LOVE YOUR SWIM-BIKE-RUN: Canberra

Last Sunday, a group of us took a quick trip to our nation's capital down south. Being able to complete three qualifying events before the end of the year was a huge bonus. However, I definitely underestimated the toll it took on my body:

Can I just lie here forever?

We arrived in transition to find out it was a non-wetsuit swim. In a freshwater lake.


All the non-swimmers were like:


But secretly they were thinking:



THE SWIM - 750m

There were about 85 of us in the under-40 wave all going at once, so you can imagine the carnage in the first 200m:


I've become accustomed to the bashing that comes with competitive racing. Still, every time I got hit, I was like:


But hey, that's what happens when you're in a mass start, right?! I didn't let it bother me too much. After a while, I finally caught my breath and settled into a rhythm:

Me, settling into a rhythm

BIKE - 20km

I really love draft-legal racing! When you can get on a pack, its fast & furious. I jumped onto the wheel of two girls who were up ahead, then a couple of minutes later, my friend Alicia (who ended up winning our age group) zoomed past and told me to jump on her wheel:

Me, trying to hold on for dear life

We had a few others girls join the train and let me tell you, these girls were motoring!


I lasted for about 10km before I got shoved out the back. The girls were just too strong, and there I was:


Learning how to hurt takes practice, but I'm happy that I managed to spend a little longer in the hurt box than my last race. Luckily I found two girls to work with in the last few kilometres & we helped each other get home:

"I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing..."

RUN - 5KM

Out of transition I went:


It was a one-lap, straight out & back course. I saw Nicole Ward at the turnaround (ex-pro now racing age group). She had started 5 mins behind in the over 40's wave & caught me with about 500m to go on the run. I tried to stay with her but she was moving at around 4 min k's:



I think lasted about 10 secs before my body said:



Thankfully, I saw my support crew near the finish line and could not have been happier:

Did someone say chips?
Photo by Glenn McPhee

Made it to the finish with some pretty wobbly legs:


Then it got announced that I had come third in my age group:


I thought he was playing a joke on me, so I went over to check the iPad which showed the names and places of everyone who had crossed the timing mat. He wasn't joking. I had come third:



The post race feels got me all like:



I had to keep pinching myself because I just couldn't believe it had happened. I know what you might be thinking: "settle down, this isn't the Olympics!" But let me to explain...

When I think back to my first ever sprint, I used to dream of podiums. I always thought those people were freaks of nature who were totally out of my league. I would watch girls collect their medals for first, second or third and hoped that one day, just one day, it would be me. I'm pretty sure I came 25th in my age group in my first triathlon. It took me a few years to get there but what I will say to the people out there trying is that it IS POSSIBLE!!

I'm not usually one to reflect too much on my races. But now that I'm coming down from the post-race high, three top-5 finishes is a huge step in the right direction for world championship qualification.

Thank you so much to my friends who came out to watch. It always gives me such a boost and definitely helped me sprint to the finish!

I hope to be alongside these legends, racing in the green & gold next September:

The ladies of Balmoral Tri Club:
L to R: Catherine Coulson, Nicole Ward, Bright Lady in Lycra, Ingrid McPhee & Laura Van Den Hoenert

But for now, it's time to enjoy some well earned sleep:



Next up: Husky Sprint in February, 2018 which will be my last qualifying race. Hope to see you there!

P.S. I've just ticked over $1K for the Love Your Sister Foundation! Thank you to so much to everyone who has contributed so far.

For more info, click here.

LOVE YOUR SWIM-BIKE-RUN: The Kurnell Smackdown

Welcome to the next edition of Love Your Swim-Bike-Run: The Kurnell Smackdown



Here's a quick recap of how last weekends race went down.

Sydney was next on the list of World Championship Qualifying races. Kurnell was named, "Triathlon in the City" which, according to Google Maps and common sense, is in fact nowhere near the city...


Nevertheless, Kurnell was a great spot for racing. It had been quite a few years since I'd done this race but it was one of the first triathlons I ever signed up for when I started wearing skin-tight lycra back in 2006. Being in Sydney meant it was going to be popular and no doubt competitive.


I was secretly worried when I found out there were almost 50 girls in my age group trying to qualify. Thankfully that was across the two different age groups (30-34 & 35-39), so that made me feel a little better.


But I still didn't know how many girls I was up against so I had to go all in and hope that it was going to be good enough. Secret goal was a Top 10 finish which would vastly improve my chances of being selected.

The 30-39 females were one of the last waves to go. I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was going to be a beach start, which felt a little like this:


After a short burst of maxing out my heart rate for the first 100m, I settled into a good rhythm and was surprised at how much space there was around me. No-one trying to push me under water or punch me in the head. A nice change from the washing machine that was Yarrawonga:


Despite trying to find some feet to swim on, I spent the first half of the swim pretty much on my own:


We were told there were sharp molluscs under the weeds and were instructed not to stand up until we saw clear sand. I was conscious of not cutting my feet. Here's me running out of the water:


I got out of the swim and remembered my actual rack number (18), but what I failed to do was remember WHERE the rack was. Here's what it should have looked like in a nice orderly fashion:


But no, that was too hard. I eventually worked out that my bike (on rack 17) was at the very end of the rack 18, not next to it.




Gave myself a good talking to:



But tried to remain calm:


When I eventually found my bike, I hopped on & felt pretty good. Despite some muscle cramps in my quads in the latter part of the bike leg, I was motoring along at a decent pace:


I definitely underestimated how undulating this course was though.


Then, someone told me it was a 3 lap run course.


I got off the bike and was ready to unleash.


The mostly-grass run was hella tough. We had to climb a hill 3 times, which looked a bit like this:


By the final lap, most of the boys from our tri club had finished (being in an earlier wave) and were cheering all the girls from the sidelines. It was exactly the boost I needed to get me to the finish:


I got to the end knowing that I had given absolutely everything I had left in the tank:


I crossed the line and Matty Harris who was commentating got on the microphone and told me I had come 4th in my age group. WTF?! I couldn't believe it. Kurnell is notoriously known for being competitive and I had somehow managed to crack the Top 5!


If someone had told me 10 years ago when I first started this lycra malarky that I would be anywhere near the Top 5 at Kurnell, I would have laughed in their face. Honestly, I know I have been in this sport for a long time but I never thought I would ever be in this position. Up until this year, I wasn't at all confident in my ability to even qualify for the Australian team. Whilst it is still a work in progress, I can safely say that I am finally starting to believe that I have a chance.

So what's next? Canberra on 26 November, where the water is about as clear as mud:


So, who's up for a road trip to the nation's capital?!!



If you liked reading this race report, why not consider chucking $2 to the Love Your Sister Foundation? If you didn't already know, I'm aiming to raise $4000 for cancer research ($1000 for every qualifying race) and I need your help to get there.

Here's what your donation gets you:
$2 - I'm poor but I still want a tax deduction
$5 - I don't want to swim, bike, run or do anything with the word "thon" in it.
$10 - I don't want to bake anything either, so here is the money I would have spent on ingredients

Click here to donate or to read more. Thank you!

LOVE YOUR SWIM-BIKE-RUN 
The Yarrawonga Edition

Where the hell is Yarrawonga?

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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.

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Instead, I will explain how the race unfolded in GIFs.

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THE SWIM - 750 metres

The water looked a little murky:

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And the swim started off like this:

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It was pretty crazy. I spent most of the time screaming under water:

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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:

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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:

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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:

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Although, by that stage, there was a massive head wind, so it mostly felt like:

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THE RUN - 5km 
I beat about 6 girls into transition because they were still faffing around trying to get off their bikes.

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I grabbed my stuff & headed out for the run, trying to channel my inner Carol:

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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:

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How I was actually running:

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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:

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And in real life:

#UglyRaceFace

Thankfully I had my mate Claire greet me with a high five at the finish line:

[Apparently, I thought it was nap time. Geez Bel, open your bloody eyes]

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)

My training buddy, Alicia (2nd place) & I with 3x world champ, Peter 'Robbo' Robertson.

Next up: Kurnell Sprint triathlon on 16 November. Time to get back to work!

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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.