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Cerberus Swim and Big Bay Swim (Feb 2011)

Due to my injury still preventing me from running, I have spent the past two weekends swimming in open water races. The first was the Cerberus swim classic (Half Moon Bay), which as usual, attracted a quality field. The wind, however, was horrendous and although the course had to be shortened to ~800m due to the very large waves and subsequent safety risk, the officials did well to even let us swim. The waves were by far the largest I have ever raced in, making for challenging but exciting conditions. Despite swallowing a large amount of water, I enjoyed the race and after catching a little wave into the shore found myself in equal first position. A clumsy trip while I was wadding, however, ruined my chances for a win and I ended up in 2nd place in the 30-34 yr age-group, 2 seconds behind the winner. Nonetheless, I was happy with my race given that the winner had been beating me easily last year and the close finish demonstrated the improvement that had occurred in my swim over the summer months. Eight days later and I was down at Sandridge beach for the 3.2 km Jalna Big Bay swim from Port Melbourne to Williamstown. Given the distance of the race, there were fewer competitors than normal and we all started together. Unfortunately, the first and last 400 m of the race was full of jellyfish and I was stung numerous times on the face and arms. The other difficulty came from navigating in the wet and dreary conditions, which made spotting the buoys very difficult. I was by myself for most of the race and although I felt quite strong, I also felt like I couldn’t step it up a gear. I ended up finishing in 45:49, which placed me 3rd female overall and 1st in my category (30-34 yrs). A highlight of the event was the enthusiastic crowd at the finish and the shuttle bus trip back to Port Melbourne, which together made for an enjoyable swim that I would definitely like to do again.

State Olympic Distance Champs - Gatorade race 3

Race 3 of the Gatorade series also acted as the Victorian Olympic Distance Championships, and it was my first ever hit-out at this distance. The conditions were not conducive to fast times, with a strong south-easterly wind making the bike and run legs difficult, and a very choppy swim. However, I was looking forward to the challenge and to racing Elite again. I enjoyed the swim and exited the water on the feet of the leader. I managed to enter transition in first place and set off on the 2-lap bike course. A pack of 5 quickly formed, comprising myself and two other Elite females (Madeline Oldfield and Tegan Smith) as well as 2 ITU Juniors. We worked together reasonably well to put ourselves comfortably ahead of the chasing athletes, and came into the second transition together. I had a reasonable transition and exited in 3rd place, but quickly passed Tegan to be in second place. I wasn’t sure how my run would go given that I had an injury during the week which restricted my running training. Nonetheless, my aims were to hold my technique together and to even split my run. I was relatively successful in both of these aims and was happy with my run split of 40:39. Unfortunately, Madeline was much too strong in the run for me to catch, but I finished comfortably in 2nd place in an overall time of 2:14.37. A great result for my first Olympic distance race. I now have 4 weeks of hard training leading up to my next big race, the Victorian Long Course Championships to be held at Falls Creek on Feb 13.

Gatorade Race 2 Elwood

After a nasty crash and DNF in my first Elite race at the Xosize triathlon last week, I was hoping to make amends in my first Gatorade race of the season. It was also my first ever Gatorade race in the Elite category and I was apprehensive because I had only swam once during the week due to my injuries. It was super windy down at what is usually a lovely Elwood and Port Phillip Bay was extremely choppy. I had a reasonable swim and came out of the water in 4th place, with 3 ITU Junior girls in front. A good transition had me jumping on the bike in equal 3rd and it wasn’t long until I was in the lead pack of 4. We worked reasonably well together to put in a good gap to the other competitors. The four of us came into transition together, but I had a shocking transition and came out of transition about 100 m back from the leading girls. The outward leg of the run was straight into the wind and very hard. I couldn’t wait for the return leg and tail wind that would ensue. I struggled to get my rhythm, but ran into 3rd place at the ~3 km mark. I was very happy to see the finish as my wounds had started to sting. I ended up placing 3rd overall and 2nd in the Elite section. A few lessons were learnt about racing Elite (i.e. FAST transitions are crucial!) so I am looking forward to implementing these in the next race, the Gatorade Olympic distance in the new year.