Give and take

Matilda Bay Triathlon... organized by the Rotary Club of Matilda Bay, less than 500m away from my home. It's a small affair, about 200+ participants... bike racks were not numbered, so you can place the bike anywhere you liked... we were also not given swim caps, so everyone had different coloured caps, some didn't have any on at all.

Race rego (registration in Aussie slang) was at 6.30am. Race was at 7.30am. I had a good night sleep at 9.45pm as I was dead tired from shopping and watching Ghost Rider in the afternoon (it was quite good actually, still had cheesy comic book lines, definitely not Spiderman standard) I woke up at 6am, to do my stretches, not intending to eat brekkie as the race was so short, I didn't think I would feel hungry during the race.

Checked in my bike to as near to the swim as possible so that I wouldn't get lost finding it with my poor vision. This is the 2nd time I'm doing this race, so can say experienced lah! I gambled by eating an expired Powerbar... good thing it didn't cause me any problems during the race.

I met a colleague, Craig... he's only starting to take up triathlon. So I said to myself ... Die, die also cannot lose to him. Then I saw UWA Guy, the guy whom I beat at City of Perth OD Tri but I think he suffered bad cramps during the run then. Okay, I'm up for a challenge...

My age group and the junior males were the first to start. The water was really cold, probably that's why they allowed wetsuits to be worn. The swim was straightforward, I positioned myself in front as knowing that swim is my strongest leg, and most elite triathletes don't take part in small races like this. I started off pretty well... can feel myself pulling away from the back. However, the kids were really quick, can see them getting further in front. I felt some soft stuff in the water (yeah visibility was still low)... I avoided immediately, didn't want history to repeat itself as I was stung pretty badly by jellyfish during a race before.

Coming into transition, somehow my limbs felt numb... must be due to the cold water. I struggled to wear socks (yeah, I still do it even though it slows me down... don't want to develop blisters). I noticed a guy (and this guy had been winning races) who puts powder in his shoes... maybe I should try that instead. Anyway, UWA Guy came in soon... followed by Craig, so I thought I better pick up the pace.

Out on the bikes, I was still leading UWA Guy and Craig. 5 laps altogether. I tried looking at my watch to gauge my lap times but after a while, I couldn't be bothered. The race was too quick and too short for me to keep on looking at my watch. Just had to maintain a 30+ kph average.

UWA Guy overtook me at the end of the 1st lap. Like I said, I sucked at cycling. Each and every lap, I see him moving further and further. Craig was closing in too. He overtook me at the 4th lap. Haiya...

In from the bike, out on the run. I ran past Craig the moment we came out of transition. UWA Guy was no where to be seen. I didn't run as quick as I wanted to. Legs still feel a bit stiff. I skipped all the drink stations too. Had a few drinks while cycling already. Then... I saw UWA Guy on the returning lap. Well, he got me this time.

When I got to the turnaround point... I noticed it was nearer than it was previous year. My watch showed 6+ minutes... definitely shorter than 2k, so total would probably be about 3k, not 4k as stated.

Finished the run in 12:26. Came in 18th overall (but the other age groups started later). UWA Guy was already eating watermelons. I took the initiative to speak to him. His name is Rio and he did notice me in the gym, around uni area etc. He's also doing the same CA module as I am. He's intending to do the Ironman at the end of this year... well, so quite in a different league. Craig also came in shortly after that.

I checked my bike speedometre once transition was clear. It showed 16.78k not 15k as originally stated. Well, give and take lah. I averaged 31.3kph too... so was quite happy.

Prize presentation... Rio actually got 2nd in his category! He told me he came in 8th overall. I wonder how many between us were from our category... He won himself a package of hair products. Yeah, the prizes were quite cheap also... but that's not why we're doing this right? There were no lucky draw prizes but there was a box of water bottles and other goodies that the organizers were giving out... it went ZZZzooommm, so no freebies for me.

All in all, an enjoyable race... I can't tell if I met my target because the distances were stuffed up but I made a new friend... can't complain.

*Edit* Results just came out... I got 3rd! Too bad they only gave prizes up to 2nd place.

For full results, go to http://triwa.org.au/results0607/MatildaBay07.pdf