THE RACE

To sum up from Sunday's race

"I'm happy but not satisfied with the overall result"

The swim started well - the extra distances and technique sessions I've incorporated into the IM training has started to show I felt really comfy and felt I was keeping the pace quite high. Things went downhill for a good 900m of the swim when I came across my first encounter with a jellyfish and when the competitors out wide made their line towards the first turning can.



This was the first race for me where the jellyfish have been an issue, a couple of times in the swim I put my hand straight into the middle of them. It affected me a bit more because I use a sleeveless wetsuit I copped a few stings along my arms but luckily none on my face.

The other issue with the swim is nothing unusual just part of triathlon and something that you just have to deal with. Getting belted in a field as big as what there was is just part of it all. I'm hoping the extra distance at IM should string the field out as it felt on Sunday the last 600m heaps of people dropped off and this allowed me to find some room and I seemed to just be flying past other competitors. With the couple of issues I had I still swam faster than I've done before for that distance so things are looking good in that department.

Got off to a great start on the bike, once out of the technical bit I started to make up heaps of positions and being able to make it away from the bunches. On the second lap of the bike myself and another competitor had a good pace going taking it in turns to keep the pace while still keeping the required distance apart. Then about halfway through this lap I looked behind me only to see a bunch of about 40 just riding in peloton formation, they just swallowed us up.

At this stage I let them know my thoughts and I tried to ride away from them. I could get 100m in front but then they would just swallow me up again. So I just sat up let off some more steam and dropped off of the back.

The more annoying thing was that the Tech officers rode with this bunch but they still seemed to do the same thing, also most of that pack comprised of all the guys that I put the effort in to pass at the start of the bike. Then to add even more frustration I only saw about three of that bunch in the penalty box on the way back. As far as I could see you could of let the first four or five guys at the front of the bunch off but booked the rest of them for some time on the side of the road. I could of rode at the front of that bunch quite easily but why do I want to give everyone else a free ride just to get run over when we hop off of the bike. Before the bunch came along I was on track for a sub 2:20 on the bike which would of set me up well for an overall PB.

Once I started the run I knew I was not on target for a PB so I decided then to make this a real life trial for Pt Macquarie. This meant trying to keep good form and control my heart rate at certain points so I can take on food and drink. I'm quite happy to report that this went to plan beautifully I was in control of things the whole way. I didn't get the time I would of liked but I was able to take many more things away from the run than a PB. I also got to run with Crowie for about 5 metres.

As you can see that my opening sentence sums up the race for me pretty well, so my 4:36:16 was around the mark but just not as outstanding as I was hoping for. Still plenty of good points to take from the race and now I'm truly focused for the training that's ahead of me as I'm sure that things won't all go my way in the main race either.

With my sisters Kate and Sally post race

My number one fanatic Mum listening to race review - note stopwatch necklace she is sporting

Thanks also to all the crew that turned up to cheer me on they even made it into the local paper [check it out here] and gave me a big rap. But the journalist mustn't of been able to fit in the description of what it was like to watch a race like this with Mum, either that or just didn't believe what he was being told. I definitely couldn't do all this though If I didn't have the support of all these people close to me they help make it all worth while I hope I give them just as much enjoyment from watching me.

Also a big congratulation to Penny, I've been coaching Penny towards this goal since October and it was great to see all her hard work pay off. We got a race plan together last week and it was great to see that work perfectly so she could achieve her goals. To put things in perspective in August of last year Penny was unable to fully complete a Half Marathon but yesterday she completed a 1.9 swim , 90km bike and 21.1 run. Testament to what hard work and a good outlook can bring, even better was seeing her do it in front of her Mum, Dad and Richard. Must of been a huge relief for Richard as he's had to live with all the hard work required to get there.

Well it's back to the massage table for me this afternoon so I can get back to the training and I'll keep you all up to date with things in the future

Cheers Toby