We started the day by getting up early and checking the conditions, eating breakfast and heading off to the race at 5.30am. Always a fun start when it's a race day. We did manage a fairly good parking spot too which is always a bonus.
So the day was grey and had the real threat of rain or best case, showers but still fairly mild in temperature and not much wind to speak of, well at least at about 6am. Once we set our gear up and Jane got her medical bag to St John's, we got our wetsuits on and made our way to the water. Water temp ok, not too cold and no jellies. We wished each other luck and that then I made my way to a start position and waited for the pros to go. With that done and 2 minutes later, RACE TIME!!!
So I allowed myself to swim a bit conservative since I hadn't done much swimming in the last few weeks. My main focus was to swim in a group and get toed around the course this time. Each time I have done this race I did not get the full advantage of the drag and current in the port. At the end of the first lap of 750m I took my time to protect my leg then headed for the 2nd lap. Not too stressed as I had no real expectations for this race and just let things fall how they would. So the 2nd lap was a bit long I felt, and I did managed to hang in a group so I achieved my goal for the swim. A little disappointed with a 34 minute swim but oh well, I hadn't put the real work in to expect too much better than that.
I hobbled to my bike through T1 and again not too stressed, but I did however forgot my plan here and did not put my socks on. This and Ironman are the only 2 length races I usually will wear socks for, and my road cycling shoes and not my tri bike shoes. So once on my bike, feet on top of my shoes and quickly trying to get up to speed. I wanted to get a good start so I kept my feet on my shoes for nearly 3 km and I passed a lot of fumbling people trying to sort their shoes out. I love the roads here, nice and flat and fast. STILL NO WIND!!! Once into my shoes, I was riding around 41-43km/h comfortably and crawling in people. Always a great feeling, and my leg felt good. at about 15km mark I caught my good friend James Brent, which surprised me he was in front of me after the swim (he did pas me in T1 though which I later found out) and I continued to real in people and collecting a few on the way. I passed Nathan Milner and tried to encourage him to keep with us. We ended up in a bit of a paceline and a few of us stuck up near the front trying to avoid drafting, but a couple blatantly did draft, and one plonker kept passing on the left. I saw Jane and she looked nice and comfortable on th ebike, going at a good clip too. After 35km and heading home for the first time I ended up yelling at him about that manoeuvre and that stopped in a hurry. The sea breeze picked up and we were pushed home as we headed north. GREAT! We picked up James' sister Elaine Brent who was competing as a pro, and cruising at 42-43km/h. Not too much drama heading home and onto the 2nd lap!!!
We managed to break up our little bunch a bit as a few people dropped off our pace as we hit the head wind heading south, with our speed dropping to about 34-35km and we tried to roll a few people at the head, and I tried not to spend too much time out the front myself but still tried to avoid drafting. Once we got to the bottom turn and got the tail wind again I tried to drop the hammer a bit to pick up some time I lost. This time I managed to get away and took one guy with me as we were hitting about 45-46km/h and got about 300m away at one point. GOOD TIMES!! The small group picked their pace up and reeled us in as we turned for home. I was happy to see James and Elaine still in that group that caught us. With about 4km to go until the end of the bike I decided to punch it home and took off hitting 50km/h and with about 1km I caught the super quick Sue Mellsop. As I dismounted I was clear from the pack behind me and the spectators were cheering and then confused a bit as I causally walked my bike to my rack. I got passed again in T2 bit I didn't care right here. My plan was to either pull out here or walk the run so my day was basically done. I felt really good about my days work. I ended up with a bike split of 2.21.47, 2 minutes slower than I hoped actually, but only 2 minutes so very happy.
Onto the run/shuffle. As I left T2 people were telling me to keep it up, I clowned around a bit and took it easy. Every time I tried to stride out I could feel my calf spasming so I was never going to run hard. I cheered everyone I could see on the bike and took my time, trying to time it to finish with Jane. I had to start taking on a bit of nutrition as I figured 2 1/2 hours for my 21km. When I got to the mount I had to walk every incline, careful not to stride out on every downhill just to manage my injury and only did anything that looked close to running when there was the official cameras around. I timed it almost perfect as I waited a bit with about 1km to go and I saw Jane coming. We ran the last bit together and she managed to talk to me so I know she was in fairly good shape for the end, well for her anyway.
Jane got her amazing goal in 5.30.14 and 11th in her age group, with her glycogen storage disease! As her condition goes, once she stopped moving, she collapsed at the finish line, and the St John's were great. They were waiting for her and moved her to the recovery tent for our recovery plan. I made sure she had got her medal which she would have been extremely grumpy about when she recovered if it wasn't there. So after a glycogon IV solution and some drink food and other treatment, 45 minutes and we were out of there to bask in some of the event. Her smile was as big as ever and I know I have said it before, but she is my hero!
Once we got our gear, picked the girls up and had a big lunch, recovery soak in the hot pools, back to prize giving, dinner with James, Elaine, their mum and grandmother, shared war stories etc, we crashed out fairly early.
Even though I have done this event before, I felt like this was the most fun I've had here. No pressure, no expectations, no meltdowns even with the injury I really enjoyed this day. One of my most enjoyable days doing triathlons.
So 8 weeks until Ironman, will I be able to heal and recover to go better than my last effort. I hope I can. Now for some serious prep work!
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