Final race for this season before the winter comes. Coincidentally held on mothers' day - sorry Li-Ann! But I did take Sebastian with me the day before to the registration and bike racking, and we played at the beach until sundown. So at least Li-Ann had time to herself that afternoon. The main race venue was in Pelican Park in Clontarf, just off the Houghton Highway Bridge. It was about 45 minutes drive north from home. I've raced here 2 years in the Olympic distance but this year, the organizers spiced things up a bit by making it a long course - 2km swim/60km bike/15km run. And half that for the shorter distance.
Race morning started with a 4am alarm. I nibbled slowly on my packed sandwiches once I got to the highway. There wasn't any parking at the race site so we had to find whatever was available on the streets. I followed a couple of cars and parked by a school, hoping that I would not get a fine later. Short stroll to the bike racks, got my transition area set up in almost darkness. Nearly left behind my undies that fell out of my bag, luckily my foot brushed it by accident so I noticed. The long course was the first to start and thankfully there queue was short for the portaloos. But there wasn't much light in the portaloos, I just had to get the job done. Brief chat with a handful of club members at the SBTC tent and I had to get going.
Swim 2km
I was in the first wave at 6.20am, there were no open or elite categories and a number of local pros just competed in their respective age groups. Swim was two laps - one full rectangle for the first lap and 3/4 rectangle for the second. The water was relatively calm this year but I somehow felt some currents, which I can't quite determine which direction they were flowing. Water was fresh but pretty comfortable. It was a wetsuit swim but there were a handful who swam without. I found some feet to swim with every now and then but was never in a group. A few super swimmers from the wave after us swam past and I tried to latch on but obviously could not keep up. My Garmin beeped every 500m but showed over 9 minutes each split, which is a fair bit slower than what I would swim in the pool. So I did not pay too much attention but focused on swimming a straight line and getting to the next buoy. Out of the water in 34:40 with recorded distance of 1,808m, average pace 1:53 per 100m, about 10-15 seconds than my pace in the pool. Having checked the results, I take comfort in knowing that overall winner Sam Betten who also had the best swim split swam 3 minutes slower than what he did in Sunshine Coast 70.3 last September, so it is likely my Garmin under recorded the distance.
Transition 1
The run from the beach to the bike racks wasn't very far. In fact my Garmin measured 300m from the beach to the bike mount line. But the bike racks were stacked pretty long and it was quite narrow in some spots. Wetsuit came off and helmet got on without much issues. I was pretty pumped that I left before the guy next to me who came in at the same time. Bike mount line was a bit busy so I had to push the bike further front to get some space before getting on. Total time taken 2:16. I was targeting 35 minutes before I got on my bike, so I had some time to make up. Was 14th in my age group at this stage.
Bike 60km
One of the highlights of this race was the entire southbound of the Houghton Highway bridge. It was a 6 lap bike course, mostly flat with a gentle incline on the bridge and a short climb before the other turnaround at Woody Point. Typically exposed to wind but thankfully it was a pretty calm day. Though I could definitely feel a head wind on the way out and a tail wind on the way back. While I enjoyed the flat and smooth surface on the bridge, I reckon the photographer was rather dangerously positioned at the side of the road with not much visible warnings. A distracted cyclist could have taken him out but thankfully that did not happen. I did witness two cyclists collided into each other at the opposite direction from me, hopefully they were not too hurt.
The first turnaround at the bridge caught me by surprise and I overshot it. I actually had to unclip and stop to make the U turn. The subsequent laps were fine, apart from me usually going a bit too wide and losing my position to those behind me and then have to pedal past them again. I was nearly taken out by another cyclist at the Woody Point turnaround who came too close as he was overtaking me. And then when the enticer distance athletes came into the course, it was a bit chaotic but thankfully I was on to my final lap then. Finished the bike in 1:37:12 for 58.9km at 36.4kph. Average power was 182 watts, could have gone a bit harder but I may have lost a bit of watts at the turnaround. Average HR was 150bpm. Official split was 1:39:00 which included transition time. Gained another 2 spots to 12th in age group.
Transition 2
Squeezed through the narrow bike racks. Bike on rack, helmet off, put on my shoes and grabbed everything else to head off. Only to realize I left my sunglasses behind, so back tracked a few steps to get it and get going again. I must have pressed my lap button too many times, so no transition time for me. Luckily I noticed it before skipping the run.
Run 15km
The run was 2 laps and we ran towards the the foot path section of the bridge. It was pretty exposed but thankfully there was plenty of cloud cover. The legs felt good, no tightness but somehow turnover felt a bit slow. First km was 4:31 which included my time in transition. Thereafter I settled into 4:12 to 4:15. The first turnaround point had me going past 4km, which dampened my spirits a bit. I had an overall finish target of 3:20 and having an overdistanced run could spoil things, especially when I had little to no margin. I must have given up a bit as my pace started creeping into 4:20+.
But the end of the first lap clocked under 8kms, so it appears it would be overdistanced by much. So I started lifting again. I kept it under 4:20 for the outbound of the second lap and switched another gear to go under 4:15 for the final few kms. I was able to overtake a few who passed me on the first lap. Coming into the home stretch, getting cheers from the SBTC tent and from Trent from Red Dog, sorry but I was really in the hurt locker - it was going to close! Crossed the line with an overall finish time of 3:19:56! I gained another 2 spots to 10th in my age group and 42nd overall. Run split was 1:06:16 for 15.5km, average pace 4:16 and average HR 159bpm.
Overall I'm very happy with how I executed the race. And also how I performed this racing season in this first half of the year. After racing 4 races in the last 4 months, I was looking forward to a bit of break. Back to doing some parkruns and riding some hills on the roadie!
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