Thank god for recovery week! I still couldn't find my training mojo last week & luckily for me, it was time to taper before the Sydney ITU race on Sunday. My program consisted of two swims, two cycles & one run; an easy week. The highlight would definitely have been the spa/sauna after a 1.5km swim in the freezing outdoor pool at North Sydney on a very cold winter's night.
For those of you that aren't aware, the Sydney ITU race is an Olympic distance triathlon, consisting of a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle & 10km run. Last year, the race was opened up to age groupers for the first time & proved to be one of the most popular races on the calendar. Its not everyday you get to race in the heart of the city & for most of us triathletes, we have to travel quite far if we want to race. It was yet another amazing way to explore the best city in the world.
My friends LJ & Sarah came down from Newcastle for the race & we spent most of Saturday watching the pro women & men race. Man, these guys are fast! Olympic qualification was on the line so there were some very determined athletes out there. Watching their transitions was amazing. I love this sport so much because you always learn something new. I bumped into heaps of people that I don't usually get to catch up with, unless its at a race, so that was really fun & it was great to be amongst the triathlon buzz again. A guy I had never met before even came up to me at the Opera House & asked if I was "The Fonginator." Too funny!
We went to have a look at the expo & managed to catch up with Olympic gold medallist triathlete, Emma Snowsill who was getting interviewed after the pro women's race. That woman is a machine. Here she is showing a bit of Fonginator love:
Sunday turned out to be an amazing day. Sydney turned on the sunshine & I was absolutely pumped to race. We headed down to the water at 6.30am to watch the other waves go off. I wasn't swimming until 7.40am so by the time it came round to my wave, I was itching to get in the water. The guy at the start line reminded us not to swallow water in the first 100m. It took me a few seconds to realise what he was talking about. Haha!
As I stood on the pontoon, waiting for the wave before me to go, I looked around & saw spectators lining the wall around Mrs Macquaries Chair. It was absolutely amazing. I had ear plugs in my ears so I couldn't hear much but I faintly heard someone yelling so I turned around, and out of the corner of my eye were The Strumanator & Bel B. It totally picked me up so I started waving & getting all excited! When I got in the water, I remembered an episode of IMTalk (www.imtalk.me) that I had listened to a few months before about how to save time in racing & Coach John Newsom was saying you should try & be horizontal in the water before the gun goes off, that way you just start swimming, rather than trying to go from being vertical to then being horizontal. So I did & it made a huge difference trying to get away from people. There were about 85 or so girls in my wave & we were all chatting amongst each other when someone said, 'are they going to give us a 30 second warning?' And literally, 2 secs later, the horn went off!
I felt really good in the swim. I kept a rhythm the whole time & I usually never feel great in the swim; I just can't seem to push myself & I just don't enjoy it. But looking up at the Opera House at every breath made a big difference. It was pretty spectacular. That and not seeing any sharks. At the last buoy coming in, I felt a huge gush of water come over the top of me & it was the men in the wave after us, speeding past. I got whacked in the head a couple of times, and swore under water, but just kept swimming. I got to the stairs & everyone was rushing to try & get out (idiots). It was so narrow & could only fit about two people at a time. As I stood to run up, the top of my foot kicked the stair & I took a massive chunk of skin off my foot. I made the long run into transition (the longest transition of my life; my rack was right at the back too) & looked down to see blood all over my foot. I put my helmet, sunnies & race number on & got out of there as fast as I could.
I hadn't practiced my transitions since the Husky Sprint race in February so I was very nervous about trying to hop on my bike with the shoes clipped in. It took me a couple of goes to try & get momentum & one lady was telling me to hurry up. I politely agreed & asked if she could make me a cup of tea while I was there. Then, off I went, trying to fasten my shoe without taking any more skin off my foot.
The ride was tough. But it was amazing riding over the Harbour Bridge. My heart rate was pumping for the whole ride. I made the most of the descents by getting into my aero's in the big chain & just kept pedalling. By the third & final lap, my legs were stuffed & I was in granny gear going up the hills. Although in saying that, I was flying past a lot of men with ridiculously expensive bikes & sperm helmets. They were all so slow around the turning points. Made me feel pretty good!
There weren't many spectators as we rode down towards the North Sydney turn off, so I think I will be emailing USM events this week & request there be music or entertainment on the bridge next year!
When I got into transition, there was a volunteer who was yelling & screaming, cheering so loud, jumping up & down & so excited. I told her she should win volunteer of the day. Now, it was time for the run. I racked my bike, looked down & my foot was utterly gross. The top of my cleats were stained with blood & I wasn't planning to wear socks on the run so I spent a bit of time trying to make sure the flap of skin that was hanging off my foot stayed on (you can thank me for that visual later). I don't think I would've been able to tolerate exposed skin rubbing against my shoe for 10kms. Thankfully, that was the least of my problems. The stitch I had in the last half of the bike did not want to leave & I ended up running the whole 10kms with a blinding pain in my right side.
I was so happy to be on the run though as I felt so slow on the bike & couldn't wait to get off. There were SO many people on the run course cheering. The atmosphere was truly electric. I didn't appreciate it at the time as I was too busy trying to get rid of my stupid stitch, but it was really quite amazing. There were loads of people cheering for Balmoral who I didn't even know. I felt like a bit of a rockstar.
I have to mention Joe, Mary, Tamara & Saxon and everyone from BTC who did a great job at yelling at me every time I saw them; as well Tarnia Luck from Balance & UTS, Karen Tallis from The Hills, The Boycenators who surprised me in the grandstands and Laura Sidall & the Bondi Fit crew who were going crazy at the finish line. Nothing compares to the feeling you get when people yell out your name during a race. Its pretty special.
My run felt really slow & I just couldn't pick up enough speed so at the end of the race, I was disappointed when I found out I had gone 4 mins slower overall than the year before. Bloody triathletes, such high achievers & never seem to be happy with their results! But when I took into account the course changes, and the fact that I was training for an Ironman (not an Olympic distance race), it wasn't so bad. Ended up with a 30 min swim, 1.51 T1, 81 min cycle, 1.50 T2, 48 min run, for a total time of 2h43m. I thought for sure I ran over 50 mins but somehow, I managed to pull off 48. Absolutely shocked but very, very happy!
I crashed & burned early last night after the race. Last season, I think I competed in a race every 2nd or 3rd week so my body was used to the pounding. This year, I've only done about 3 races so it took a lot out of me. Training & racing are completely different! I think I have one more week of building up a bit more, then another easy week, before a nice little taper. The 6th May is creeping closer & closer & I think if I can get through this Ironman, I can pretty much do anything!
Congratulations to everyone who competed this weekend, to everyone I caught up with & very special mention to my coach Mel who came second in her age group in a stunning time of 2h23m. Amazing.
3 weeks til the big day! Holy s!#%@
For those of you that aren't aware, the Sydney ITU race is an Olympic distance triathlon, consisting of a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle & 10km run. Last year, the race was opened up to age groupers for the first time & proved to be one of the most popular races on the calendar. Its not everyday you get to race in the heart of the city & for most of us triathletes, we have to travel quite far if we want to race. It was yet another amazing way to explore the best city in the world.
My friends LJ & Sarah came down from Newcastle for the race & we spent most of Saturday watching the pro women & men race. Man, these guys are fast! Olympic qualification was on the line so there were some very determined athletes out there. Watching their transitions was amazing. I love this sport so much because you always learn something new. I bumped into heaps of people that I don't usually get to catch up with, unless its at a race, so that was really fun & it was great to be amongst the triathlon buzz again. A guy I had never met before even came up to me at the Opera House & asked if I was "The Fonginator." Too funny!
We went to have a look at the expo & managed to catch up with Olympic gold medallist triathlete, Emma Snowsill who was getting interviewed after the pro women's race. That woman is a machine. Here she is showing a bit of Fonginator love:
Sunday turned out to be an amazing day. Sydney turned on the sunshine & I was absolutely pumped to race. We headed down to the water at 6.30am to watch the other waves go off. I wasn't swimming until 7.40am so by the time it came round to my wave, I was itching to get in the water. The guy at the start line reminded us not to swallow water in the first 100m. It took me a few seconds to realise what he was talking about. Haha!
As I stood on the pontoon, waiting for the wave before me to go, I looked around & saw spectators lining the wall around Mrs Macquaries Chair. It was absolutely amazing. I had ear plugs in my ears so I couldn't hear much but I faintly heard someone yelling so I turned around, and out of the corner of my eye were The Strumanator & Bel B. It totally picked me up so I started waving & getting all excited! When I got in the water, I remembered an episode of IMTalk (www.imtalk.me) that I had listened to a few months before about how to save time in racing & Coach John Newsom was saying you should try & be horizontal in the water before the gun goes off, that way you just start swimming, rather than trying to go from being vertical to then being horizontal. So I did & it made a huge difference trying to get away from people. There were about 85 or so girls in my wave & we were all chatting amongst each other when someone said, 'are they going to give us a 30 second warning?' And literally, 2 secs later, the horn went off!
I felt really good in the swim. I kept a rhythm the whole time & I usually never feel great in the swim; I just can't seem to push myself & I just don't enjoy it. But looking up at the Opera House at every breath made a big difference. It was pretty spectacular. That and not seeing any sharks. At the last buoy coming in, I felt a huge gush of water come over the top of me & it was the men in the wave after us, speeding past. I got whacked in the head a couple of times, and swore under water, but just kept swimming. I got to the stairs & everyone was rushing to try & get out (idiots). It was so narrow & could only fit about two people at a time. As I stood to run up, the top of my foot kicked the stair & I took a massive chunk of skin off my foot. I made the long run into transition (the longest transition of my life; my rack was right at the back too) & looked down to see blood all over my foot. I put my helmet, sunnies & race number on & got out of there as fast as I could.
I hadn't practiced my transitions since the Husky Sprint race in February so I was very nervous about trying to hop on my bike with the shoes clipped in. It took me a couple of goes to try & get momentum & one lady was telling me to hurry up. I politely agreed & asked if she could make me a cup of tea while I was there. Then, off I went, trying to fasten my shoe without taking any more skin off my foot.
The ride was tough. But it was amazing riding over the Harbour Bridge. My heart rate was pumping for the whole ride. I made the most of the descents by getting into my aero's in the big chain & just kept pedalling. By the third & final lap, my legs were stuffed & I was in granny gear going up the hills. Although in saying that, I was flying past a lot of men with ridiculously expensive bikes & sperm helmets. They were all so slow around the turning points. Made me feel pretty good!
There weren't many spectators as we rode down towards the North Sydney turn off, so I think I will be emailing USM events this week & request there be music or entertainment on the bridge next year!
When I got into transition, there was a volunteer who was yelling & screaming, cheering so loud, jumping up & down & so excited. I told her she should win volunteer of the day. Now, it was time for the run. I racked my bike, looked down & my foot was utterly gross. The top of my cleats were stained with blood & I wasn't planning to wear socks on the run so I spent a bit of time trying to make sure the flap of skin that was hanging off my foot stayed on (you can thank me for that visual later). I don't think I would've been able to tolerate exposed skin rubbing against my shoe for 10kms. Thankfully, that was the least of my problems. The stitch I had in the last half of the bike did not want to leave & I ended up running the whole 10kms with a blinding pain in my right side.
I was so happy to be on the run though as I felt so slow on the bike & couldn't wait to get off. There were SO many people on the run course cheering. The atmosphere was truly electric. I didn't appreciate it at the time as I was too busy trying to get rid of my stupid stitch, but it was really quite amazing. There were loads of people cheering for Balmoral who I didn't even know. I felt like a bit of a rockstar.
I have to mention Joe, Mary, Tamara & Saxon and everyone from BTC who did a great job at yelling at me every time I saw them; as well Tarnia Luck from Balance & UTS, Karen Tallis from The Hills, The Boycenators who surprised me in the grandstands and Laura Sidall & the Bondi Fit crew who were going crazy at the finish line. Nothing compares to the feeling you get when people yell out your name during a race. Its pretty special.
My run felt really slow & I just couldn't pick up enough speed so at the end of the race, I was disappointed when I found out I had gone 4 mins slower overall than the year before. Bloody triathletes, such high achievers & never seem to be happy with their results! But when I took into account the course changes, and the fact that I was training for an Ironman (not an Olympic distance race), it wasn't so bad. Ended up with a 30 min swim, 1.51 T1, 81 min cycle, 1.50 T2, 48 min run, for a total time of 2h43m. I thought for sure I ran over 50 mins but somehow, I managed to pull off 48. Absolutely shocked but very, very happy!
I crashed & burned early last night after the race. Last season, I think I competed in a race every 2nd or 3rd week so my body was used to the pounding. This year, I've only done about 3 races so it took a lot out of me. Training & racing are completely different! I think I have one more week of building up a bit more, then another easy week, before a nice little taper. The 6th May is creeping closer & closer & I think if I can get through this Ironman, I can pretty much do anything!
Congratulations to everyone who competed this weekend, to everyone I caught up with & very special mention to my coach Mel who came second in her age group in a stunning time of 2h23m. Amazing.
3 weeks til the big day! Holy s!#%@
No comments:
Post a Comment