6 races in 4 days... To go into detail of every race would take up an entire book so I will keep it relatively short. Thursday night kicked off with a windy 1500m run. All events were timed across the heats so it was vital to get a good time and not just be aiming for 1st in the heat. I gave it a good crack taking the lead after the first 200 and pushing the pace creating a group of 3 until Oscar came around for the final sprint and the fastest time of the heats. This was a way better start then I have ever had to the event and I raced into my recovery for tomorrow massaging in fisiocrem and getting in my nutrition.
The following day we had two races, a Tri in the morning and an Aquathlon that afternoon. I had one strategy for every race that weekend, go hard and don’t slow down, it is all about the time. So for the first tri I was out the front by myself on the bike pulling away from the group over the 6km ride and continued to lead on the 1.2km run. I made the most of having my car at the track and slept or lay on the couch between races and could look out the back door and hear the commentary and race updates. Doing two races in one day wasn’t too hard as I had my recovery plans in place and all the nutrition I needed, so each time I was feeling pretty fresh. My coach Graham Fidler and I have been working hard to increase my speed over these shorter formats as it has always been one of my weaknesses. After these first two races I was happy with the improvements and work we had done, giving me more confidence for the rest of the weekend. I knew that the aquathlon that afternoon would be my worst event of the competition and I embraced that whole heartedly giving it my all and managing to surprise myself. By the end of day 2 I was sitting in 3rd place on the point score.
Saturday morning was the team relay, although individual times were taken from each athlete to rank their performance and award points. This was extremely unfair for the girls as the first wave had a draft pack, whereas the third did not. For the males it was a little more even as neither groups started together as the order was Female, Male, Female, Male- all completing a 300 swim, 6km ride and 1.2km run. My team was leading after the second athlete, however we had no third, and I was fourth. The decision made by the officials was to let me start the fourth leg at the same position (300m in front of 2nd), so I stood and waited until I was told to go. It was a lonely race as I had completed 100m in the pool before anyone else dived in, and I was getting out as others were still getting in. I had a lonely ride too, however the run was good as I had people to run with on my last lap as they were on another lap. I tried not to slack off in any races as it was all about the time, but every now and then I was spurred on by the Sharks and Triple F cheer squads to pick it up and chase that time.
Race number 5 was the shortest of them all with a 200m swim, 4km ride, and an 800m run. I had no strategy, this race was just going to be full gas the whole way. Sam Tierney and myself paired up on the bike but I just couldn’t go fast enough on the 800m run. By the end of Saturday I was still sitting in third and secured my spot in the A final. Now for the big day, the longest race of the weekend, a massive 400m swim, 8km ride and a 1.6km run to finish it off. Huge right! The swim was pretty slow and we came out as a pack of about 7 into transition and fanged it through the techy section and onto the wet bike course as it was now pouring with rain. I spent most my time chilling in the pack as the course was so short and it took too much effort to move up positions before the next corner. However, if I did this race again I would have moved to the front, avoiding the rubber band effect out of every corner and saved myself some energy. This wasn’t too much of a worry though as the bike was rather slow. I cam into transition in third place, took way too long putting my shoes on, and had some chasing to do. I worked hard and ran up onto the heels of Oscar and Lachlan, sitting there for the rest of the run and being dropped like a sack of potatoes in the final sprint. All in all, I was extremely happy with how I raced over the short format, coming third and am looking forward to working harder with Graham and the Triple F crew to nail the rest of the season.
