I guess triathlon is, in a way, a contact sport. As many of you may already know from being kicked, punched, damn near drowned, battered and bruised upon the swim finish. But it doesn't necessarily matter how "massive" you are.
As I've so recently discovered, the fact that I am "massive" also means I'm fine when it comes to the swim.
Well…no, absolutely not.
I've just got something between my ears, and sometimes the sucker makes good decisions for me.
Holten was one of, if not the most brutal swims I've been in.
Yeah I dove in alright and popped up half a body length ahead, but cluey athletes on either side of me jumped right on my hips.
There was a brief moment of which I was clear from the chaos, but the drag readily became too much. Eventually I found myself levelled off with contenders 14 and 16.
Without the guidance of the 'ol black line we began bumping into each other like dodge'm'cars only minus the safe guard of the rubber skirting.
Eventually we got sick of offering leeway to each other and began fighting for clear water. This only slowed the three of us down and before we knew it the lead out on the left and on the right began to merge and we were inundated with flying elbows and fists bearing knuckle dusters.
Okay, maybe not knuckle dusters but there was a lot of fists-connecting-with body-parts action and I just could not get my lower body to surface. And every time I tried to look up someone would smack the back of my head.
Something had to change and by god did it have to happen quickly.
I began throwing my head as high as I could, ignoring the periodic whacking and glancing forward to spot any gaps.
Much to my dismay. None, there were.
All I could see was the big yellow buoy slightly off to the left. Staring straight back at me laughing because it knew it had front row seats to an emulation of Pearl Harbour.
The right side was forbidden ground because there were 50 odd athletes over there, so I looked directly left again and again until I could see how far over it was to clear water.
I was sitting on the hip of contender 14 and saw he was neck and neck with 2 other athletes to his left.
So if I wanted to cross The risk was six heels having a free shot each at my face. As soon as these guys felt someone swimming on their legs they were going to start frantically kicking to scare off and/or injure whoever it was. White Mr. T or not.
If I didn't, however, I'd have a guaranteed 2nd pack or worse out of the water. So without a second to lose I launched myself across. Pulling my arms through any possible body of water or grasping whatever limb was in the way.
I made it across without being hit, I think.
The rest is certainly not history, I made it up to a group of 3 pace-lining it to the buoy and once we rounded it, I thought it'd be smooth sailing. But of course it wasn't. Skipping a few hundred meters and I'm situated definite front pack. The following sighting that took place made me realise this was definitely too easy. A gap had opened up between a handful of athletes and I. Currently 3 deep, I decided to go for it and catch up.
I made it to the feet of the leader and went round the buoy smoothly. Most of them headed slightly right so I was left with a clear line in.
After the huge exertion I had just got in contact and eased off slightly too much. By that time it was deep enough to run so nothing more could be done in the water.
I ran like a busted ass into transition, my arms did not want to move freely and I was hurting.
I tried to gather my thoughts to ensure my transition was quick. Unfortunately it wasn't great and the gap was still there.
There were a few strong cyclists in that front five so when I jumped on the bike I was in a state of panic. Unfortunately I didn't get a foot to touch down past the mount line so I incurred a penalty.
Not even thinking about it I got around the first corner and drilled it for a good minute and a half to two minutes until I caught.
Similar to catching in the swim I thought things would get easier but I had to continue pushing hard to keep up and it took a good three or four minutes before I could join in and work with the pack.
I was unsure of what was happening behind us but i knew they hadn't caught so I kept working hard with the boys.
It was about 9km into town and that's where we started the laps. The second pack caught us just as we began the first lap and post race I discovered the chase group behind them were no more than 20 seconds down.
Once we were out of sight however the gap eventually blew out to 2 minutes over the five laps.
The main part of concern was 'the hill'. It was a rather gentle 5-7% grade with a kick up about halfway through of 10-11%.
There were some obvious strong riders who were taking charge over the hill and they went over at a pretty decent pace. Simon Viain had opened up a decent gap and some had gone after him. I thought leaving one guy out would be fine but I didn't want others working with him. However, he didn't need no help.
So on the third lap I took the lead as we hit the kick up and tried to reel in the blokes ahead. I got to two of them pretty quick and went around in a bid to pull back the lone chaser. But as I looked back in hope of someone taking a turn I noticed I'd opened up a gap.
I didn't immediately ease up I just figured if they start looking at each other there is a chance I could get away with the lone chaser but I wasn't going to commit to a break.
Sure enough the group caught us at the beginning of the decent so with no wasted energy at a breakaway attempt level I joined back in and did what I had to, to stay near the front and avoid what is happening oh so often in the Tour de France.
Concluding the cycle segment I jumped off in the front few and remained there for the opening kilometre before I began to find a more sustainable pace.
Post Chengdu Keiran and I discussed my pacing issues. I'm still "finding my feet" over 10k so Chengdu was a 'don't go out too hard and blow up' test. That I did and discovered I could have gone harder over the opening 2.5km. Holten was another opportunity to do so.
Given I hadn't set my sights on u23 world championships this year I have been fine with trying different things to see how I handle them.
I went pretty hard for about 1600m then I found myself going past people who had gone out far harder than they could handle. So I deceived to settle into a pace at that point.
Once I did a few other athletes came past me with adrenaline rushing through their bodies still.
Matt Sharpe and Matt Roberts went past and opened a slight gap on me.
We were almost finished lap one and I saw Pete Kerr dart right, as I got closer I noticed it was the penalty box and as always I checked it to see if I was on there. As you already know, I was.
I decided to just jump in and get it done. Pete ran served his about 8-10 seconds before me. So once I was out of there I tried to hold pace to Pete.
Coming into the 3rd lap I caught Sharpy and Roberts. I had been going pretty solid and I didn't want them hanging on as a went past, so I sat on them for a short 100-150m then went around slightly over race pace and settled back in once I felt I was clear.
Starting the final lap I was pushing and pushing for a quicker pace and my body didn't want a bar of it. I began to stitch up and that slowed me down a lot. Fortunately I came around after 500-600m later and I dug as deep as I could to finish off the last 1.5k.
All in all it was a solid hit out which positively reinforces my head space in regard to the progression I've made this season alone and furthermore during my time in Spain with the Victorian Institue of Sport gang.
Things are looking up!
