XOSIZE Triathlon, Elwood

This was one of two 'A' races for the season, the other being Geelong in just under 3 weeks time. Elwood was our Club Championships, but more importantly a Selection Race to qualify for the Australian team at the Age Group World Championships in London.

Conditions were close to perfect. Early morning temperature was around 16 to 17 degrees celsius, not cold or hot, just a perfect temperature for racing. The water was very flat, warm (but still cool enough for a wetsuit), no current and unusually clear for Elwood. I believe the water quality in this area has improved significantly over the last couple of years and I saw lots of fish during my warmup swim. On my warmup ride there was a definite headwind coming back from Port Melbourne, but it wasn't too bad and it also meant a nice tailwind on the outbound section.

All up there were 62 Bayside members racing the Sprint distance (and several others doing the mini). We had our own club wave start, so it was very much a race amongst the club members. As I only breathe to my right (when swimming), at the start line I lined up towards the left so that I'd maintain a good view of the other athletes whilst swimming. As you would guess there was a massive charge into the water as soon as the starting horn went off.

During the initial wading and porpoising I deliberately hang back a metre or so whilst I size up the best location to slot into. I want to try and draft off a smaller pack containing swimmers who look relaxed and avoid those over exerting themselves with arms flying everywhere. I found a good pair of toes to follow, but quickly discovered there was competition for this location. A swimmer on my left kept pushing into me - we were both trying to draft off the same person. As I breathe to my right, I was being blindsided by these attacks and eventually lost my draft after 200m or so. However it seems this first 200m was enough to clear away from the main pack and although I didn't realise it at the time, I was now swimming towards the front of the pack. The rest of the swim felt very easy, I found a good rhythm and just concentrated on technique and swimming straight. Out of the 62 Bayside competitors, I was 11th out of the water in 13m02s which included the run to transition (before we ran over the timing mat). So actual swimming time for the 750m would be closer to 12m30s - this would equate to 1m40s per 100m which is a touch slower than I'd like, but the swims are usually measured long. Considering I outswam numerous athletes from the fast lane at swim squad (I swim in the medium lane), I was extremely happy with my swim, especially since it felt quite easy.

Last race in November, my transitions were terrible, so I had been doing a little practise in this area. Of particular concern was getting the wetsuit off quickly. This time I remembered the paw paw cream on the inside (ankles and knees) and the hair conditioner on the outside of the wetsuit to facilitate it slipping off over itself. Whilst still far from perfect, my wetsuit removal was vastly improved from the previous race. In my haste for a quick time, I forgot to grab my sunnies for the bike ride. My initial urge was to run back (about 50m) to get them, but I quickly decided this would be a waste of time and I would not really miss them on the bike. After all, Olympic Gold Medallist Alistair Brownlee does not bother with sunglasses on the bike. My T1 split was 61 seconds, 6th fastest in the club and only 10 seconds slower than Ray (who had the fastest transition time).

My pre-race plan was to hammer the bike (play to my strength). Luckily my power meter arrived back after a warranty repair and was fitted to my bike on the Friday before the race. I decided to be ambitious and aim to hold power between 300 and 320 watts. Once on the bike after a flying mount (which I had practiced 20 or 30 times at the velodrome the day before) I was feeling really good. After 30 seconds I glanced down at the bike computer and saw a power figure of over 400 watts - way too high. I immediately dropped it back to around 310, but I could feel a little sting had already been taken out of my legs, hopefully I wasn't going to pay too badly for this little rush of blood. As expected heading out was very fast with the tail wind and coming back into the headwind was a little more difficult, but I rode to power and felt comfortable for the whole ride. Worried that I may have overdone the bike, I eased off a little in the last 5km back into the headwind, but overall I was extremely happy with my effort on the bike. The official bike split that includes running out and back into transition was 30m48s, but the actual riding time recorded on my bike computer was 29m34s for 20.1km at 40.9kph. My fastest ever bike split beating my previous best at the last race in November at Mordialloc. For the first time ever my bike split was faster than head coach Clint's, but President Adam beat me by 18 seconds.

On the bike I had passed several club members including Dale, young Matt and Ray. Unfortunately Ray sped back past just after the dismount line. I've never seen anyone race through transition so fast, as he screams out at people to make room as he comes through. After the race Ray asked if I followed through the gap he created, but I replied that there was no way I'd be able to keep up with him. My transition was reasonably good (and I remembered to grab my sunnies this time), but as I started the run leg, Ray was already well out of sight. My T2 split of 84 seconds was 4th fastest, but 18 seconds slower than Ray.

When running through transition my calf muscles had felt very tight. So once on the run I concentrated only being loose and the muscles quickly began to feel better. Some people struggle in the first 500m off the bike, but not me - my first kilometre off the bike is nearly always my fastest. Even after my best ever bike split, Strava shows I ran the first 400m at 3m37s pace (mins per km) and it actually felt slow. After a few glances at the pace being shown on my watch, I applied the brakes and reverted to 3m50s pace, which is something closer to what I'd be able to maintain for the full 5km. I saw Clint coming back the other way as I approached the half way turn point. I knew Clint would be leading but was quite surprised that he was not further ahead. Not far behind Clint was Ray and he was looking great. At this point I thought Ray was going to cause a huge upset and take the win. There were not many competitors between Ray and myself and I studied each one carefully and did not recognise anybody from the club - so it was possible I was now in third place. Once I made the u-turn I saw young Matt running with Adam and they seemed to be very close behind. Even worse, Dale was only a little further back and looked to be running very well. Up til now I'd been under the false illusion that my bike split had created a nice gap, but this cushion was disappearing and now everything depended upon the last 2km of the run. Concentrating on technique I was able to maintain my rhythm and speed until the end and crossed the line without being passed. My run split was 19m23s for 5km, again my best ever run off the bike and 8th fastest in the club.

At the finish line, Clint and Ray confirmed that I had finished in 3rd place. After seeing Ray closing in at the turn point, Clint had finished strongly to hold off Ray by 16 seconds. Dale had managed to run past both Adam and Matt and finished in 4th, 16 seconds behind me. Adam was another 10 seconds adrift, 5 seconds ahead of Matt. I never expected to finish so high up but some of the fast members (Swanny, Sean, Andrew, Darren & Griff) didn't race. However you can only race who turns up and I'm sure my effort would have seen me beat at least some of the above mentioned names.

Like me, Elaine was mentally tuned in for this race and it showed in her results. She swam well, pushed hard on the bike and had one of her best runs in while. Elaine was very pleased to beat quite a few other club members and even more excited to come 2nd in her age group. 2nd place means lots of selection points for London and pretty much guarantees her a place in the team.

I only managed 6th place in my age group. However I'll be in the next age group for London, and my selection points are based on my relative position within this older category. My time was faster than anybody else in category above, so my selection points should represent me as winning the age group!

It is now just under 3 weeks until our Geelong races. We both pulled up well and feel ready for 10 or so days of hard training before starting our taper.

Neither Mark nor Peter raced at Elwood as they both concentrate on their Ironman preparation. Mark has been churning out some killer sessions, whilst Peter's achilles injury is showing definite signs of improvement.