TEP time trials and Australia Day Triathlon Race Report

TEP swim time trial (Wednesday 23/1/13):

I got in the pool and started my warm up set by the TEP coaches. This included straight swimming, drills, building and 50's on target pace. In all, the warm up was about 1.5km. I then started the 1000m time trial. The TEP time is 13:12, which I knew I was not going to get anywhere near, so instead I aimed for a sub-14 minutes. I went out on pace for the first 300-400m, then I slowed down the pace a little so that I could keep going to the end. I was watching the gap on people coming the other way to see whether I was gaining time, or loosing time on other people in the lane. With 150m to go, I decided to pick up the pace a little bit, and then picked it up more at 50m to go so I could get the fastest time possible. I touched the wall at 14:09, which was 9 seconds off my target but took six seconds off my pb.

TEP run time trial (25/1/13):

I arrived at the track at 6:30pm for the 5km time trial, with a advised start time of 7:30pm. I did a 10 minute easy warm up jog around the back of the stadium, and then a few run throughs and activation drills with my great mate Cambell Smith. We then both went to the start line around 10 past 7. I met up with a couple of other mates that were going to run as well. I did a couple of run throughs down the track again before the start, and then went to the role call. I got put into the second heat, which was good as it allowed me to go to the toilet before the start. When I came back, I did a couple more run throughs and dynamic stretches before moving to the start line. When I got to the start line, it was almost 8:10pm. The gun went off and two people broke off the front. These are my 200m splits for the whole race:

200m: 35.81 (00:35.81) - 2 people broke off front of pack

400m: 20.18 (01:15.99)

600m: 40.79 (01:56.78) - caught one person from front

800m: 40.25 (02:37.03)

1km: 39.87 (03:16.90) - caught other person from front

1.2km: 39.96 (03:56.86)

1.4km: 39.93 (04:36.78)

1.6km: 40.66 (05:17.44)

1.8km: 39.72 (05:57.16)

2km: 40.74 (06:37.90)

2.2km: 41.36 (07:19.36) - someone overtook and started leading, I got boxed in

2.4km: 40.30 (07:59.66)

2.6km: 41.53 (08:41.19)

2.8km: 41.59 (09:22.78)

3km: 41.12 (10:03.90)

3.2km: 41.26 (10:45.16)

3.4km: 40.24 (11:25.40) - person leading pealed off

3.6km: 41.27 (12:06.67)

3.8km: 41.57 (12:48.24)

4km: 41.47 (13.29:71)

4.2km: 41.51 (14:11.22)

4.4km: 39.92 (14:51.14) - kicked and got a little gap on group

4.6km: 39.89 (15:31.03)

4.8km: 39.00 (16:10.11) - gap caught, Michael Cousins overtook and got a couple of seconds gap on me

5km: 35.89 (16:46.00)

I was quite happy with this time as it was a new pb for me by 13 seconds and I was pacing for 3/4 of the way with Cambell Smith. Next time, I am hoping that I can stay out the front for the whole race and not get slowed down by someone so I can keep my pace correct and get even closer to the TEP time or beat it.

Congratulations to Tegan Scott who also ran a very fast time.

Australia Day Triathlon (26/1/13):

I woke up at 4:30am, feeling alright considering I ran the night before. I had breakfast and then headed down to Point Walter. I got registered, set up my bike and then walked through transition. I started listening to the briefing and then realised it was 15 minutes until the start, so I went off to the toilet. To my surprise, there was only one working toilet and a queue of about 15 people. I waited there until I was about 5th in line, and saw everyone over at the start already in the water and waiting for the start, so I decided to skip that. I went over to the start and did some run throughs and a little swim. Then we listened to another little briefing and got into the water again to start. When we started, I felt like I was going alright in the water, and came out with a 4:16 swim which was 8th fastest. I was feeling quite good at this point, seeing Cambell Smith a couple of seconds in front of me, so I tried to catch up to him, which I failed in doing on the way to transition. I had a little fumble in transition with my helmet and glasses, which made me lose 2-3 seconds through there. I got onto the bike and had a bad mount uphill, and had a little trouble getting my shoes on. I got over the first little hill and into the decent. I caught up 2 places going down, but then lost them when the road flattened out again. We went out to the turn around as the two people in front of me were slowly  pulling away from me. I reached the turn around and headed back I got overtaken by 2 or 3 people just before the up hill again, and then stayed about the same distance behind them into transition. I came into transition and had a little trouble getting my bike onto the rack, and then slipped a little with my shoes as well. I went out onto the run with Kyle Nankivell and caught up to 2 or 3 people before the turn around, and then ran back with Brandon Swift as he had just caught me. With 400m to go on the uphill, Brandon kicked and I tried to stay with him. I just didn't have anything left in me to get in front of him. I finished 11th overall. I was quite disappointed with this race apart from the swim, although the 5km the night before could have contributed to it. 

I would like to thank my triathlon coach Stuart Durham and swim coach Mark Brown for helping me acheive the times I did, and I would also like to thank my family for the support and Cambell Smith for warming up with me.

Kwinana Motorplex Criterium C Grade

Race information:

The Kwinana Motorplex Criterium was held on the 13 of January, and held by the Peel Districts Cycling Club. The course is a 1.6km loop and the time limit was 40+1 (40 minutes + 1 lap). A total of 15 cyclists turned up for the C grade event. 

Pre race:

When I arrived at the motorplex at 7:30AM, I met up with my good mates Ben Walton, Jonney Sammut and Cambell Smith, who were all racing in C grade. We all went and registered, and then rode a couple of laps of the course so we knew where to go when we raced. There was one sharp tight corner in the first 300m of the lap, and a hairpin turn about 500m from the finish. We all found the best way to go round these corners and discussed race plans. We moved off the course and watched the juniors, E grade and A grade race, and then did a bit more of a warm up in the car park. When the A graders had around 10 minutes to go, we started.

Race:

We started off at around 33-37kph, and the first five started rolling through turns. I was up the front and a couple of minutes in I started dropping towards the back of the group. Around 10-15 minutes into the race, Ben Walton took off and made a breakaway. The whole group started picking up the pace out of the corners, and the guy that I was sitting on did not get up to speed quick enough on one lap, and we got dropped off the back. The gap got to around 13 seconds at the most, but we had to work hard to get back on. We rolled through turns for a while until we picked up one other person, and worked together with a bit more rest after each turn, and then caught up to the main peloton after a couple of laps. One other cyclist at this point rode off to try and catch the breakaway. The group went with him and we all came back together. It was around 25 minutes into the race and Cambell Smiths coach, Stuart Denton who was also riding with us, tried to get us all working together again. We started pulling 10 second turns and then rolling off, which worked quite well. We kept this up for 15 minutes, then we got the bell lap. The pace picked up a little more and the turns got shorter. We got to half way around the lap, and there is one section where you can go to the right and the road has a slight bend to the right, which everyone usually went, and another section where you could go to the left and it was a right turn which was a bit more technical. Everyone went to the right and I saw this as a chance to get away from the peloton and try and win. I went to the left and sprinted off. Jonney Sammut managed to jump on my wheel as I got away. I was coming into the turn at 50kph and had to really slow down to make the turn. I almost went off the road on the other side because of the speed I was going. I took off up towards the finish with Jonney still behind me, and then Ben Walton overtook me. Another 3 guys overtook me and then Jonney came round me as well.

Post Race:

Ben Walton manged to nab the win, with Jonney coming in fifth and I came sixth. Cambell Smith finished behind me in 7th and Stuart Denton in 8th. I averaged around 37kph and covered around 26km. After we finished, we rode an easy lap and then went for a bit of a cool down ride afterwards. Thanks to everyone that raced and also to Stuart Denton for pulling everyone together in the middle of the race.

Telstra Triathlon Series Race 2: Champion Lakes

Pre race:

I arrived at Champion Lakes at 6am on the morning of the 12th of January, 2013. I was very excited as it was the morning of the first draft legal race I have done. I was not expecting the best race as I had only started swim training four days ago, after having three weeks off due to an operation on my finger. I kept up my running and cycling training but still did not feel the best I could be in all three sports. I walked my bike over to the island in the middle of Champion Lakes and almost lost my bike into the water a couple of times due to the 18kt wind blowing my bike around. I met up with my great mate Cambell Smith and decided to do a little bike warm up. We rode a single lap around the course and immediately realized it was going to be a tough windy course. When we got back, we put our bikes away and went for a little warm up jog, and watched some of the other juniors compete in the enticer and pursuit events. We jogged about two km's before proceeding to rack our bikes in the open transition. I then set up my bike and made sure everything was in place for when I came in from the swim and bike, and then double checked everything. I then walked through transition so I knew where to go when I came in there. When I had finished, the briefing started for open and that went for about five minutes. I then had my gatorade and strapped up my finger as that was what my doctor told me to do. I then jumped into the water and went for a little warm up swim before the start. I moved out to the deep water start line and moved to the far left so that I could protect my finger on my left hand as a big enough knock could make me permanently loose it. 

Swim:

The horn went off and I started swimming to try and get into a good position where I could draft off someone but not get any serious knocks to my hand at the same time. I managed to sit on Aaron Richardson's feet and he kept up with the main group for the first half, then it started stretching out and we dropped off a little bit. I sat behind him for the rest of the swim and got out of the water at the same time as him. We went through transition together and jumped on the bike at the same time. My swim time was 11:57.

Cycle:

As soon as I mounted the bike, I put my feet in my shoes and overtook Aaron as he was still getting his feet in, and I led out for almost a km and then Aaron did a turn. We kept rolling over and on the second lap, caught sight of Stuart Denton. Aaron made a suggestion that we try and catch him when I rolled over and then I picked up the pace to catch him. We started doing shorter, but faster turns until we caught up to him just after  the turnaround at the end of the second lap. Just before we got onto the back straight of the last lap, Stuart suggested that he would ride into the wind for us so that we were fresh for the run, as he was going to pull out at the end of the cycle. Aaron and I sat behind him for the rest of the lap, and then overtook him and dismounted. Aaron and I both had a quick transition and then went out onto the run. I averaged 37.7 for the 19.9km cycle.

Run:

I sat on Aaron for the first 500m, and got to the turn around. Aaron took the turn around a bit better than I did and pulled away from me a bit, and then I couldn't catch up to him. About half way back, I started getting a stomach cramp, which I ran through at first, but it soon started slowing me down. I got to the turn around of the first lap of the 1km loop with a time of 3:45 for that lap. I went out onto my second lap and tried to hold an even pace. I got out to the turn around at around 1:50, and came back to 4 minutes flat. For the next two laps, I held exactly the same pace, varying by less than two seconds each lap, and then got onto the final lap. I tried to pick up the pace a little to see if I could catch anyone. I went through 500m in around 1:55 and tried to go a bit faster on the way back. I came through the finish line which is 50-100m further than the turn around point in 4:08, which gave me a 19:52 run. 

Post race:

After the race finished, I drunk two bottles of water and immediately went down to the water to cool down. Cambell Smith, Stuart Denton and I all sat in the water for about 5 minutes before getting out and clearing up transition. I finished 12th in 1:04:05, about 6:20 behind the leader. I did not expect to go very well, but I though I would go a bit better than I did. I would like to thank my coach Stuart Durham and swim coach Mark Brown for preparing me for the race. I would also like to thank my parents for the support and trievents for letting me race in the open category.