The weekend started on the Saturday morning with a long drive north - the 10 of us had arranged to base ourselves at Blueys Beach and take a couple of day holiday after the event.
So we arrived at Blueys just after lunch, parked the bikes and I headed into Forster with Tim to register and drop off our T2 bags. T1 and T2 were in different places, hence the requirement to drop off the running bag in advance. Roly was joining us late that day so we also checked him in.
I didn't sleep well the night before, a mixture of restless babies, an over analytical mind and worrying about whether my Iphone would update to daylight savings meant I probably only got a couple of hours skeeo in the end and before I knew it it was 5/4am and the alarm was going off.
With the words of Steve Born ringing in our ears, we had decided not to eat anything on race morning, instead relying on the pasta meal the night before and a banana literally 5 mins before getting into the water - so we were out of the flat just after 5.30am, reaching T1 just after 5.50am.
After the customary checking in of bikes, arranging of gear, paranoid rearranging of gear and the usual pre-race rituals, we donned our matching wetsuits, listened to the race briefing, chowed down a banana and lept into the water.
What I have forgotten to mention so far was the wind...the forecast had always predicted strong winds for the Sunday morning but none of us had really considered what impact this could have on our race...so when we arrived at check in and observed what felt like a gale force wind whipping across T1 we were all a little concerned to say the least. In fact the wind was so strong, those people with disc wheels found their bikes blown off the racks. It was chaos! Even the swim looked windy with what looked like a swell and a chop that looked fearsome even for us seasoned B&B'ers.
So back to the water, and in we went to be greeted by the thick duck poo feeling similar to Canberra - lovely between the toes in the morning.
Due to the relatively low number of starters (only 329 finishers), there was only one wave start - which was good in a way as it meant there would be no strong swimmers from the earlier waves to worry about - unless I was lapped, which given my swimming pace, was a distinct possibility.
...and then we were underway.
One of my main aims for this race was to feel comfortable throughout the swim. It was something I had been acutely aware of since I had bought the wetsuit - after Husky, Canberra and Wollongong I had made a note to myself after each race to spend more time in the wetsuit between events in order to hopefully feel more comfortable during the race. I just hadn't done anything about it to date. This time was hopefully different, however, as I had made a conscious effort to swim in the wetsuit with the B&B squad twice a week. This had meant I had been in the wetsuit 7 times in the past 3 weeks. More than I had worn it in total over the past year.
All of which meant that when the 'gun' went off and I started swimming I immediately felt comfortable. Not once did I hyperventilate or feel the need to tread water or swim breaststroke - traits that had plagued my earlier races.
Whilst I certainly wasn't quick, that wasn't the point. I felt comfortable and confident which was a totally new feeling for me in a race. That was despite the strong headwind that I was swimming into.
What was also novel was that there were people around me and I was keeping pace with them. All the way to the first buoy.
From there, the course was basically a two lap rectangular arrangement giving 2km in total. And it all went fairly well! No incidents to report really...admittedly my sighting was pretty dreadful and lead to me losing contact with the swimmers I had reached the first buoy with but the main thing was that I felt good and in control.
Due to the wind, the first leg of the second lap definitely felt harder - but I kept my rhythm the whole way, only really stopping to sight. In fact on the second lap I actually passed another swimmer - again, a very novel feeling! He/she must have been lost.
Eventually I turned around the last buoy and headed for shore, standing up with two people either side of me! Again, something I'm definitely not used to. I immediately lapped my watch seeing 43 minutes on the clock - definitely slower than I would have wanted but I still felt good which was more important.
Despite my Garmin thinking I was on a bike ride (it auto-paused in T1 - I guess the multisport option didn't work), I quickly found my bike. T1 was pretty uneventful apart from the fact that one of the volunteers helped put my wetsuit, towel and goggles into a bag for delivery to T2. A special service for the slow swimmers I thought.
On to the bike which basically consisted of 2 x 57km loops of an out and back course along Lakes Way and then into the centre of Forster to T2.
Out along Lakes Way and the wind immediately hit me. Literally straight in the face - it was ferocious. My speed immediately dropped as I battled head first into it wondering just how I was going to cope with the next 4 hours on the bike. Luckily it seemed to have hit everyone else around me as we all trudged our way out of Forster stuck in what felt like quicksand.
...and so we went on, the wind reducing my speed to under 20km/hr at times on what was basically a flat road. Normally, the wind would be enough to focus the mind, but it soon became apparent that the road surface was pretty dreadful as well - so many pot holes and uneven sections including one particularly dreadful section which was basically unsealed. All of which made the first 27km of the ride pretty damn dreadful to be honest.
About 3km out from the turnaround Tim came flying past looking strong and then about 200m from the turnaround Roly came past also looking good. Both boys had clearly had strong swims and were looking good on the bike too.
Onto the backward leg and things started to pick up. Probably linked to the fact that I had also now started to eat and drink which gave me some energy to pick up my bike cadence.
Nutritionally I had again decided to follow Steve Born's plan of taking Perpetuem for 2 hours of the bike (hours 1 and 3) with 1 x Torq bar and 1 x Torq gel an hour for the other 2 x hours.
On the return back to Forster my speed increased as the wind pushed me back the way I came and before I knew it I was heading back out of town on the second lap....which was much like the first lap with lots of wind and a pretty dreadful road surface.
Again, Tim came flying back past around the same point as the first lap which at least meant that I wasn't losing any time. The same couldn't be said of Roly who had by this time discovered that his rear tub wasn't actually glued on which, when added to a couple of regular toilet stops (during one of which I passed him), meant I was now ahead of him.
Back on the final leg and I started to become a little incomfortable in the aero position, quickly working out that my saddle was pushing me too far forward and onto the bars which meant that in turn my arms were holding me in position and therefore becoming a little sore. Mental note made to alter the saddle before the next race.
Into T2 and finally off the bike with what I thought was a 3.45 bike split. Not bad considering the head wind. For some reason I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in T2 putting my gels into my top, fixing my sunglasses and generally fannying around. Much to my annoyance and frustration at the time.
Eventually I made my way out of transition and onto the run leg - my plan had been to deliberately hold something back on the ride in the hope that I could find a strong run and finish the event strongly....that was the plan anyway.
Nutritionally I had decided to take a gel at the end of the bike, then 3 x gels at 5km intervals. Like the perpetuem/bar strategy, this was something I had never done in a race before, although Tim and I had trialled it in training and it seemed to have worked.
The run course was much the same as Husky and Canberra, i.e. a 2 x lap course looping back through the finish area each time. By this time the sun had come out too which made things a little hotter.
That being said, I quickly got into a comfortable stride and settled into a 4.35 ish pace. Tim passed me coming the other way around 3km in, still looking strong. It turned out he was 7 minutes ahead of me coming into T2 having increased his 4 minute swim lead by a further 3 minutes. He was having a great race so far.
From there I just tried to hold a pace under 4.40, taking my first gel at 5km still feeling good. 10km came and went, as did the second gel, and I was out onto the last lap. By this point, I had narrowed the gap on Tim but he still had a good lead on me.
By the time I reached 15km Tim was now only a couple of minutes in front of me (Roly was passing me information). Time for gel number 3. Only 5km to go. In retrospect, I picked up the pace from this point although this wasn't deliberate - maybe the thought of getting close to Tim made me subconsciously push a little harder? Whichever, with 3km to go and the final turnaround point, Tim was now around 200m ahead. Which meant I could now see him on the long straights.
The gap kept coming down and with 1km to go he was about 100m ahead. Roly passed us both with about 500m to go and Tim, clearly realising that I was close, upped his pace.
With about 200m to go, Catherine appeared from the sidelines asking how far I had to go...200m I replied - to which she seemed a little surprised. But then again, we had planned to be out for 7 hours!
I eventually crossed the line 8 seconds behind Tim. What was good, however, was the fact that I didn't do my customary collapsing routine after the line, instead I actually felt pretty good. Not that I could have pushed things much harder, but I certainly didn't feel spent.
After finding Catherine we then set about waiting for Roly who eventually come in around 30 minutes later. For someone who had until the night before, been on anti-biotics he did pretty well even to finish let alone complete the course in under 6.45.
So in retrospect, a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile event...
So what were the positives...
- comfortable swim - the practice in the wet suit definitely paid off. More of the same from now on.
- the nutrition plan worked perfectly from start to finish with the gels every 5km pretty much spot on.
- holding something back on the bike enabled me to stay strong during the run and finish strongly.
All in all a great event...next stop Nepean! After a few days off..
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