Well time for a quick race update, a general trip update will follow later.
I woke up race morning after a good sleep, which was quite unusual for me. We were at transition 10 minutes after it opened (which made me very happy) and i was set up in no time. Down to the swim start and after giving and receiving well wishes to all i was into my warm up and on the start line.
I started on the front row and after a quick introduction from the commentator we were given the 30 seconds....Boom and the horn went off. As i hit the water, Andrew and i were side by side, schweet! i thought to my self as i would have been quite happy to sit on his feet for the remaining 1850 metres. (i tried mate ;)) So i went about swimming in out small group of 4 (one team swimmer, matty burton, andy and i).
As soon as we turned the first can we had dropped everyone else, and were also the first to feel the horrible current flowing against us along the long back straight. I was feeling good but as soon as we made the second turn for the short trip towards shore, i lost focus and within 5 strokes, the current had pushed me to the left away from our little group - group lost - dammit! I was pretty annoyed at my self but there was nothing i could do so i swam on.
I neared the end of the first lap of the swim, stood up and got instant cramping in both my legs, i knew instantly from here it was going to be a long day. I swam the remainder of the swim by my self and got out of the water and onto the lonnngggg run into transition about a minute or so down on andy and matt. Not a bad swim :)
Onto the bike and i was struck with the same problem. Every time i tried to push, instant cramping. It quickly became quite demoralising as i worked hard on getting my pre and during race nutrition right, but there was nothing i could do but work with what i had, apart from the cramps i was feeling good.
I rode the first lap pretty conservatively with the aim of building. I was feeling good. Unfortunately the course led to some really bad drafting going on behind - but hey, those people were only cheating themselves. Good on you guys. In saying that the course didn't really lead to a clean race, 1600 people on 30k of road?! Hrmm.
My second lap was pretty uneventful as i rode well and watched the gap grow between me and uber bikers Matty and Andy. I kept downing nutrition and staying positive.
Onto the start of my third lap and i was joined by Scotty and a group of drafters behind. As soon as i saw them, i let Scotty know i was going hard to get rid of all the leeches, he obliged and we set about (legally) getting rid of them. It worked in some part, however my cramps were stopping me from doing any real damage.
Before i knew it we were 5k out of transition and i was preparing myself to run. To be honest here i was considering pulling out or walking the 21k. If i couldn't push on the bike i sure as hell wasn't going to be able to run, however not wanting to give it quite yet i decided to push on.
I had a good dismount and after chucking the socks and shoes on i was off....and feeling OK!! :D For the next 11k i actually felt really, good. I was running target pace taking in all the nutrition i could handle, and felt i was running within my self to finish strong.
However
It was not to be.. At around 12k i heard a BOOMMM. Oh yea it was me..blowing up, big time.
I'm still not really sure what happened but boy did it hurt. For the next 9k, well, i was a mess. I went to some deep, deep dark places, that i would re-healllyyy prefer never to go back to again, but hey i guess that's racing.
Some time later i crossed the finish line, a few minutes behind Andy who had a great one. It was a tough tough day and it honestly took me 3 days before i could walk properly again. That also may have had something to do with the copious amounts of alcohol consumed that night by a number of the races participants.
In hindsight (a beautiful thing), the race was interesting for me. My swim is ever improving which means all the extra time in the pool is paying off. But to loose a set of feet through loosing focus is frustrating and is something that must be addressed. My ride was good, but needs more work, however the cramps didn't help. My run showed some good signs too, but falling apart the way i did, wasn't exactly on the cards.
All things i need to work on, but hey for a race with a few problems i still put down a good finish.
I'll post some race photos in the post above and the follow up with a general update, later this week.
Cheers folks, Markus.
