Race Report - Perth National Series Sprint 2006

Firstly, I would like to thank all those that offered so much support and encouragement on race day. It truly does make a difference and helped get me to the line in very trying circumstances.

Race day was warm, there is no doubt about that. I could see it on the face of most of my fellow athletes competing earlier in the morning as I commuted from my Vic Park residence to the race venue. It was further reinforced by the tropical environment of the athlete tent and the fact that I consumed a full bidon of Carbolyte in the lead up the race. However, after racing for 9hrs in Malaysia last February in conditions that were a lot more challenging in terms of body temperature homeostasis, I knew that the conditions were only likely to represent a minor relative challenge.

I have to say that I was quite nervous prior to the race start, not debilitatingly so, but I knew that the swim was going to make or break my race. I know from my training performances in the pool that, at best, I was going to exit towards the tail end of the field, and in that situation, anything can happen.

At the start, I positioned myself just behind David Dellow and Robbo, which, in hindsight, was probably a mistake. I really should have positioned myself at the front, in line with everyone else. Starting on the second row means that you are getting a draft from the gun, but it also means that, essentially, you are giving away a body length immediately. Additionally, you are swimming in turbulent water which is a little more difficult to grab hold of at a time when you need to produce as much propulsive force as possible.

At the end of the day though, it probably made little difference. If you are not swimming fast enough, you are not swimming fast enough!

The start was typical, maximum effort, lots of white water, the occasional clashing of arms or kick to the ribs. When it had all settled down and the gaps had started to open up, I was relieved to find that I had some company and that it was not swimming off into the distance. What I did notice, while approaching the easternmost turning buoys, was just how much time I had lost already to the faster swimmers. I took solace in the fact that I still had athletes in my vicinity and only had a short distance to the swim exit. It is during the transition that you realise the little things like allowing someone to go inside of you at a turning buoy can make a large difference. The more people that you exit in front of the better in this game.

After the Waikiki race, I thought that my transition debacles were as much a concentration issue as both a technical and physiological one. So I made a point of thinking about what I was doing after exiting the water.

I exited caboose of the last group but made a conscious effort to show some desperation in transition and ran hard to my bike. It was here that it all went wrong. I was at the rack with Sean O’Neill by my side, I even managed to get my glasses and helmet on a bit quicker than my younger counterpart, however, as Sean went to unrack his bike, he was unsuccessful at the first attempt, the seat getting caught up on the railing. I hesitated in unracking my bike as a result, and it left me at the tail end of the group. I took a bit longer to mount my bike too and by the time I had my feet on top of my cycling shoes and started to propel the bike, the group in front had a 50 metre advantage.

At this point in time I thought I would be able to bridge the gap, but a number of issues sabotaged that assumption. I was under an immense amount of physiological distress at that point after the swim, and my power output was limited as a result, we were riding into the wind on the outward journey of the first lap, and the first part of the bike is the fastest in this type of race as everyone tries to consolidate their position.

I didn’t really give up all hope of catching the group until the end of the second lap. I limited my losses in this time to probably around 10 seconds, but after riding at CP15 for the first 8k, I was getting tired and knew I would be riding solo for the entire 20k. I maintained the rage for the remaining 12k and tried to limit my losses as much as possible. Inevitably, I lost time to all three groups on the road over the duration of the cycle leg, but was quite pleased with my performance, as the losses were quite modest considering the circumstances.

T2 for me was a relative minor disaster - as we all know, confusion reigns in times of physiological stress, and I was at my limit at this point into the race. I spied a pair of racing flats I used previously and made tracks towards them. After I realised I actually no longer run in those type of racing flats, I had cruised past my rack position and had to retrace my steps back to my comfy and stylish red and white Brooks Racer ST’s. I remember hearing SB over the loudspeaker, “when he finally gets his shoes on …”

I felt pretty good when I started to run, and immediately set about running down as many of the athletes in front of me as possible. Being able to run well after absolutely belting myself on the bike was very pleasing. I managed to run past 5 athletes and ended up in 8th place overall. It could have been better if I had a bit more luck, but it could have been worse as well.

I think judging from a couple of comments pre-race, it is the opinion of some that if you choose to race long course you are considered to be an inferior triathlon being. My performance in this race has indicated to me that, given an extra 5 - 10k a week workload in the pool, I can compete very competitively over the shorter distances at the elite level and will consider doing a bit more of this racing in the future.

So, all in all, a bit disappointing, but plenty of positives to be gleaned from the experience.
Again, thanks must go to all those that yelled out encouragement. It was coming at me from all sides and contributed positively to my race performance.

To my sponsors as well, Daz and Steph from Carboshotz, whom I heard loud and large while out on course, Ralph and Nev from Ryders Eyewear, Muz and Cara from Sports Fever, Frank from Brooks, Keith and Gale from Kensington Travel and Glen Forbes from Cannibal, who was responsible for my stylish and functional race kit.

Take care all.