Settling in Pre-Race

Tuesday afternoon I had my first swim in the Serpentine. A small section is fenced off creating a sort of swimming pool (100m by 25m) which is known as the Lido. This is the only area of the Serpentine that Age Group athletes are allowed to swim (I have no idea why we aren't allowed to swim in main part of the lake where we'll be racing). At 16 degrees celsius, the water is definitely cold and is quite a shock when you first put your face under. However once started and warmed up it actually feels quite good. And I mentally went to a much better place once I knew I was getting back to some quality training before the event.

Wednesday morning Elaine and I went for an easy run through Hyde Park. They were setting up for the Aquathlon and we couldn't run on parts of the run course, so I checked out some of the bike course instead. There were strict instructions that no athlete was to ride on the course. However on both Tuesday and Wednesday morning the bike course was filled with athletes getting in some familiarisation. There was so much opportunity for the race organisers to allocate time on Wednesday for bike familiarisation. Instead they simply put a total ban - so some people obeyed and missed out whilst others just ignored the ban.

In general I have been extremely disappointed with the Race Organiser's attitude towards the Age Group competitors. The longer distance races organised by companies like WTC and Challenge really look after the Age Groupers. Without the Elites, we would still have all the Age Groupers racing, but without the Age Groupers there would be no Elites. This is a short course race organised by the ITU. Most of their events only have the Elite Races. It is only the World Championship Grand Final that includes the Age Group World Championships. As a result it is obvious that we are just a major hassle despite the fact we are their number one (if not only) customer and in this particular instance funding a large part of the event.

After our run we had a massage and then I went for another swim in the Lido, all before lunch. We had to cram everything in early before Triathlon Australia had organised a Team BBQ in the afternoon and we needed to be at the main Team Hotel by 2pm. The Team BBQ would then be followed by the Opening Ceremony in Trafalgar Square and the Parade of Nations.

Our hotel is over 3km from the Race Site. In the last 2 days we have made 4 trips to the race site, 2 trips to the team hotel (about 2km away) and another unfortunate detour due to a mistake from me (7km). So we have walked 39km in the last 48 hours. The exact opposite of what you would want to do in the lead up to a race - It is no wonder that our feet are killing us. With this in mind, standing around at a BBQ for 3 hours followed by catching the Tube and then standing around at an Opening Ceremony for another 3 hours was way more than our feet, legs and back could cope with.

After the Team BBQ (before Trafalgar Sq) we all gathered in Gibson Hall (photo below) to listen to a few speeches. At least this gave some people a chance to sit down (not obvious in the photo, but most people including me still had to stand).

Standing out in the open at Trafalgar Square getting very wet in the steady rain, time dragging on with nothing happening other than some DJ trying to rev up the crowd, we decided enough was enough and headed home. I suspect over a 3rd of the athletes left early, a lot of them much earlier than us. We were told the speeches and Parade of Nations finally happened around 8:30pm, we'd been at Trafalgar Square since 6:30pm.

A ride was organised this morning leaving from the main Team Hotel at 7am. Elaine and I decided to join in on this ride, would be the first time on our bikes in 10 days. However once outside we discovered it was raining and made the decision to give the ride a miss.

Our feet are still wrecked from the all the walking (and standing around), so we'll probably skip any training today (which goes against my usual pre-race routine). At 3pm we need to check our bikes into transition, so another lengthy commute, but I'm keen to investigate using the hire bikes dotted all over the city and give my feet a rest. These bikes should also come in very handy on race day as well.