Monday 19 February 2018

Geelong 70.3 2018

After a good result at Hell Of The West I had 2 weeks to recover and freshen up before I'd be toeing the line at Geelong 70.3 for the third year in a row. I've had some good memories of Geelong, claiming my first 70.3 title in 2016 and in 2017 it was my first race back after my accident, heading down this year I was hoping to continue the good run. The race itself always has a competitive front end to the field and the course is fast but quite challenging throughout which makes for good quality racing.
I traveled down to Geelong on Friday morning, what was normally a quick door to door trip, dragged out well beyond what I could have imagined. I left home on the Gold Coast at 7am and after some delays at Melbourne airport with rental car pick up, I didn't arrive to the accommodation in Geelong until 5pm. I got straight to work un-packing the bike so I could have a quick spin and run before dinner, the cooler climate was a big relief after spending the past week in very high humidity.
Up early Saturday morning for a quick splash at swim start before attending the Ironkids for finishers medal giving which was pretty cool. Quick spin and run after that before lunch and then we had pro briefing and bike racking, busy day but once the bike was racked it was feet up and relax. It was a bit nicer knowing the alarm would be in the 2am's for Sunday morning, with a 7am race start I was usual wake time for me during a training week.

Woke to a pristine morning, cool temperatures and barely a breath of wind, it was going to be a fast day out on course. This was to be my first race in a wetsuit for a while and a beach start which I always love, 15 male professionals lined the beach ready to kick things off for the day.
After a few practice run outs the day before my start was pretty dialed and found myself at the front early on, I could see Amberger, Fisher and Appo to my breathing side and knew I was in a good position and just needed to hold it. For the first 300m I was comfortable but then started to drift off course, my zig zagging started again and once it starts I can never seem to correct myself. Poor Fisher was next to me and I was being an absolute pest running into him (not intentionally) trying to hold feet and with the constant correcting myself fatigue started to set in and feet disappeared. Going along the back straight I was off swimming by myself, stroke getting slower and slower and my sense of direction getting more off track. By about half way it felt like I had hit the wall and the thought of pulling the pin for the day crossed my mind a few times. With about 400m to go a large pack caught me and passed by real quick, I needed out of the water and to level my head. I was running up the beach panting like I just swam with a straw for breathing and was in all sorts, 1min 25sec down on the leaders.

Photo: Korupt Vision
I managed to get through transition fine and was out on the bike ready to chase. The boys cranked it up the hill and through the park but once we got out on the flats I put the hammer down and was chasing that lead motos flashing lights. I got rid of a few guys pretty early but had Lachie Kerin come with me and I knew he'd be keen to work. I kept the effort high till I got my first view of the leaders and got a time split, after seeing Appo, Amberger and Fisher at Point Henry and then at the far turn around I was confident they were in reach. Lachie and I pushed it hard and used our strength to our advantage trying to catch them as early as possible. At around 35km coming back into the park we were only 20sec down and I thought we would be on their tail by the U-Turn but they went up a gear through the technical section and the gap remained the same.
Got in and out of town clean, back out onto the flats and looked as though we hadn't made any progression, it wasn't until the turn around at Point Henry we finally got within reach of the front 3 guys and was able to notch it back a bit. With the wind picking up a little and unknown gap to the chaser we kept the pace on to maintain the lead. Heading back into town I used the downhill on the Portarlington Rd to come to the front and make one last push back to the gardens. As I did the U-Turn to head into the gardens I made the rookie error of shifting up the front derailleur and lost the chain completely, trying, trying trying to get it back on, luckily I got a little nudge from Fisher and Ambereger to keep my momentum up and got it sorted. Rolled back into town, shifting the focus to the 21.1km ahead. Kudos to Lachie Kerin who pushed hard and honest with me from the start of the bike, we went 2min quicker than my previous bike course record in 2016.

Photo: Korupt Vision
Appo's transitions are flawless and he was outta there with Fisher closely followed. Early into the run I was feeling good, sitting in 4th not too far back from Ambereger, that good feeling didn't last too long and diminished around the 4km mark. My pace dropped dramatically and mentally I was in a bad place and was stressin about getting caught by the guys behind me.Hitting the hills out the back of race site ruined me and Kerin and Tierny were not too far behind, It wasn't until I got a 2nd wind coming back down the hill and through the race site heading out for my 2nd lap that things were looking good. Form came back, mentally I actually started enjoying the run and pace was on, time to get to the finish. Back through race site and just the 2 little hills down the back to finish it off, after the first one I could see Fisher up in the distance and he looked to be hurting but with only 3km to go it was going to be hard to close down a 90sec+ gap. I did have a crack at trying to bridge but I was in a world of hurt myself and just wanted to get to the finish in one piece.

Photo: Korupt Vision 
Coming down the finish chute in 4th was a big relief and I was pretty happy with that placing but at the same time pretty disappointed with how my day started. The swim was a huge let down again and its costing me energy for the rest of the race, I felt good in the ride but nothing sparky and the run was okay considering the work I put in on the bike.
I still love racing Geelong and the quality of field it brings show my weaknesses and gives me areas to improve on for the next race. I hope to iron out this issue I'm having in the water and be ready for the next race in a couple of months. Thanks to the Ironman crew for running such a great event and all the volunteers down at Geelong are amazing.

Monday 5 February 2018

Hell Of The West 2018

Couldn't have asked for a better start to 2018, finally securing myself a coach for my long course career. This guy is one of the top professionals in the world, recently been crowned 2016 70.3 World Champion, you'll find him at the pointy end of the field in every race. He is also a husband and father to 2 kids and I'm incredibly lucky to be one of 3 athletes he looks after. Stoked to say my coach is Tim Reed for 2018 and beyond.
There were some big changes over the Christmas and New Year period, it was tough at times but I was keen to push through and see the results on the other side. After a good block of training through January I headed inland to Goondiwindi for Hell Of The West to kick off my racing for the year. I had heard some great things about this event but also it can be one of the toughest races of the year due to the tough course and extreme heat. This year was a little too kind.

I headed West on Friday morning in the car with Dad, from start to finish it was non stop rain and cool even out at Goondi. Had a brief run to shake out the legs and was glad I packed a rain jacket which I thought there was no chance I would need, the temperature didn't go past 20°C all day. I'm super thankful to Liesl from the race committee who organised me a homestay with Sandie and Angus out on their massive property, really appreciate them letting Dad and I stay at their place.
Woke Saturday morning to more rain, I was checking the radar all morning to avoid getting the bike dirty and post lunch was looking good so rolled out for some course recon then. Dead flat roads, rough surface and plenty of edgy Kangaroos running alongside the road made for a fun spin. Packed and in bed before 8pm for a very early start Sunday morning, 0230am alarm.

A 5am race start is by far the earliest I've ever toed the line, kudos to the organisers for being able to do this and avoid the heat of the day. The 2km swim was up to the bridge and back in the river, 27°C water temp was nice but the pitch black race start was a little sketchy with our only sighting being the lead paddler with a flashing light on his head. We started with a run down the boat ramp and first turn buoy 30m away which made things a little congested and I lost touch with the lead swimmers. My swim only got worse, a group of 2 passed me and I couldn't even sit on feet, I found myself zig zagging my way up the river against the current, constantly correcting myself and losing time. I had a better swim on the way back down but had lost a huge amount of time and exited 5th 1:30min down on the leaders.

Out onto the bike I was eager to catch the guys up front but didn't want to blow up with the heat expected later in the day. Kept my cool and settled into my pace, I passed 4th place about 10km in and was moving along quite well. With the long flat roads there was a couple of times I could see the lead car up ahead, I remained patient, utilised the tail wind on the way out and was aiming to catch them just before the turn around. I couldn't have timed that any better... 500m before the turn around I was at the tail end of the lead group of 3, hit the U-Turn and got the first feel of the head wind. I rolled with the guys for the next 20km but wasn't keen on heading out onto the run with them so at 60km I attacked, the P5X was in its element. I got clear immediately and after a few minutes of hard work there was plenty of daylight between me and the chasers. I settled a bit but still kept pushing enough to put time into them, the strong headwind played in my favour and I got off the bike with a 3min lead.

No stuffing around onto the run, those guys are quick and I was chasing that win. I started good, feeling pretty fresh considering pushing into that headwind on the way home, I was confident until I saw Neumann after the first turn, he was hooking. I wasn't giving up yet, I haven't felt this good coming off the bike and continued to push to see where it took me. With 3 laps and 3 U-Turns per lap it gave me a good chance to see where the chasers were but also how quick Neumann was catching me. Heading out onto the last lap he caught me, he made one little attack which didn't phase me and then settled but went again shortly after and I let him go, I wasn't confident with how my body would handle the short spurts. He got 100m up the road quickly but then sat there and I thought to myself, the win isn't out of reach yet. Then my stomach had other ideas, it wanted a pit stop but 4km out from the finish I didn't have time for that so had to go survival mode, slow it down and keep it smooth. Neumann went outta sight and it was just a matter of getting to the finish without having to stop. Luckily I did and was pretty happy to cross the line 2nd.

Stoked to kick off racing for 2018 with a 2nd at Hell Of The West, both Neumann and I went under the previous course record and I managed to post a new bike course record by 2mins.
Big thanks to the event team and volunteers for putting on such a great and well run event, I will be back next year for sure.
Time for recovery before heading down for Geelong 70.3 on the 18th Feb