Here’s a report from my last race: 2XU Race 4 Sandringham, a sprint tri here in Melbourne.
There were two curveballs with this tri:
- T1 is a nightmare. Between coming out of the water and getting onto your bike you run nearly 1km. The sand is soft and there is a steep ramp up from the beach. It favours runners (not me sadly..)
- The forecast changed about 24-48h out and suddenly it was going to be a hot day in full sun with a strong northerly wind. I made adjustments for this and perhaps gained over rivals who didn’t.
Swim
During my swim warm up I could see that the wind was across the course and I could feel the current too, so I decided I would bear off upwind.
There were two people registered to race in my age cat who I knew were faster swimmers than me, so I planned to stay on their feet as long as I could without blowing up.
When the gun went I found two swimmers in front of me and latched onto the second one. But he was going really slowly and I had to pass him. By that point the first one was out of reach unfortunately. (It turned out the 2nd fast swimmer DNS.)
The chop meant it was tricky to sight. I headed upwind but probably went too far because I was almost mixing with the swimmers heading back in on the return leg of the course. I was swimming in no man’s land. The lead swimmer was miles ahead and there weren’t really any others that close to me.
Around the two turning buoys and heading back in, I again beared upwind. This meant I could see most of the other swimmers as I was breathing to my right. I couldn’t see any from my age cat. I had a horrible feeling that I had botched the swim and everyone swimming in a straight line was long gone.
My worries were needless however. Running into transition I couldn’t see anyone else from my age cat ahead of me and I had indeed secured a solid 2nd place on the swim.
Bike
T1 was uneventful, if painful and I got down on the bike and away nicely. I was very aware that I needed to protect my legs as I’d be running in the heat later. I rationed my power, trying to ease off when it wouldn’t cost me much speed (e.g. going downhill, downwind). It meant I had a lower NP than usual but the speed was good.
One person came past me in the 2nd half and I recognised him as a pro in my age cat. Solid rider and a great runner (16 min 5k). I tried using him as a pacer but I had no chance of staying with him.
The fun thing with these tri’s is that the roads are closed and with the age cats going off only 2.5 mins apart, you end up with cyclists everywhere. I must have passed about 200 other people on the bike leg, which was a good chance to get a short draft on the return back up into the wind.
Run
When I got off the bike into T2 I realised how hot it was (turns out it was already 28C by now). Luckily I had a water bottle in transition ready to soak myself with. I gave my head and body a big squirt and set off.
Running is never my best leg but the water helped keep me cool. I saw plenty of others suffering. I didn’t bother trying to drink at any of the km water stations, but got them to chuck the water over me instead (which they seemed to enjoy!). This helped. I also went out deliberately conservative. I think everyone was running 10-20s/km slower than usual. Around halfway I started increasing the pace and I enjoyed a stronger than usual finish. I passed several people who had passed me in the first km and then faded in the heat.
One person from my age cat came past me on the run so I ended up with a 4th which I was pretty happy with.
