then flap around in the wind all ride. So it was a slow transition. I also felt some groin pain that might have happened when I fell.
I started the bike ride and I had nothing in my legs. The groin pain wouldn't allow me to get any power down. I rode as hard as I could without making it worse but I seemed slow.I took some nutrition and anti cramp tablets hoping that would help. I was trying to closely follow my nutrition plan which normally goes out the window for some reason. By lap 3 of the bike I decided I needed to have something for the groin pain. I popped a couple of tablets and kept going. I think it worked as I felt better or maybe that was due to me getting off the bike I don't know.
Another slow transition but I was not worried. I noticed a pro athlete was still in transition with me so I knew I wasn't having that bad a day. haha. Poor guy. The run started well and I kept making markers I wanted to get to. I think around the 8km mark I took my first walk through an aid station on the way back in on the first lap. Then at 12km and 16km. Each was just a short walk as I find that better than running through and not getting a good drink in etc. I made sure I kept up on my salt tablets and felt I finished off the run pretty well. I would like to think that I had more in me but I know at the time I was pretty much done. I guess we will never know but I felt happy with the overall result. Judging by the pain today I must have tried hard.
