Goondiwindi's Hell of the West

Well, the day had arrived!  I was feeling ready and I was pretty sure that I had done all of the preparation that I could have done.

The alarm went off at 2:30am.  I got myself ready and got down to transition nice and early.  I think I was about the 5th one racked.  It was still dark and I had trouble reading the numbering on the racks, however after squinting I managed to work out where I was supposed to be!

I went and got numbered and then I was set.  I still had an hour before race start, so I went and sat in the car and relaxed and ate some nutri-grain and drank gatorade and water and just tried to remain relaxed.  Dad met me there and then at 4:30am we made our way to the swim start.  I gave Dad my thongs so that he could pass them to me after the swim start as it is a bit of a run up to the transistion and I didn't want to risk my feet getting hurt!

I met up with Ali, Karl and Vanessa at the start and we chatted for a bit.  The atmosphere was really good.  It was still dark and there was a big headlight on the swim start so that you could just see the swimmers ready to go in the water.  The girls were the 3rd wave start, so after the 2nd wave start had left we got into the water.  The water was really good - nowhere near as warm as in previous years.  They set us off and away we went.  There was a bit of argy-bargy in the water, but I just tried to get a clean line and keep relaxed.  The swim felt OK, I felt as though I was swimming OK, although I ended up getting some argy-bargy the whole race which was annoying.  At the turnaround I was 22mins which was really slow. I was hoping that I was swimming against the tide, but when I exited I was 44mins, so it was just a slow swim.  I'm not sure why but I didn't let it get to me. I was also not as relaxed in the swim as what I normally aim for, I think it was because there was constantly people running into me.  Dad was standing there at the exit with my shoes at his feet and he also had my half finished water bottle at his feet, so I grabbed both - thanks Dad!  I was feeling a bit dizzy, so  I walked up the levee bank and got my breath back and the blood back to where it should be before I jogged up to transition. 

I took my time in transition.  I was wearing my tri-suit so I put my bike shorts over the top of them and I made sure that I had everything I needed before I headed out.  I wanted to be comfortable because I know how horrid the ride is!

I took off out on to the course and quickly found my rhythm.  I got down on my tri-bars until we hit the bumpy roads and then I was basically off them for the whole ride.  I was averaging around 33-34kph on the way out, just cruising with very little effort as I was treating this as a training ride.  I was mindful that we were going to copy a headwind on the way home so I was watching for movement in the grass and trees and it was very still.  Was I not going to get a massive head wind on the way back?  As I progressed I took in the beauty of the roads and the crops, the dead snakes on the road, the dead pigs on the side of the road, the squawking cockatoos, the sights and sounds of the country.  There were many families that had come down to the entrance of their properties to cheer us on and I gave them a friendly wave as I rode by.  I watched Luke McKenzie go back into town behind the lead ute and wondered if he was getting much of a draft advantage and figured that he would have to be getting something, but good on him - at least he wasn't drafting mm's behind someone elses's back wheel like his followers were!

At the turnaround the questions about the wind were answered - it was incredible!  Immediately I was hit with it, a fresh wind in the face.  So I knuckled down, changed down gears and settled in for a windy ride back in.  I was careful not to push too hard as it wasn't my goal to put in a good bike time, however I found myself dodging along pretty easily and I ended up plucking away and overtaking quite a number of riders which was good.  There was a girl called Leslie who I played tag-team with, I would overtake her, then she would overtake me - it was quite fun.  At one stage when I overtook her she asked why I didn't get down on my tri-bars.  Good question, I thought, maybe I'll give them another go.  So, I got on them and was really uncomfortable through my shoulders and could only give them a few minutes at a time.  The wind picked up the further we got down the road; I found myself going down gears the further I went!  At times I was having to lean the bike into the wind to try and stop the bike being blown across the road.  Average speed on the way back started out at around 28, then quickly dropped to 26 then dropped progressively down to 23kph (19kph if I stretched!).

And then, I spotted the silos!  Leslie was beside me overtaking me and I pointed them out to her and we both rejoiced!  It was great coming into town, I knew that I wasn't fried and I was feeling ok. 

I manged to get in front of Leslie just prior to transition and I started to get ready for my run.  I took my bike nicks off, put some more sunscreen on and grabbed my insulated drink bottle from my sandwich esky, a bag of jelly beans on with the shoes and socks and away I went.

I settled into the run quite well.  It wasn't very hot at all.  The heat that I had been training in with my  lunchtime runs was much harsher than this.  I knew I was going to be out there for 2 hours though, so I wasn't going to be too cocky about it knowing that it can turn very quickly.  Having the drink bottle was great.  I'm used to running whilst holding a drink bottle and it meant that I could just sip on the water and not stop at the aid stations.  Once I went through my water I got them to put ice and water in my drink bottle which was great.  I could squirt icy cold water over my head and the back of my neck to cool me down.  It worked really well.  The 3 lap course had aid stations every 1km or so.  Once I finished my jelly beans I started to grab cola through the aid stations which tasted fantastic, even if it was warm.  It wasn't flat which for me was ok, I didn't mind that, but I know that a few others weren't as keen. 

I treated the run the same as the cycle leg and just kept a nice easy rhythm, I enjoyed the views of the river and the cockatoos in the trees and the other competitors and the volunteers and I found that it was really enjoyable.  I wasn't feeling too bad other than something going on with my pinky toe which turned out to be a nasty blister.

Like the cycle leg I found that I was overtaking people in the last lap and still feeling great, so I was more than happy with the result.  I will have to check the overall time, it was just over 6 hours.  I took just over 44 minutes in the swim, just under 3 hours in the swim, ages in both transitions, so just over 2 hours in the run.  More than happy with that!  All in all it was a great day, Dad was out there cheering me on, which was great.  Dad was on the phone to Craig when I went through from the bike to the run so I gave Dad the thumbs up to let him know all was good.

All in all I consumed 3 bottles of Hi-5 electrolytes on the bike, a bag of jelly beans on the run and about 4 x 1/2 cups of cola on the run.