It’s been damn near impossible to get on the internet recently. It is worrying how much you take it for granted and then when it’s gone – yikes! The same can be said for my fitness following Sunday’s race :-(
After the World Champs in Hamburg in early September I had promised myself a bit of a break. Unfortunately, for one reason and another such as moving house and organising this trip, that break became a two-month spell with no real consistent training.
I tried to put in a few speed sessions in the fortnight leading up to the race, but deep down I knew it was a case of too little, too late.
This was a real shame as I’d been entered into the elite age groupers (amateurs) race with 20 or so of the top Aussie girls. I knew the competition was going to be tough. And boy, wasn’t it just...
Unusually for me I got out of the water mid-pack, had a disastrous first transition, and then took ages to find my biking legs.
Considering I’m usually a lover of the fast flat bike courses, it was strange to find myself really enjoying the winding 2k 10%+ climb about 8k into the bike course. I then clocked a fast and furious 47mph on the main descent in a bid to make up some of the time on the five or so girls ahead of me, but it seems they were no slouches on the drops either. And then came the run. Uh oh. It was an absolute scorcher. 30 degrees C and 85% humidity.
I usually take the run out at around heart rate 160 (160 beats per minute) but knew I was in trouble when I looked at my watch and saw HR 169 on my Polar. That’s high for me. I just felt like I wasn’t racing, more surviving.
A 44-minute 10k said it all and I crossed the line in ninth place in 2:19. What was frustrating to see was the girl who won my race (and who pocketed AUD$500 prize money) I’d stuffed in Hamburg, so it just goes to show that when it comes to fitness, if you don’t use it, you most certainly lose it.
I felt like a Pom who’d been both bashed and fried by the competition and the conditions, but hey, as my new landlord and 25-time Noosa Tri legend Peter O’Neill told me in typical Aussie fashion: “If you don’t train, EK, what else can you expect”.
In many ways, having this type of race has put the fire back in my belly to get training for next season and really fulfil my potential.
I'm also delighted to have provisionally secured some promising sponsorship for the season ahead from Swindon-based accountancy firm Morris Owen as well as Savills in Oxford, who have been great supporters of me since day one, so that's most certainly put a spring in my swim-bike-run step here Down Under.