It's no secret that I was bursting to race. It had been a looonnnggg time since my last 70.3 and I missed racing, the vibe, the atmosphere of triathlon. I was lucky to snag an entry into this inaugural event as one of the few Victorians I knew up here. My family came up, my sister and boyfriend were here and regardless of the race - it made for such an amazing experience.
Did I have the race of my life? No, but I definitely had some wins and positives throughout the day.
Race day itself was amazing. The weather cleared up and it was hot, bright and low winds. Having left Melbourne in 7 degrees, I was running my own mini sauna up here in 26+ degrees but I didn't care. I just wanted to get out!
Swim
For anyone who has raced the Mooloolaba triathlon, I'm told the swim is pretty much in the same location. It's an ocean swim, beach start and it was awesome. You dove through the break and headed out on a parallel course to the shore. Once you were past the break, there was some rolling chop to swim through which made navigation important.
I loved this swim because the shore break combined with the chop meant that there were very few groups, people broke up early and I pretty much had clear water the whole way. Those who know me know I'm a bit of a swim purest, I hate the whole swim-on-feet thing (I know its a time saver etc etc but I just find it tiring and annoying and that it takes the enjoyment out of swimming). I'll forgo an extra minute or so to have the space to swim to my own pace without getting kicked in the head or dragged underwater. Which is what I had almost the whole swim - water and space to myself and I swam comfortably in the beautiful clear water. A few triathletes were grumbling after the race because of the 'slow swim' (i.e the difficulty in staying on feet) but for me it was awesome. Even surfed a little wave to the shore for a 35.xx swim PB. LOVED it. My best triathlon swim experience to date.
Bike
One word. Underwhelming. I felt crap the whole ride. I had a headache, I felt dizzy and like it was one big bonky 90km. The course is dead boring for those that are interested in scenery - there is none, you are on a barren freeway for about 85km, with a small cut through in town. What that means is you need your head in the game, to stay focussed, watch your draft, eat, drink, pace etc. I didn't have that concentration as I was busy negotiating in my mind with how to fix the bonking dizziness I was feeling. It was one of those days where you just don't feel bonded with your bike and I'm to blame for that feeling - all my riding has been on my road bike, I'd only whipped the TT together in the past couple of weeks so there hasn't been any bonding to talk of. You get the results you earn in that respect.
And to make sure I was feeling in tip top shape, a TO pinged me at 76km for drafting. At that stage I was lucky to still be pedalling upright. I was "allegedly" drafting off a pack of guys who had ridden past me and tucked in front of my wheel while I was looking at my Garmin. Could. Not. Believe. It. And so close to finishing the ride. My instinct was to get off my bike and throw it, Wiggo style, into the shrubbery on the roadside out of sheer frustration. But then my thought process was (seriously) this:
- I'm on this barren highway, there's no SAG wagon nearby so if I do that I'll just have to stand out here in the heat for ages.
- I missed that last aid station because I was busy being so cross so I'd have nothing to drink if I did do that
- I really need a bathroom
- (and the kicker) Beth will kill me.
So with that, I kept my bike-rage in check and went to find the penalty box to air my grievances with those TO's who I'm sure have NEVER heard such a thing happen before (Ha).
Run
Anyone who has been to the Mooloolaba Triathlon knows about "the hill". And we had the best luck running up and down it 4 times yesterday! Have to say, the organisers do know where to position an aid station - right near the top of the hill, little incentives to keep you going.
The run, for me, was a highlight. The time doesn't reflect it remotely, but its more how I felt the whole time - Controlled, fit and comfortable. That is a monster difference to 18 months ago when I last ran a half marathon off the bike. It was smoking hot yesterday, the wind had picked up so we were running into a head wind for half the run - oh and those hills - but I felt good. I smiled! And that never happens. In hindsight I may have gone too comfortably because I wasn't sure how I was going to cope - within the first 3km my stomach went on gel protest so I ditched those and drank Pepsi the whole run, something I've never done before. Could easily have gone south in a bad way but fortunately it seemed to go ok.
The hoses, ice and water baths were very very appreciated from the locals and volunteers - the volunteers were INCREDIBLE. Organised, sincere, helpful and they just knew how to do things. Really really great.
So the big question after a first time race is -
would I race it again? I think so. I say that for two reasons:
(a) we had a really gorgeous day to race, but the day prior was a crapper. If the weather was like on race day then, being a coastal location, there's nowhere to hide from it. Those who have raced Mooloolaba on a bad day will get what I'm saying. So you'd enter knowing that its a real possibility of strong winds and big, choppy ocean. If that's not your thing and you want better odds of good weather, then you might pick a different event.
(b) the bike course was not my favourite. People approach these things differently - you either want to get out there and get on with it and don't care what's around, or you want to do that while being able to see some stuff for 90km to break up those few hours. There is very little to look at out on the bike course (I imagine its a lot like parts of the IM Melb bike course) so, while it is generally flat with a good chance for fast times (if the weather's right) it is also a pretty barren and boring 90km (particularly when you aren't having the best biking day). So that is ultimately a question of personal preference.
USM Events did an amazing job running this for the first year. It was really slick, well organised and you really couldn't tell it was a first year event. The local community was super supportive and it was generally such a great vibe and atmosphere to be in.
Its been a massive couple of months for me and I was just so happy to make it to the race line, without sickness and able to race. Definitely hasn't been the perfect preparation, mentally or physically, but that's life and you can only do what you can do. The best part is now having the opportunity to soak in some more of this sunshine up north and get involved in some of the local Qld races over the next few months which is something I've always wanted the opportunity to do :)
