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.