LOVE YOUR SWIM-BIKE-RUN
The Yarrawonga Edition
Where the hell is Yarrawonga?
via GIPHY
Let's just say it took six different Spotify playlists to get there. I'll let you do the math.
The Yarrawonga Edition
Where the hell is Yarrawonga?
Let's just say it took six different Spotify playlists to get there. I'll let you do the math.
Now, I have to warn you, this is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill race report. I won't be telling you what I had for breakfast, how I got to the race, what I was feeling or other crap like that.
Instead, I will explain how the race unfolded in GIFs.
THE SWIM - 750 metres
The water looked a little murky:
And the swim started off like this:
It was pretty crazy. I spent most of the time screaming under water:
THE BIKE - 20km
Draft-legal meant I could ride on the wheel of anyone in the female wave. Score! A pack of four girls sped past me with the hammer down and I managed to hang on for a few minutes, then all of a sudden:
Maxed out my heart rate trying to chase them but couldn't quite get there, so after catching my breath again, I soon found another pack to stay with. It went a little like this:
I was left on my own for few kilometres until I got to the turn around. Then, together with my friend Claire & another girl, we took turns on the front, pulling each other towards T2:
Although, by that stage, there was a massive head wind, so it mostly felt like:
THE RUN - 5km
I beat about 6 girls into transition because they were still faffing around trying to get off their bikes.
I grabbed my stuff & headed out for the run, trying to channel my inner Carol:
I was pushing hard (averaging 4:30 min/km) and my lungs were feeling the pinch but I just kept trying to stay focused on the goal of getting as many points as I could.
How I imagined myself running:
How I was actually running:
Here's proof:
Hey, it's Kelly from Coogee Tri Club! Sorry Kel, gotta run, can't breathe...
Just after the photo below was taken, I made a mad dash to the finish line. I overtook the girl in front of me with about 100m to go. She tried to challenge me to a sprint finish, but I ended up just ahead of her by 2 seconds. I later found out that she was coming third in our age group (before I overtook her). Moral of the story: ALWAYS HUSTLE! Go hard to the very end and NEVER, EVER GIVE UP!
Here's me running down the finishing chute like a bat out of hell:
And in real life:
Thankfully I had my mate Claire greet me with a high five at the finish line:
I never going into these races expecting to podium. You work as hard as you can and you hope you've done enough to do well, but you never rest on your laurels because you just don't know who you're going to be up against. Expect nothing, appreciate everything. I could not be happier with a 3rd place medal and stoked to have banked a solid 23 points for World Champs selection!
Final time: 1:15:16
(for the stat lovers, that's a 13:51 swim/38:36 bike/22:52 run)
Next up: Kurnell Sprint triathlon on 16 November. Time to get back to work!
Psssst. If you enjoyed this lycra-loving adventure, complete with GIFs, why not chuck a couple of bucks to the Love Your Sister Foundation? I'll do all the hard exercise, you just have to chuck me a gold coin. If you're in, just head on over to this page. Thanks so much to all who have supported so far! Read more about the Love Your Sister Foundation here.
