Half-fast. Not slow. Not fast. Not prepared.

Race Results: Nissan BRW Corporate Triathlon

Due to one of my team members falling ill, I ended up going around twice - but given it wasn’t a long event, I wasn’t too upset about that. On the whole, I wasn’t overly happy with my times; the first time around, I probably went a bit conservatively; and my second go really showed up my lack of training since racing the 70.3 in Geelong a few weeks back.

• Swim (400m): 00:07:46
• Bike (10km): 00:22:48
• Run: (4km): 00:17:21
• Overall time: 00:47:55

• Swim (400m): 00:10:22
• Bike (10km): 00:23:49
• Run: (4km): 00:18:23
• Overall time: 00:52:24

(We didn’t get transition times in the results… I’m assuming they’re worked into the overall time somehow.)

It was all a lot of fun though, which I guess is the main point of BRW anyway.

Only one race left for the season: Gatorade Race 6 at St Kilda in three weeks’ time. I’ll have to jump into the training again so that I can have a decent go at it. And after that, the winter program begins…

Bring the Pain

Just a quick one: after consulting a few people (and most importantly, my coach!), I’ve re-jigged my race plan a bit and signed on to do Ironman WA in Busselton this December.

Yes, it’s a bit ambitious (especially given I only did my first triathlon a couple of months ago), but after Geelong, I’d already decided that I wanted to go the full iron distance and the course at Busso is supposed to be pretty flat and fast - ideal for a first timer. And what’s the point in waiting?

This is going to hurt (but even if it’s only half the buzz I got from Geelong, it’ll be well worth it).

Race Results: Gatorade Race 5 - Portarlington

Definitely not my best race, but then backing up from the half Ironman last weekend was always going to be a bit tough. And the half bottle of Bollinger I drank on Saturday night (the winnings from a bet on the results from Geelong) didn’t make racing any easier.

• Swim (800m): 00:13:45
• T1: 00:02:18
• Bike (26km): 00:47:52
• T2: 00:00:57
• Run: (8km): 00:36:23
• Overall time: 01:41:14

Still, the Portarlington course was a lot of fun and I had a pretty good time, so it wasn’t all bad.

Race Results: Ironman 70.3 Geelong

My fourth triathlon and first half iron distance race. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect given that I hadn’t attempted anything like this before, so had set 6 hours as a time I’d have been happy with and 5:30 as a stretch target.

• Swim (1.9km): 00:33:11
• T1: 00:02:32
• Bike (90km): 02:43:31
• T2: 00:01:57
• Run (21.1km): 01:48:45
• Overall time: 5:09:58

Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled with the result.

Despite getting pretty hot on the run, the conditions were just about perfect for racing; sunny, calm water, not much in the way of wind. There were, however, quite a few jellyfish floating about during the swim and I copped a couple of stings - one on the wrist and one on the face. They don’t freak me out as much as they used to, though.

Thanks have to go to coach Ollie and all the Tri Alliance coaching team who did (and do) an outstanding job in preparing everyone in the squad for racing. And thanks also to all of the crew who made the trip down to Geelong to cheer us on… the signs, messages on the road and high fives around the course made the day so much better.