Race Report

Where to start .. Firstly there are no pic's up as yet : but i do have some of my own that i will put up :)

Saturday
I had my tri clinic at 2.30pm I left home at 1.45pm. I had been going through my Transition since 12pm and felt a bit more confident but as i got on the road and the traffic was so bad I started to stress. I had left Little Miss and OH at home as the lawn needed mowing and Little Miss need a sleep. I got to the Tri event at 2.43pm. I was so stressed out but i stopped and took some deep breaths and thought they will understand and i will just go to the clinic at 3pm. After that I made sure I had everything I needed and slowly walked myself and my bike over to be registered. I was taking it all very slowly and trying to take every thing in. The ppl, the course, the event. I stayed at the registering area for about 20mins just looking at ppl and seeing what they where doing. I then got ready for my clinic which it seems about half the ppl there where waiting for it to start. There where a lot of first timers so that made me feel better, There where alot of second timers too, still nervous and still trying to improve from there last race. It was windy as well and the instructor told us it was going to be a windy day tomorrow. I am not the best in wind on the bike but riding up to the spit on the gold coast is one windy ride you can do and i did it about 2 weeks ago so i was feeling ok about the wind. The water looked very uninviting thou.
The Tri clini really didn't go over anything i didn't already know. I was more interested in ppl's questions as sometimes ppl think of things that you wouldn't.

After the clinic got my race pack, all numbered up :) and i racked my bike,  I racked it about 3 times and kept changing my mind. Bad I know but  i really wanted to get a feel for the whole thing. I had a camera in my bag and decide to take photo's of the transition area, my bike position,  and area makers so i knew where to run and where i had to go ! (this was the best idea ,  as when i did get home i not only told OH  all about it I showed him and plus it give myself a refresher on the whole thing.)  ok just loaded my camera and OH has deleted my transition area photo's !! so now i am a bit pissed off at him. I had some great photo's to show you all :( . The professional photo's are not up on there web site as yet.
this is the message  " 2009/10 Gatorade Triathlon Series Race 7 Luke Harrop Memorial – Southport (photos up soon)"
Any way back to the race report so once i was happy with my racking position I left and went back to the registration area had a look around and looked at stuff. The decided to go home.
At home I tried to keep life as normal, feed, wash and bed time, I went to bed after OH and It was so funny he thought when i was coming to bed that i was really going to the tri. He kissed me and told me "goodluck we will be there soon". I had a laugh and slept ok .. not the best. I set two alarms to wake up in time which I didn't need as Little Miss woke me at 2 minutes before the alarms went off.

Sunday (big race day)
So got up and had a coffee and some toast with peanut butter :) it was going to be 2 and a bit hours before my race so i new i was going to be ok with food. i had every thing ready to go so with 20 minutes before i had to leave i got Little Miss stuff ready for the day and pack lunch and breakfast for both OH and little miss. (got my mind off things) then it was time to go.
I took a different route to the event this time and i am happy i did, no traffic (it was 5 in the morning anyway but ) and the drive is nicer. parked and put everything i had to take to transition into a plastic bag It had be raining all night and i didnt want wet shoes. Transition opened at 5.30am. I got there at about 5.45am and had lots of time to look at what others had done and where doing. Found my bike no problems (thanks to my photo's) and set up my station. Then i was off to the lineup for the toilet. where i spend about 35 mins talking to ppl and waiting.
After the loo break I headed over to the mashing area to watch the kids start, all i could think was if these kids can do it I know i can. Then it was my turn to line up. I went to the left side of my category and just listened to the instructions. my nervous where killing me and I just wanted to see little miss or OH up on the broad walk above me, but they where not there. in no time it was my turn. I got ready and we where off. I started so well I was in front of the pack but by the time we got to the buoy and i had to change direction this is where i got in trouble I had to swing from the left to the right and while i turned the whole pack started swimming on top of me, I just was not quick enough and i got a kick to the head pretty bad and started to sallow sea water. Then i had a panic attack. I slowed down and started to swim breaststroke to control my breathing. (I was shit scared and i hated the tri at this very moment but i was not going to stop) I ended up in the middle of the pack and was happy to be there I was still getting kicked but i was starting to get my breathing under control. once around the second buoy I knew , I was ok and started to swim again but was blocked in on all sides. I got to a point where i could take off and i took it. then we where at the shore,
I found my feet and i was off. I lost a lot of ground in the swim and had some work to do. But in the back of my head i was thinking slow down get it right and have fun! so i slow down in the transition area and went straight to my bike. there where about 5 girls there when i got to my bike and there where 5 girls when i left. I was so quick i could not believe it myself. then i was off to mount my bike I was a little bit pissed at this one girl who was taking up the whole path with her bike. I yelled overtaking and she moved which was really good. I got to the mounting station and moved all the way to the right out of the way of about 10 people that where all waiting for each other (good move by me) I jumped on my bike and put my foot on the pedal to clip it in and my chain came off, This is the point where i started yelling hurtful names at my bike. A wonderful marshal came and held my bike for me and i got the chain back on in no time N/B Always check your chain the next morning. ppl move stuff in the transition area when they are racking there bikes. Ok so i was off like a rocket, 10km on the bike is nothing and i knew i had the legs for it. so i had to make up for the swim,  I was aiming for the girl that kick me in the head (not so that i could kick her back .. not me .. but so that i had something to aim for.) I was on firer and i was passing everyone. Only two girls pass me and they where fulling equipped with all the tri stuff and i still give them work to do. I was traveling about 38-40km/h and all i could think was attack the hills, attack the hills- thanks Mel!
Off the bike and into transition but this time everything looked way different , there where no bikes  at all in my area, i knew my lane and my 2 marking spots that i could line up with and i was there. bike racked shoes off, other shoes on, helmet off and then me off, my legs where bad but i knew i would come good just had to slog it out and wait for the blood to get there. I was going slow and everyone that i over took on the bike was slowly over taking me, i held in there and at about the 1km mark my legs started to work and i started to run like a normal person. I held a nice pase but was still too slow for my liking but i sprinted with about 400mtrs to go and headed straight for the finishing line. at about the 200mtre mark to the end i saw Little Miss and OH they were yelling "GO MUUMMMY We love you" I had a big smile on my face then. but i think i didn't at the end i was stuffed :)

I was happy to be finished and took my timing belt off. then i was off to find OH and LM for a hug. I found them no problem and then sat down to breath and finish getting the salt water out of my lungs from the swim. OH and LM where so proud of me but i got no hugs from LM as she informed me that i smelt bad and i was too wet to touch. must have been the sea water hehe.
The bigger event competitors had started in there transition from swim to bike so i watched that for a bit. but as we had 2hrs to kill before i could get my bike at 10am we decided to go for coffee,

At 9.20 we where back and watched some of the riding and running then transition opened at 9.50 I got my bike and was off to the car, I packed everything away and got changed for hockey. Yes I went straight to Hockey! because of road closures we had a hard time getting out of Southport, I got to Hockey 30mins late and missed the first half. But played well. After the game OH went for a surf and I got ready for my next game with LM.   I was still feeling really good at this stage so another game was fine. Plus i knew i would be on the bench. Well that didn't happen did it .. one whole game with the First team.

Very very sore today thou :(

Below are my results. of my first Tri! hoping that the pic come soon .. sorry Mel
Results

NAB Enticer Race

25-34

 300m swim / 10km cycle / 2.5km run

Start Time:	07:03:03	Overall Pos:	272 / 762
Finish Time:	00:47:24	Gender Pos:	89 / 295
Net Time:	00:47:24	Category Pos:	26 / 96

Splits

Split	Race Time	Time of Day	Split Time	Overall Pos	Category Pos	Gender Pos	Dist. Done	Dist. To Go	Speed
Swim	00:06:52	07:09:55	00:06:52	320	39	128	0	0
cycle	00:32:18	07:35:21	00:25:26	218	16	60	0	0
Run	00:47:23	07:50:26	00:15:05	354	44	139	0	0

 ox Trace