Mooloolaba Tri Race Report

As promised, here is the report from Mooloolaba.

In short, it was fantastic. The conditions were ideal for racing and the day was a milestone in my journey.


It was a perfect day and the conditions were as good as they get; approximately 22deg C with no wind, water was warm and resembling a pond. My setup in transition was fine and I walked alone down the 800m beach to the start with still some concern about cramping in the swim, but it turned out great; no sign of cramps and I felt comfortable and kept a good stroke all the way. The only negative was the outgoing tide was slowing me down towards the beach but nothing too bad. I hadn’t done very much swim training to be honest, so I was more than pleased to have made it without a problem. The jog to T1 was long but ok, however I decided to take more time in the transitions to make sure things were right. The bike was also great, with no wind to speak of and my bike performed wonderfully. It felt fast although the time isn’t anything to brag about, but there were no dramas and as with the swim it felt like the best bike I’d ever done. But that’s where the fairytale ends. T2 was particularly slow as I cramped bending over to change shoes, so I had to sit down. Then I just had no energy left and my bad leg started to ache. So my run was in a word woeful; I just didn’t ever get any pace up. Now I know that just being there was good enough and the very fact I could run 10km should be worth celebrating, but it was so arduous that I didn’t have any fun. The hill was hard work and I was really feeling the 165km bike ride back from the gold coast the week before at this point and so the run was not much more than a shuffle. The last time over the hill was torture and I cramped badly on the downhill into the finish, stopping twice to pull the cramp. The end result was 2:44 which has bothered me a bit, with the run being almost an even hour, which is a far, far cry from my pb of 2:16 at Noosa a couple of years ago. But that was then and this is now. So I have a starting point and am determined to improve on this time at Noosa in November this year.

This is basically the end of the triathlon season here in Queensland. There are a couple more races in other states but I'm done for now. I have my work to do in the off season, which by comparison is pretty tame, i.e. no snow or sub zero temperatures to train in. But mark my words; come Noosa at the end of the year, I'll be running off the bike like a demon.

Bye for now.

The Big Day Approacheth

Hello people,

Its been a long time since my last post but I think it has been worth the wait.

Hmm….let me see, where to begin? Lets cut to the chase shall we?

I’ve entered in the Mooloolaba Triathlon this weekend. Yep, my first Olympic distance race since May 2006, just before “the injury” which was supposed to see the end of my running days. How did I get to this point you ask? Simple. I want it badly enough. By that I mean it was a matter of doing what had to be done, and that means running when my nerve-damaged leg and foot screamed for me to stop; riding longer and longer distances and still sprinting whenever a mate attacked; stuff like that.

The result is I can now run 10km without issues. I can ride up mountains and cover 100km without any trouble and believe it or not swim 1500m without cramps (see previous post). So I’m in.

Some of the stuff I’ve done in the past 4 months include running to work and home again, which is about 8km each way, 3 times a week. I rode last weekend to the Gold Coast (my favourite ride) and then rode back again with 5 others for a total of 163km, 5hrs31mins, ave spd 29.4kph, and mixed sessions in the pool that finish with a 1500m race pace without cramps. Yes, the foot hurts and yes it doesn’t work as it once did. I’ve come to the conclusion that it won’t heal any more and this is what I’m left with, but that’s ok as I’ve learned to run to a fashion with it. And as long as I can cover the distance of the oly then all’s well. I've also adopted a regime of weekly climbing sessions of 5 laps up and down my local mountain, and twice weekly rides of 75km before work. These two things have helped my bike strength beyond measure and I'm essentially back to where I was on the bike before the injury.

So I took the plunge and entered one of Australia’s more difficult Olympic distance races. Why is it difficult? Well, the swim is in open water that can become monstrous when there’s a low pressure system hanging around. The ride is out and back with strong cross and headwinds on an open highway, followed by the run that includes a challenging hill that must be traversed several times. But I’m ready now and not about to wait until November when Noosa comes around again.

So I promise to post a race report with all the ups and downs. Who knows, I could still cramp badly in the swim and have to cling to a paddle board, or I could simply not stand the pain in the foot any more somewhere in the run. But then that’s triathlon isn’t it? Any number of things can happen in the race, so there’s a point where you have to say “I’ve done everything I can, now its up to fate’.

Ciao.