QTS Robina - January 2019

This is my first time doing this race in January. My previous time racing in Robina was in October 2017. I didn't get to do any QTS races last year. I was looking forward to doing this race, it's not often that I get to do the same races as my tri club members. The trouble with mainly doing long course triathlons is I tend to skip the shorter races so I could focus on training. And with multiple events held - kids, enticer, sprint, Olympic all held on the same morning, it's a good social outing for the club as well. The excitement was high up until a week out when I was still recovering from the holidays and the travel where I did a mediocre park run and slow jogged to finish. I felt dejected and pretty much put off from signing. But the next morning at a club ride, I was convinced to signing up and I glad I did.

The alarm went off at 3.30am on race morning for a 50 minute drive to the Gold Coast. We had the option to register and rack our bikes the day before I chose not to do the extra trip and just left a bit earlier. There were no queues at the check in but there were not many spots left on the bike racks as there were only designated according to event distance but not specifically numbered. My spot was a bit further away from the bike exit and entry. There was a short queue for the portaloos but I got all ready with some spare time to chat at the Logan Tri Club tent before heading towards the Clear Waters Island lake for the 6.30am start.

Swim 1.5km

A deep water start to a two lap swim course, shaped like a triangle with final right turn towards the ramp at the end of the second lap. Water visibility was fair, could see for about a couple of meters ahead. My wave start was with the Open and under 40 males as well as the relay teams. So plenty of aggressive swimming at the start but the groups broke off pretty quickly and I was able to settle into a steady pace early on. Managed to stay on some feet up until the second buoy of the second lap where we converged into the later wave starts. It got a bit messy for a while but soon I was able to find some feet again and before I knew it, it was the final straight line towards the boat ramp. There were no timing mats after the swim and I hit the lap button on my Garmin the moment my foot landed on the tarmac. It clocked right on 1,507m with a time of 25:13, averaging 1:40 per 100m. Compared to my previous swim on this course was 1,413m with a time of 24:25, averaging 1:44 per 100m. So an improvement in my books. And I definitely felt that I had a better swim this time.

Transition 1

As the bikes weren't racked in numerical order, I was looking out for my lime green shoes. Socks on, helmet on without too much hassle. But yet again, I forgot to remove swimskin past my waist! I was about 25m from bike rack spot when I realised. Gingerly placed my bike leaning against another, ran back and yanked the suit off and got back on the bike again. Whatever apparent gains I had from swimming with the suit was likely lost in this stuff up. This has happened too many times now, I need to consciously remind myself in future. It was a bit crowded at the bike mount area, I hesitated a few seconds before getting on the bike as I was nervous I would fall over and knock someone over. My Garmin recorded 2:37 for time taken before I hit the lap button when I started pedaling.

Bike 38.5km

Yes, you read that right. It's a bit shorter than 40km. And it was explicitly stated on the website as well. It's a 5 lap course shaped like a T, some small inclines but mostly flat and non drafting. The sprint distance did 3 laps, so they would have cycled just a bit over 20km. It was around the 3rd lap when the sprint athletes joined us, so the course did get pretty crowded. While it wasn't very windy, there were some areas where I caught some sideway gusts and the return lap definitely felt like riding into a headwind. Fellow LTC member and cycling powerhorse Philippe passed on the first turnaround and continued to put in distance on me at each turnaround. I still rode my own race, paid attention to my cadence and power output. I've only started riding the tri bike this week after a two month hiatus since Ironman Malaysia. I also experimented by lowering my aero bars by 5mm, didn't make me feel less comfortable but it gave me the illusion that I'm more aero! My average speed was climbing up to 36kph and I was happy to stay there but another LTC member Ryan was gradually gaining ground at each turnaround. Eventually I got to the end of the bike in 1:03:46, average speed 36.3kph, average watts 184 and NP of 198. The previous time I raced here, the bike was actually 37km so I felt that it was long this time. I averaged 35.5kph the last time, so happy with another improvement.

Transition 2

No dramas here. Bike on, helmet off, shoes on and grabbed everything else on the go. My Garmin recorded 36 seconds from when I got to my bike rack spot.

Run 10km

3 laps, shaped like an L. Slight change from the last time, the end of each lap is placed a bit earlier this time. The sun was up and it was getting hotter each lap. The first km went pretty quick, I clocked 4:05. I knew that was too fast but I was going to see how long I could hold on. Surprisingly, I stayed below 4:10 for the next few kms. Philippe was much further ahead but I was slowly reeling him in as he just recovered from a knee injury. However, Ryan who runs 18 minute parkruns was just behind me as well! While it wasn't planned to be a 3 way battle, it certainly panned out that way! Running past the LTC tent at the end of each lap was a huge boost and made the hurt locker a lot more bearable. Final lap, my pace slowed down to the 4:15 to 4:17 but I managed to hold Ryan off. Philippe however was too far ahead to be caught. Finally got to the finish line in 2:14:06, the three of us finished within 36 seconds apart! My run split was 41:29 for 9.9km recorded on the Garmin, averaging 4:12 per km. Last time was an average of 4:11 per km, so just a tad bit slower.

Thanks Cathy for this picture!

It was good to catch up with the club after the race and share a few laughs. I'm very pleased with how my race turned out and looking forward to this season, next one Tweed Coast Enduro in 5 weeks!