With a couple months of training for the Ironman underway the summer triathlon season was fast approaching and my first race was ready to roll. My first race was race 1 in the Gatorade Series www.supersprint.com.au at St kilda over the distance of 500/ 20 /5 . Swim in the bay the bike leg along beach road and the run also along the walking track in front of the St kilda sea baths. The Gatorade series attracts big names and also massive numbers of competitors across all divisions. The race area is a small city and a hive of activity.
Entered into my age group of 35- 39 in total of 131 entrants come race day. I was in the second wave approx 50 people on the start line so my previous open water swimming training getting used to people bumping and crashing into you helped settle into the swim once the gun fired. Started to one side of the pack to get my rythym and stroke rate comfortable but that only lasted a short time as everyone was heading for the same swim marker. Swimming isnt my greatest strength but was mid pack most of the swim in my wave group so come out of the water with some work to do. Finished the swim in 11.05 and the next faze of the day is about to begin getting out of my wetsuit while running to transition. You think running up the beach to get on the bike would be fairly routine but struggled a little bit getting my breath after the swim. Once in transition i went through the motions of preparing to get on the bike, wetsuit off, shoes on, helmet on ,un hook bike then away we go. The bike leg up and down iconic beach road was always going to be quick and with 1500 atheletes was going to busier than the normal sunday morning beach road loop. Out onto the bike and tailwind straight away the TT bike felt great and floating along with some good race wheels under me. With time trialling not my strongest fortee in cycling i got into the groove nice and early and strarted to relax on the bike. With the course a 2 lap course i started to go through the field looking for numbers that were in my category but was not sure who was in the first wave or second wave but passed a few with the same category markings so was improving on my swim postion. Hydration i focused on during the bike to ensure that i had enough fluids on board for the run as always very hard to fill up during such a short run. I entered the bike transition and felt good with a time of 31.56 avg 38km/hr which i was happy with because i had not pushed the bike at all. Into run mode quick transition and out onto the run course. On the run i was passed quickly by faster runner in my division so i used this as a perfect chance to pace myself early on to get tempo rolling along. Watching my garmin i could see that my pace was increasing as the run went on. Heading for home the last 2km were my quickest getting close to 4.10m/km pace so fastest i have run since i have taken on this journey of preparing for an Ironman. Down into the finish area and crossed the line in 1.08.53. This being my first race i didnt know what to think of my time the suprising feeling that i had i was not totally smashed and felt good so encouraging signs early on.
Now was time to go home and look at all my info from the race and start picking it apart for improvement.
Results
http://www.supersprint.com.au/results/201213-series/gatorade-triathlon-series-201213/gatorade-triathlon-series-201213---race-1.aspx
I have now taken on a coach to acheive my goal of completing an Ironman and no better person than someone who has competed at the highest level for all Ironman atheletes (Kona) i now have the guideance of Xavier Coppock from www.triathlonandmultisportcoaching.com.au as my coach and look forward the challenges he has set heaing into the unknown.
Not sure what the next race is at this stage but i will update in coming week.
Thanks to all that are following this journey and all the positive comments.
Cheers Damo
