It started pretty well a little light packing the night before; maybe one or two beers to celebrate a days hard work.
Skip to 7:30am at the sun filled Elwood Beach in Melbourne and it dawned on me I hadn't packed my helmet! Rookie error which I can still claim until next summer. Check in was at 8am I had 30mins to get home and back.
How am I going to remember to pick my kid up from childcare if I can't remember my helmet!
So I drove home (at speed, a speed that cost me good fine in the post) calling my always sleepy reliable cycling mates who live near by to no answer for my headware issue; luckily I arrived back just in time for check-in and minus a heart-attack.
I felt out of sync and not in the best frame of mind; I had a new Orca Tri-suit on that I hadn't given enough testing; I splashed around in the water to get my temperature right and was a little nervous waiting for my age group call.
My last event in Novemeber I took an inside line from the swim that really messed me up, it was an error and I got jammed in around lesser swimmers drowning in an elegant manner. This time I got up front to the left side and backed my strength as a swimmer to get out hard.
It worked I jumped out of the water in the front chasing group, and as a non-wetsuit swimmer I felt my transition was going to be sharper this time around.
Flicked onto the bike and then watched everyone skip past me; I just don't have sprint legs at the moment. I do think I carry too much wheel weight and my gear in the big ring doesn't generate enough, I pegged a few places back but THAT HEAD WIND!
It just punched you as you turned the corner heading back from Port Melbourne; like a wall and someone holding my legs back. Didn't matter what position I could find nothing eased the burning in the quads as I pushed my legs.
Making a choice to go hard but not too hard as to bonk out for my run I pushed harder with the wind and conserved energy against it (good plan I don't know you tell me??)
Jumping off the bike into my run I felt good, I had reeled in a few on the final leg of the bike with my fresher legs and after posting a NYD PB for 5km I was keen to show off my new speed.
I kept my first 1km in the 4:30 range and still felt strong the salt and air intake was starting to suffer but I wanted to crash and burn (just not 1.5km into the run leg) I toughed it out and could feel myself running over some other competitors, splits were at 4:50 in the middle sections but I tried to muster some final hammer for the home stretch and got up over the line.
It worked! Finished 11th for the Rookie Section - gutted I missed a Top 10 but was super stoked I finished with nothing left in the tank.
My new suit held up well (any chance of cheeky sponsorship request Orca??) Compared to last time my swim was stronger, the bike was harder - but I from talking to people in the wash-up they all suffered a bit, run was great I had energy and timed my intake of energy for that final run.
But I was taught a lesson in preparing and it hit me like a tonne of bricks when I got that speeding fine in the post; an error of the highest stupidity - something a soon to be "responsible" father can't make once, let alone again.
All sports talk of preparation and that was lesson this time around - that classic old Bob Knight
"Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail"
** Click this link for Official Race Result **
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