The Geelong ITU Oceania Sprint
Championships would have to have been the most exciting, rough and fast paced
triathlon that I have done to date. The opens field is unexpectedly harder,
tougher and more grueling than the ITU Junior triathlon circuit. I have always
wanted to test myself against the best and this provided an excellent
opportunity.
Despite my desire to be as fresh as
possible when I were to line up against some of the worlds best athletes in the
chilly open waters of Geelong my coach, Keiran Barry, and I decided that I have
more important races to focus on this season and that I should gain as much
experience as I could out of this race and train as normal leading into the
Sprint Championships.
The morning of race day I was extremely excited but also
very anxious.
Walking down to the athlete lounge I
could feel the excitement of the spectators who were intently watching the
women's race as well as directing their intent and interest into how the elite
men prepared for the race.
The buzz going around Geelong was making me all too
excited but luckily my coach was there to tell me to calm down and focus on my
pre-race routine otherwise I would have lost some very valuable energy. I had a
quick swim warm up along with a light jog followed by drills then it was time
to head down to the water.
A quick run down to the start followed by a never-ending
minute in the water we were called up to the start line, the starter quickly
blew the whistle and we were off.
Once I saw that there were 1 or 2 guys just
up ahead I accelerated from an already reasonably quick speed but unfortunately
everybody had the exact same idea.
The majority of the field came
together and all of a sudden there were arms and legs going everywhere.
Somebody managed to pull my legs down; once I had been slowed and seemingly
timed to perfection another hand grabbed the top of my head and pushed me under
the water.
I had my race plan in my head and I knew exactly what I had to do -
quick start into clear water and find feet soon after that. Unfortunately I was
quite intimidated by the athletes in the field and I held back a little on the
initial 50 - 100 meters, which proved to be a big mistake!
After I was pushed
under I popped up at the back of the swim pack and decided I had to just put my
head down and go hard to try get back in contact. Once I had found the right
position and got on some feet we were on the way back to shore.
Towards the end I felt myself start
to drop off the back of the pack and I glanced back and saw a group of swimmers
a fair way back and wasn’t going to let my self be stuck in between two packs
on the bike so I swam as hard as I could to get back in touch with the group.
Keeping calm and focusing on transition I was able to get in and out quickly.
I looked up the road once I mounted the bike and saw I had a bit of ground to
cover. So I did what I do best and put my head down and went for it.
It wasn’t
until we were coming past the transition area that I had caught up to and had
over taken a few athletes but I still had some gaps to cover. Just over the
little rise I made contact with the main bunch and was able to rest and make
sure I was in a good position leading into the corners.
Following about a lap
of recovery sitting in the pack I decided to test the legs on everyone a bit
and accelerated coming into the U-turn.
I was feeling pretty strong so I
thought it would be good to see what the bike leg is like at the next level of
racing. Unfortunately my pedal hit the ground as I started to accelerate out of
the corner, I managed to stay up right but I chose to take it easy and dropped
back into the pack once again. The next lap I had another crack and managed to
get away without anyone chasing. I was able to stay away for 3 quarters of a
lap when I heard a spectator say “save your energy” and I remembered being told
to just sit in and use this race as a learning curve, so I eased up and started
to relax and think about my T2. This unfortunately proved to simply be a waste
of energy.
Again, keeping calm and flowing
through transition I was able to get in and out fairly quickly - even with a
slight mishap when I dropped my right shoe trying to put it on.
Finally onto
the run, I was eager to test my legs after my body had let me squeeze in 3 or 4
weeks of solid running. Running out of transition I was feeling good but due to
a poor decision of fluid intake on the bike I started to suffer and dropped
further and further back in position. Finally at the start of lap two I jumped
on the shoulder of a passing athlete and without a stitch preventing me from
running quickly I was keen to pick it up and finally see what I could do.
As I
got to the hill after transition for the second time I made sure I did what I
was supposed to do and was driving my arms and maintaining a decent high stride
rate.
I managed to get up the hill fairly
quick compared to the first lap and this made me more confident and thus on the
returning down the hill I managed to run through 2 or 3 athletes by “letting
myself go” and floating down the hill. I continued my pace through to the end
of lap two, to Keiran’s surprise - as he told me after the race - the stitch
stayed away and I felt like I was running quicker again on the third and final
lap.
Back to the hill for the last time I drove harder and went faster again
on the return, once again running past 2 or 3 athletes. Believing that I was
running well and proof that I was finishing strong I picked it up and sat just
behind 2 more athletes and in the closing 800m I went past them and finished in
a fantastic position for my first opens race.
