Frequent Deposits = Bigger Withdrawals
I once heard someone say that triathlon is kind of like a bank account, the more deposits you do in training, the bigger the withdrawals can be on race day. Looking back at my 2019 and 70.3 Western Sydney I think it's fair to say that I've been a good saver, and that I've probably spent what I've saved.
I mentioned previously that I was unsure if there was a home ground advantage in triathlon, well it might be small, but all the small things can add up, like being able to make yourself an espresso on race morning (when you are travelling this isn't always available at 4am).
So my day started exactly like that, with a 4am wake up, and luckily I had had a good nights sleep, possibly because it had been in my own bed. My routine on race day is pretty consistent, wake up, have breakfast, which was eggs, haloumi, mushrooms, spinach and avocado, then put my race suit on and race numbers, I then packed my bag which I had laid out on the floor the night before, then I pumped up my bike tyres which was a bit of a luxury of being able to check my bike in on race day (I was glad because it rained overnight), then I packed the bike into the car, made an espresso (two actually) jumped in the car and left. This meant that I was out the door by 4:30, which gave me plenty of time till transition closed at 6am.
I won't bore you with the details of setting up in transition, but prior to race start there are a few things that are important to me:
Gear bag storage- A triathlete brings a lot to transition on race day, especially if there's a wetsuit swim. Western Sydney only lets you use the gear bag provided at registration. Last year athletes were being told they couldn't check in their standard gear bags on race day which is inconvenient. This year it was clearly written in the athlete handbook that the gear bag provided would be all you could use, but come race day they accepted anything, this is frustrating as it's just easier to use your own gear bag, especially if you are travelling to the race.
Toilets- Yep, as if every athlete doesn't need to do the last minute pre race toilet stop. At Port Macquarie the public toilets ran out of paper so athletes had to ration with each other, anyone who bought their own went straight to the front as long as they left the roll behind. At Penrith this gets covered off pretty well as it's a world class facility so there are quite a few toilet options, this is a definite stress reducer
Wetsuit zip up- Triathlon wetsuits are tight, and while athletes are always happy to help I always get a little bit stressed because there is always a chance of rippage and I am a little particular about how I like my zip cord attached to have easy access in transition. Good news, I successfully zipped myself up, so maybe I dropped a few kilos or something, but this made me quite happy (small wins).
So the race itself.. Well the swim was solid, it was a rolling swim start which creates a little less carnage, we got to launch off the pontoon (my goggles dislodged) and I found myself frequently swimming on some feet that were about the same pace, guided the majority of the way by the lane ropes which is an added benefit. A swim time of 35:59 which I'm content with, could have been a bit faster but I was cautious about cramping so I'll take it. I also had no idea about my time till after the race, felt good though.
I was semi excited about the bike this year, not only was it the first time I was using my new bike in a race but I had done a few training kilometres on the course so I was quite comfortable with what was out there. My plan was to go out slightly harder than I normally do as I have a little more confidence in my run and hope that on the second lap I can maintain a fair bit of that pace. Lap 1 went really well, through with an average speed of 33km/h which was bang on target. My pace dropped a little on the second lap but I was pretty happy to have maintained a good speed, but there was one problem... I was hungry.
I've struggled a bit with nutrition in the past, but in the last two races I had changed diet and nutrition plan and it seemed to have worked well, but this time I decided to eat a little less pre race as I had been a bit bloated on the Sunshine Coast, so being hungry with 50km to go on the bike concerned me, was I going to run out of fuel, had I been going to hard on the bike and how was I going to go on the run?
Getting off the bike in 2:45 made me pretty happy and confident, it was 10 minutes quicker than my previous race which had been a PB, so I figured even if I had gone a bit hard I still had time up my sleeve, so a PB was potentially on the table, but I also knew that the 1:52 I ran on the Sunshine Coast was a PB, and I was hungry.
There is one thing that does my head in on the run leg and that's long straight stretches because you can't see the next turn to motivate you to push towards, the unfortunate thing about Western Sydney is that it is predominately made up of long straight stretches, consistently 2km of just straight tarmac. Having cramped at the 2km mark last year I decided to run on the course as many times as I could to mentally get myself ready and I think it paid off. The long straight from kilometre 3-5 was the part id run most, it's so early on and so far to the turn that I knew it would be a head doer, but needless to say on race day I am pretty certain I smiled as I made the left turn onto it and even managed a fist pump as I turned right off it, a quarter of the way in and feeling happy. Everything went pretty to plan from there, pace stayed dead flat at around 5:10 for the next 6km until I turned into the Regatta Centre. All that was left was 10km of straight running by the lake, which I can't say is the most exciting running in triathlon, but it's consistent if anything.
I managed to run the next 10km at a pretty decent pace, fading only a little which was probably a combination of fatigue and motivation. At the end I pushed kind of hard to get to the line, running down the finish I saw my name and 5:14 sitting next to it, for the first time ever I had stitched together my race as planned, the training I put in had hit the mark and I can finally say that I am happy with my 70.3 result... till the next race 😏