Port Macquarie IM 70.3

Port Macquarie 70.3, every year this one is on the calendar and every year it always finds a way to hurt the most. Earlier this year before the trip to Roth I headed up to Cairns and suffered badly after trying to “freshen up” after back to back; let’s just say large,  training weeks.  As luck would have it Port just happened to coincide at the same time…. YAY!!!!

So, straight off the back of my biggest ever training week while also attempting to be ready to go a 3 week turnaround after Forster and you have yourself a ready-made recipe for a battle burger.

Having raced this one last year I was again excited to see how the progression was going, also knowing that I was racing at around 80% took a bit of the pressure off allowing me to just get out there and see what happens.

The day started ok, and with the wave starts it meant we (18-29 guys) would be starting a good 30 min back on the pro field.  Basically this meant that it would be an honest race. Less packs and more traffic. There were some guys who didn’t like this idea and were complaining about this and that, but I honestly liked the setup.  Being a stronger rider I am always happy to see the officials do their best to make it an honest race for everyone. I’m sure you know why.

The swim got going quick having the current with us for the first 900m.  I managed to get myself into the lead pack so was satisfied to rolling through with these guys. Beginning to know my body well is something I’ve began to develop over the last 12 months.  Enough so, that when certain things happen at certain times I can tell things are going to be easy or tough.  The signs for today…hmm not ideal.  At about the 1200m mark I decided to just put the head down and counted out my 10-15 strokes, looked up to sight and noticed I had fallen a good 15m off the group…….. Grrrr, it felt like someone had decided to tie a 50kg weight to my legs. . . It then occurred to me… “oh I’ve been here before” . . . . . . Cairns!!! I thought to myself here we go again.

I got out of the swim with what was still a respectable 25 mins, not ideally where I should be but still not too bad. None the less, I headed out on the bike and given the terrain, and my body shape… hills and 88kg don’t mix very well, it wasn’t a bad start riding solid through the first 90km.  Riding sensible and around y limits. It was at around the 55k mark heading back out to the turnaround I started to struggle.  There was just nothing there.  Head fine, no cramps, nutrition sorted… legs – on a lunch break! haha.   I could try to kick them into gear but thought “let’s not repeat Cairns”, just ride smart back the power off and get home and assess the damage when you get off the old girl (as in my Shiv).  Unlike in Cairns where I had got off the bike and gone nowhere (as a result of trying to push through the fatigue), I was hoping to be able to salvage some energy and run ok. I kept thinking to myself as I tried to push any sort of power to no avail, how the hell am I going to be able to run off this??

Pulling into transition with a 2:27 bike leg, again not too bad but not what I had hoped for, I headed out of transition and to my surprise the legs were just working.  I looked down at the watch and saw a pretty quick pace…. “Holy Sh!t…. I better slow down or ill be lucky to make it 2 k let alone 20”… Then I thought, “hold on, what does this race matter? Let’s have a go”. I then ran through the first 5km in just under 21 min and the first 10.5 in about 43.5min.  While I was running well and feeling good I knew this pace wasn’t sustainable and slowly slid out to 4:15. By that time I was only a few km from home and just dug deep for the last few landing a 90 min 21.1k an off the bike run pb and an overall race pb with a total of 4:25:15.  A pb run time and a good 20 mins quicker than last year. Although the course was slightly easier than last year I was happy….. A pb in the middle of a main training block can’t ask for much more.

While I was happy, this one had made me dig really, really deep.  After crossing the line I was feeling it. Alright, I know a 70.3 is meant to hurt, but this one hurt a lot, a lot more than usual. I was absolutely busted.  The worst thing….. No water in recovery.  Every fizzy drink under the sun but no water!!! What the F!?!...... Yea I’ve just chewed back a kazzilion gels and litres of coke in the race….. sure! I’d love some more sugar!!! . . . . . Epic fail.   

I do have to mention the efforts of the Trinova Multisport crew who got out there on the day. I think we had something like 9 or 10 guys going around. Dan R had an awesome race on home turf coming in 10^th overall and somehow still couldn’t win his AG, Leesh just missed a spot on the podium (even though it was a dead heat for 3^rd) – she will learn to sprint a finish sooner or later, Linds had a huge PB, Parko picked up a podium spot in her AG, Michelle and Katie K had their first 70.3s and Mick and Janelle had good days.  On the sideline it was good to see mum and day as well as the future in –laws giving us support. The loudest goes to the Coach (Rocket) and crew; Liz, McGrath, Turtle, Az and Az, and leah (I think that’s everyone) giving loads of support and having a great time.

All in all It was a good fun weekend; the body was hating afterwards but it was still a fun weekend and in saying that; If it was all easy, then where would the challenge be?

Onto IM Busselton Dec  9, hopefully things can come together on the day there. I’ll have a pre-race post up just before I go into battle.  I’ve learned a lot since getting back from Germany.  There’s soooo much to tell.  Until then.