I was going to post my result today, as I know there was nothing online about how I went. I came 17th in the Ocenia champs Triathlon in Wollongong this afternoon. My son is stoked because he came 17th in his Junior Triathlon in Wanaka a few weeks ago. So what happened? The big question everyone probably wants an answer to. Am I not cut out for this? Too much endurance, not enough speed? Well it might seem like that when you look at the placings but this sport is just next level when it comes to strategy. Today was a good example of how you can completely screw yourself over in one moment. In every other sport I have done you normally can come back from mistakes. But in ITU there is no room for stuff ups and you have to know the rules. I’ve raced 3 times now. First week I felt flat as a pancake and got 2 penalties. 2nd week in Auckland I still felt flat but started badly by getting disqualified before I started for missing race breifing. But managed to get back on the list. This week wasn’t much better in the lead up, but I felt like I was in the right place to have a reasonable race and thought I had learnt enough from 2 races that I would start to get it this time round. But got worked again. It was a crazy race. I felt really good in the swim, but was still starting out wide compared to the guys with decent points. For those non ITU followers, your start order on the beach depends on how many points you have. So in my first race I started far left, 34 places from the top swimmers. 2nd race I started the same. Today I started in a similar place, but was pretty happy in that spot. I had a good start and was swimming well. After about 300m of the 750m, I looked over and was a head or two in front of the front bunch but on my own and 10metres or so from them. I made the call to keep to my own line as I thought it was a good line. On refllection I should of manned up and just cut across and got amongst the chaos. But instead I decided to just keep swimming on my own, and found myself out in some big swell after the first buoy but felt good so just kept going. And then by the time I got back in the harbour I was almost last. It was a crazy feeling, as I was feeling good and felt like I was swimming well. Still dont’ really know what happened, but next time I will find myself some feet.
Once you are down on the swim in sprint distance ITU you are pretty much done, but I wasn’t about to give up. So I worked the bunch and hoped someone in there could ride, but ended up doing all the work and we couldn’t catch the front bunch of 25. Got on the run and felt good. All in all I felt like I had a good race, but made a fatal decision too early in the swim which cost me the race. I did that last week too but wasn’t feeling great last week so kind of accepted the end of result.
All in all though I still feel good about racing Tri, even though it might seem like I am way out of my league, I just feel like I need to figure it out. The only way I am going to do that is to race and learn from my mistakes. I just have to learn quickly. I have Mooloolaba World cup this weekend and I am looking forward to being in one place and training consistently in the lead up. This race is another sprint distance tri. Then Gisborne which is Olympic distnace. I think Olympic distance will suit me better as I’ll have more time to make up for my mistakes if I make any. It’s a steep and rapid learning curve, and tough on the ego just getting smashed after a solid couple of years racing and doing well. But I feel like I am finding some good head space now and looking forward to some more. Not ready to quit yet!
Thanks for the support everyone!!!!