On a downer - The race at Kinloch

I have stopped work to do this - I need to get this off my chest - it is making me miserable.
What is you might ask? It must be something really important.

The answer is it isn't important really but it matters to me.

I had a really bad swim at my race last weekend. After the euphoria of my last race swim I have come down to earth with a bump. I feel disappointed all round really.

All the work on the swimming in the pond and pool. I think I got trapped amongst slower swimmers and spent time looking around me. But I worked really hard.

The bike was extra hard this year instead of 3 laps they made it 2 and it took in a really big hill which was harder than my bike training was good for but I managed it not fast but comfortably and my bike was rideable. And I know that I haven't done enough work on the bike. It is where it should be a month before my first race of the season. So next year my first race will be Rotorua at the end of November and my cycling should be where it is now but at the end of October.

The run was the same 4 lap with small hills affair which I ran strongly and finished with a flourish thus achieving my goal but only 2 minutes faster than last year. But last year I hadn't run much in the month prior to the race and it started hurting on lap 3.

I think with the exception of swimming I am just impatient to be competitive and faster. I don't like the idea of being 36 th out of a hundred. But I know it takes time. It also takes confidence to put in the effort and pace required. It is still only my second Olympic distance race in 14years.

My final race for this year is on the 13 March in Wellington, the national champs so I will get a real reality check as to where I am (get my arse kicked). Although the course is flat and I have the tough Kinloch race under my belt so armed with that knowledge I plan to push a bit harder on the bike and run and try to have a good swim.

Now with my therapy session over I can get some work done (business is booming) and go for a run.

Join the movement and we'll start a revolution - stop all unnecessary shopping - separate your needs from your wants.

First race of the season- 3rd Jan Whangamata

Disaster of my own making. I had been tinkering with my bike set up and used Profile fast forward seat post and had only ridden it on the turbo trainer and thoroughly tried iton the road. I came out of the ocean with a time of 25.48min for the 1500m swim including a very long run to transition, which for me if this was accurate would be a time, a long run to the bike, got on it and got 1 kilometre downthe road and knew the bike was unrideable. I had driven the course the day before and knew that there were dangerous bits and I wasn't prepared to risk it the way my bike was set up. It was too extreme. When we got home I bought a new ordinary seat post.

Because of this disaster I have decided to add another race down in Wellington but next up Kinloch on the 7th of February.

The disappointment of the race didn't spoil our little holiday, we will go back to the same apartment for an extra day and the race.

Another sideeffect of the race is Teresa saw all the fit looking people and decided she is not fit enough and is thinking that next season she wants to aim to do the sprint distance races, she has been doing half the distance of that this season.

Join the movement and we'll start a revolution - stop all unnecessary shopping - separate your needs from your wants.

Olympic distance Race goals achieved but...

Even during the swim I was thinking I could just do the swim and pull out. But then I realised it was going well, navigation was spot on, tiring with about 200m of the second 750m lap to go.

The two days leading up to the race were not ideal, we were staying in a holiday house in Accacia Bay at lake Taupo. Emily and Cameron were very excited and slept very little. We had car trouble and I was worrying if we were going to able to get home.

Registration was the day before and took ages I'd left the family at the house thank goodness. There are still a lot of posers who can talk a good race. I had an enjoyable chat with an older lady who was doing the entry level race of 300m 9km and 3km run.

And from that point I relaxed knowing that I nothing to prove to anybody. After the swim I had a trouble free transition, got on the bike and rode the 40km on a course that was hillier than I was expecting. But I just took it easy paced myself and this sums up the race. I wasn't there to race I was there to turn the clock back 13years and complete the race (without being last) and to see if I still wanted to do the longer races.

And I did with a smile on my face for almost all the bike - because for all the three laps on the bike, 4 laps on the run Teresa, Emily and Cameron were cheering for me. And that is how it's going to be from now on, I want to get back to being as fast as I can I want to race this race next year but not at the expense of everything else. I saw what I used to be like 13 years ago in the faces of others and I just want to be happy no matter what my time is. The bottom line is my children don't care, Teresa doesn't care she just wants me to be happy.

I must admit Olympic distance Race goals achieved but... the wheels fell of a little on the run, first two laps of a tough little course easy, number 3 felt it a little bit (not running much for the last 4 weeks) will do that, but on the last lap my injury in my left leg flared up and it really hurt almost walked but didn't.

Overall I was pleased with my time (which for the younger me) considering but I just cruised most of it. It was an added bonus that most my race gear is old and old and secondhand, it made feel great.

At bike check in the guy inspecting the bikes commented about my old epic "ooh a classic, don't sell it!"


ps: For those who don't know The distances were 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km continuously.

Join the movement and we'll start a revolution - stop all unnecessary shopping - seperate your needs from your wants.