THE RACE

Well its all been and gone now and all that is left to do is let all you guys know what the day was like through my eyes, well as much as what I can remember. The conditions that I finished in meant that parts of the race are a bit blurry.

But before I get started I’d like to thank everyone for their support to know that there where at least everyone following that commented plus everyone that was just watching the happenings, plus all the texts that I received. This certainly kept me feeling good in the lead up and so proud once I found out after the race.

Thanks to Rob for his continued guidance on the bike. We have been working together for the last few years and everybody knows that my triathlon times wouldn’t be what they are if it wasn’t for the bike leg.

My small band of product sponsors that have helped me along the way. David and Robyn at G&D Cycles for their help with the bike keeping it up to scratch, Abi and Tiff at BluPod for some nice warm pre race clothing (didn’t need it at IM but came in handy at Beachport), Foxy and Kane at Hyland Fox Signs for providing all the graphics on the suit and a very affordable support crew t-shirt, Green Triangle Electronics for the use of a Garmin Edge for IM and the lead up training and to Bianca Gillin Multimedia (she will get a bit more of a rap later on)

Dob and Marlene for the car park and accommodation in the city before we flew out and the taxi service when we returned. It’s these sorts of things that make the organisation of a trip like this so much easier and relaxing. Also their help over the last couple of years when I’ve been chasing state titles the accommodation and support was great then it was all still part of this goal.

Another big thanks has to go to Mum, Dad, Mick, Nicki, Tiff and Dion. They all survived the road trip up from the South East to be there for me on the day and have saved me a heap on excess baggage by taking the bike back for me. 2500km round trip. Sometimes I’m sure they’d rather I’d stuck to B grade football but by the looks on all their faces after and during the race I don’t think they would have missed it for anything. To top it off was the dumb founded expression from Nicki at the awards ceremony when they announced the 70-74 age category winner and she thought I was crazy.

I don’t want to rank the thank youse’ but I have to put the highest of highest thanks to go to my super WAG, live-in lover, secretary, stylist, publicist, partner and girlfriend BIANCA. What she has done over the last four years and especially since I decided to really follow this goal since September 2009 has been a huge support. There has been numerous times where she has had to make sacrifices so I could get my training in and the times where she’s wanted me to do something and I’ve been unable due to my training commitments. There have been plenty of times she could of spat it at me but she’s held her composure and let me work towards this goal. For all these moments I can’t thank her enough. To top all of this off I never could of imagined the response that I was going to get from ‘How is Toby Going‘ and Bianca was the main driving force behind this idea and for the continued professional help to make this the success that it was.

Thank You.

The Race

Couldn’t of asked for a much better lead up to a race like this I got a reasonable sleep the night before with a nice and relaxing build up. I’d loaded up the bike the night before with nutrition and only had to pump the tyres up, drop off the special needs and get the wettie on the morning of the race.

Most races I’ve ever done I could categorically say that I’ve always felt I could of done a lot better in the swim. Well for one time I could say that this swim went as good as I could have hoped for. I found some good space and felt fast in the water at one stage I was even textbook style drafting off of somebody, which let me just zone out and conserve some energy. Only once did I need to break stroke to adjust my goggles after a smack to the back of the head which occurred around a turning can, the only time the race seemed to get congested was around every turning can but it did get better the longer the swim went on. Towards the end of the swim I had a feeling I was on track with my plan but little did I know how well compared to a goal time of somewhere between 1hr to 1:05, I came out of the water around the 57 min mark. Gave me heaps of confidence heading into the bike and a sniff at breaking the 10hr mark.

Onto the bike and heading out of town - what a feeling - apparently one of the biggest crowds ever lining the streets and going nuts for everyone. It was a struggle keeping things under control but you got to make yourself when you still have 180 km to go. Through the rolling hills (little did I realise that I’d enjoy the hills more than the flat) then out to Cathie Straight up Ghost Road then back again. The First lap was smack on target for my plan around the 37kmh ave drinking well and eating every 30 or so minutes. Even up the Matthew Flinders Drive Hill on the big chain ring the first time. Once out onto the flat section for the second time the wind had built up didn’t really feel like a there was a tail wind at any section out or back so the pace started to drop but I wasn’t too concerned there was still a long way to go. This caused a few dubious looking bunches to form so I just started to conserve a bit because the wind was getting stronger and I knew that my main goal was to get to the finish line and I didn’t need to blow up on the bike trying to be a hero and ride off on the bunch. To the technical officers credit there did seem to be people in the penalty box most of the day it doesn’t take long for this to make a statement to everyone especially when you can see people waiting in the box as you ride past. I didn’t really notice much more drafting after the first 1 1/2 laps the message must have got across. As it was I had a bit of difficulty at the 150 km mark, I’d started to cramp a little but managed it well and got well on top of this issue by the end of the ride. I think this issue came about because after about 2 hrs of the ride my body was telling me that I was well and truly in control of the nutrition (just didn’t feel like eating any more) so I laid off it a little but I reckon I went a bit too far. This was also about the time that my average speed started to drop below my race plan and I probably got a bit caught up in trying to chase this and not on riding in between my limitation. But I gained lots of confidence in the way that I was able to pull my body back from what could have been a disaster; I wasn’t going all that way to drop out 170km into the bike.

For everyone that wants to know the spectators that line the course are a reason to do the event in itself they are fantastic, cowbells everywhere and a Tour de France style hill crowd to get competitors through the tough bits. There were even blokes running around with capes and sluggos in super hero mode, Patrick Vernay who won the event even said he even saw streakers. Could work for the Range Hill for the 100mile better hope for some warm weather.

Ride stats from the Garmin - click to view larger

The run was a bit of a blur I can remember starting the run and thinking to myself “gee it’s good to be off the bike” but that lasted all of about 2km. The first 7km of the run (the run is 3 x 14km loops so you have to do this section 3x) was amongst houses and flat. This may sound like the easy part of the course but it wasn’t. I noticed as I was heading out there for the last time a billboard with a thermometer it was showing 29 degrees - later on after the event I found out that it peaked at 32. Out of the whole marathon I can break it down to sections where I was feeling great (relative to the circumstances) and where I was not so great. I had a good couple of K’s at the start then hit a bit of a wall for a couple. From then on until the 21km mark I was on top of the world even my supporters on the sidelines said I looked the best through then. At the 21km point I suddenly hit a wall but it didn’t seem like it was to do with my body. My brain realised that I was only half way through and still had a long way to go and this was when I started to feel pain. I walked a bit to re-group then got a bit of form back. I was never the same from then on walking most of the aid stations until the last 3 km where I just seemed to float to the finish at around 4 min km (well as close to 4min km as I got for the whole day). But like I always do is to take some experiences away from every race that are a positive and something for the future. I know if I ever come across those style of conditions again there will be a lot more slower aid stations and faster bits in between as it didn’t seem to hurt as much running harder if I had the fuel to do it.

Once again the support from the sidelines was amazing. Along the second half of the course it was shoulder to shoulder with spectators cheering out everybody’s name (it was printed on our race bibs). There was people sitting in the backs of utes on old couches with eskys all having a great time with the music pumping giving full support to all the competitors. At one section they had marked out with chalk a section of the track that was an unofficial ‘no walk zone’ and if you were caught walking in there a chant of “walker,walker,walker” started up but if you then started to run you got an even bigger cheer of support and all the spectators probably skulled their beers or something along those lines.

The finish line went all to quick but I was focussed on getting the fastest time I could on the day so apparently all I did was a bit of a retarded high five to the official fan club and missed nearly everybody a bit of a pirouette then I was across the line and into the hands of the catchers. But I had around my neck the all-important finishers medal and draped over my shoulders the just as important finishers towel.

The moment I crossed the finish line

My proud support crew after the event