Gold Coast Triathlon
I arrived at race precinct and the first person I saw was my nemesis Ben we headed over toward transition so I could set mine up and he could get some information from the race team. Being a duathlon the transitions were very simple, purely put the bottle and shoes on the bike, helmet somewhere easy to reach and then hat and race belt down for the final run. No need for shoes or sunglasses etc. as you will wear them on the first run.
A few hours to wait until the race start, although I am glad I was made aware that the start process would be slightly different with it being a rolling start there is a chance that it will either be quicker or slower than the original wave times, but would not run to the original schedule. Very happy I was made aware of this as I did my small warm up run about 20 minutes earlier than intended, a quick jump into the water to have a quick last minute pee.
And yup we ended up starting about 15 minutes early, I started at the exact same time as Ben so it was always going to be a race between the two of us to make up for my 10 second loss at Raby Bay.
I went out quick, a lot quicker than I’d planned, but knew that this adrenaline would have that effect, however by the end of the first km I had calmed down a little and did a 3:57 km (this is my second fastest ever) by the end of this run I was averaging 4:08/km which was bang on target of quicker than my 5km pace.
Transition was quick nothing out of the ordinary, although the insole did come out of my left, no time to think about that now, helmet on, grab the bike and off I go. With the amount of athletes coming into transition at a similar time due to the different start the exit was very busy, I got a little jammed up trying to get around people as they were walking with their shoes and cleats on while I am running barefoot, these seconds count. I got past the mount line and probably ran close to 50 metres to get some clear space to mount, on my bike and off I go.
This is where things started to feel weird, after a few hundred metres I had my shoes on and had them done up ready to start pushing. People were passing me up until this point but I figured it was just because I was sorting my shoes out. There was a head wind for the way out which would play to my strengths as I have the power to push through this and pass people into the wind. However I wasn’t sure what was happening, I was putting in my normal effort but wasn’t going anywhere fast, struggling to hold more than 30km/h and people were passing me on both sides at times, I think the only person that I passed was on a mountain bike.
I continued until the turn around point, maybe passing as many as 20 people in the 5km but would have been passed by close to 200, around the hairpin and then I heard it. Within 10 seconds I had bursted out with a few expletives (mainly internally as this is a family event) I knew what was happening, I pulled off the course and stopped, got off the bike and saw it, “Dimmit” my rear wheel had been rubbing on the left brake pad for the full first 5km.
Quickly I undid the wheel, moved it and retightened it before starting again, nope, that hadn’t fixed it and 10 metres later I was off to repair it again, jumped on and still rubbing. All in all I had to jump off 3 times to fix it until it was finally sorted, however as soon as it was sorted it was a completely different bike.
With the tailwind behind me I was flying along, passing people up to 4 wide and this time I would have passed closer to 200 people and only been passed by 10, lap 2 and I was still flying, I was a little slower than with the tail wind but still flying past other people, oh to have had a perfect bike the whole course.
Coming into transition 2 was like clockwork, flying dismount with slower people in front of me, including, you guessed it Ben #nemesis he was only metres in front of me so I had to let him know by shouting at him, amusingly this may have put him off as he ran into a racked bike in our row. I chased him until I got to my spot. Bike up, helmet off, right shoe on, left shoe, hmmm, thats right the insole fell out, a split second decision I decided that it was necessary so wasted a few seconds putting it in before grabbing my hat and race belt and off I went.
Out of transition things were neck and neck, I was still a couple of metres behind Ben but before going past all of the club tents I made sure we were level so certain people would see that the race was on. It was ridiculously hot at this time, over 30 degrees but only 5km to go, I could keep on track to finishing strong. I’d take 2 cups of water at every aid station, half of each going in my mouth and then the other half either over my head or on my chest. At the first aid station I ‘unintentionally’ got in the way of Ben so he was unable to get any water himself haha.
Most people seemed to be struggling, I felt like I was passing a lot more than were passing me, but with the heat some people were reduced to walking, I got around the the first lap but my average pace was a little slower than I had wanted so my goal for the second lap was to go through faster than the first. Step after step, cheering others on to keep my mind off the heat. At the final turn around point I saw that I had made a significant lead and would be able to cruise into the finish, however cruising is not in my nature so the last km was my fastest of this run. Around the final bend and down the finishers chute and my race was done, however I did the sportsmanly thing and waited around for Ben to cheer him on at the end, he may have been my Nemesis on the day but I knew what he was going through and how great it feels to hear people cheering for you at the end which is usually a little lonely.
At the end of the day I did the best I could under the circumstances, my overall time was 1:10:04 which was right on goal time and over 5 minutes quicker than the year prior. Going through my data afterwards, the wheel issue cost me at least 2 minutes 43 seconds so if I hadn’t had them I would have cut over 10% off last years time. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to show myself how much I had improved on my swim but this will happen again.
Now onto my next race this coming weekend at Raby Bay to have a proper rematch and then on to Morton Bay standard distance Triathlon in March.
Good points from the race
I beat my nemesis by 78 seconds
My runs were very strong and went exactly to plan
My fitness on the bike is great, I may not have done as well but I know what I can achieve
Learning points
Do a quick test ride when you get your bike ready, you may find an issue
Either glue insole into the shoe or consider having a second pair of shoes if it’s a duathlon
Do absolutely anything possible to lower your body temperature when racing at a hot event, I jumped in the water for a few minutes before the start but should have stayed longer
