Straight off the bat I’ll be honest here and admit… I still look at the time I do for all of my races and ignore the conditions, the course, the location etc… I still look at the time and wonder how I could have gone faster.
In all honesty again… all over the park is the answer.
There is a possibility I was semi beaten on this course even a week before going. I had to work night shifts to make the trip doable, accommodation plans were late, the weather forecast looked bleak eg. Rain… and it also looked as though it was going to be bloody cold at 8 or 9 degrees, getting down to 3 at night. It looked on iphone (as opposed to paper) by all intents and purposes to be a tough gig and planning for the race had uncertainty about it. What do I wear on the bike? Do I need a neoprene cap for the swim, am I going to soaking wet and freezing on the run? All thoughts you don’t really need leading into a big race on your calendar, it should just be a case of pack the same old gear and away we go.
Anyhoo, the drive down was uneventful, apart from a “how far is the next servo?” question that popped up and even had me knocking on a rural resident’s door to get my answer... the result of which was a 25km drive back to Wodonga as the next one coming wasn’t for 50km in our destination of Mt Beauty… which we wouldn’t have made it to as I had already been driving with the fuel light lit up for a good 15km already…
Unfortunately, as I had worked night shifts and Amanda had picked me up from work for this drive, she ended up doing quite a lot of hard work. I had a go, but by and large, Amanda got us down there.
Arriving safely, we took up our accommodation and settled in.
Next day was a recon mission up to Falls Creek and a look around town of Mt Beauty. Nice day to begin with, I got in one lap of the bike course (26km) and did a 5km jog before getting some groceries. It rained HEAVILY in the afternoon before I then headed back up to Falls on my own to attend registration and race briefing. Wisely (as it was raining up in Falls), Amanda stayed behind and got Eli ready for bed xx
Done and dusted, dinner cooked and eaten I was bang on course for a nice early night. The race had been moved forward 1.5 hours due to expected bad weather in the afternoon. I had been surprised that day that the weather, while reading 9 degrees, didn’t feel like 9 degrees… it felt a little warmer than that. I’m told it was because we were at altitude and hence, closer to the sun… but really, in the context of the sun distance from the earth, how much difference can 1000m really make? Regardless, although I had wished I’d worn gloves on my bike ride, it wasn’t terrible.
Next morning, up and at ‘em!
Ready to go already, quick trip to the communal camp site facilities, in the car and off after a very brief breaky.
Arrive in the dark… race starts in 30mins apparently… and we still have to get all my gear out of the car and walk 1.3km with tri gear, Eli in pram + Amanda’s provisions for the day. I walk ahead…fast.
No gents, we weren’t late… it was just a VERY small window for transition to be open as they’d moved the race to an earlier start time… just because they did that though, it didn’t mean they could shut the roads in and out of Falls Creek any earlier…
Anyhoo, get to the gate for transition… “g’day mate, would you mind putting your helmet on for us please?”
“ahh fck”… *insert mini panic… “ok, I’m just gonna leave my stuff here and run back and get my helmet…”
“Gees, you better hurry mate… they are running a bit late this morning, but you don’t have long!”
*insert me not listening and getting ready to take off down the road.
“why don’t you ride you bike back… oh wait, you don’t have your helmet…”
*insert me making a bolt for it… 2.6km sprint warm up should be fun.
Warm up done, gear picked up, getting ready in transition… quickly… and hoping not to miss anything.
I had decided to go Endurance Junkie Tri shorts and wetty only for the swim, after which I would towel down and put the EJ Tri top on AND an EJ Tri suit over the top. I thought this would do and be quicker and more comfortable than putting on a jacket (as so many others were). I hung them up nicely for an easy getaway. Towel down, towel over runners done as well. Nutrition put in Tri shorts pockets already for convenience, wetsuit half on.
Big T3 time. Run down to Amanda with overflowing Tri bag… she looks at me… I look at the messy bag… I look at her bag… and Eli in pram… and blankets hanging off pram… then promptly run the 100m or so back up the hill to transition to leave my bag with the gear lady.
Back down to finally get my T3 out of the way… bewdy, now we’re down to race weight J
Wetsuit on, jog down to water and straight in. Quickly ask one fella where we are aiming for and within 15 seconds, then gun goes off… mid pack I am… right in the middle of the washing machine. Bollocks. I know I stand by the saying, you’re not late if the train hasn't left… or you’re not late if training hasn’t started… technically, I wasn’t late here either…. But I was… I hate the washing machine part of the swim pack and much prefer to be on the front line. I don’t care that I swim like a r*tard at the best of times… let people overtake me and I jump on their feet if I can instead of me having to swim over the top of those worse than me and being left behind.
Apart from the debacle of a start, the swim was pretty uneventful… there was a slight odour of sewage in the air… or more like the smell of someone who had cr*pped themselves and were swimming close by… but apart from that, it was water and it was not salty. Hence, I was slow and heavy… as per Vegas, only this time I had a wetsuit. There’s something about these freshwater swims that just don’t agree with me. I’d prefer it to be chlorinated actually as I’d swim faster in Gossy pool 9 times out of 10.
Swim done, not sure of time, but it wasn’t awful and it wasn’t great. 35mins or something like that, plus small jog on uncomfortable rocky path and transition took it to 38 or 39mins… not great.
Transition was smooth and methodical. There was stuff to be done in order to get warm and in all honesty Im pretty sure I was in and out quicker than those that decided to don jackets, arm warmers, beanies etc… The only tricky part for me had been deciding to have shoes on the bike already or put them on and run in them. It was only about 30m so I decided off the bike would be best. Good call in my opinion as the emerging sun was starting to thaw the tarmac in transition and some pebbles were coming loose and sticking to socks of those who chose shoes already clipped.
Ride started. I knew from yesterday’s ride that this was going to be tough. I thought it might still be fast if I put in… but tough none the less. Lots of climbing to get through followed by some fast downhills.
Turns out my assessment of the course wasn’t that awesome and lots of climbing x 3 laps wasn’t that fun!!! Although it was a bloody though course, it remained as a 30+ km/h average ride (due to powering down some hills instead of some recovery rolling which I may have done in normal circumstances) which I am pleased with however I did have 2 fails.
Fail 1 was the loading up of the nutrition in the EJ Tri shorts before the swim… can anyone guess why?? I’m not telling why… see if you can guess!
Fail 2… shoulda woulda coulda… used toe covers. Booties would have taken way too long… but my feet were rock solid frozen by the end of the trip. It literally felt like I was running on frostbite riddled stumps when I first started my 20km sortie on the trails of Falls Creek.
Transition 2 came with frustration.
Bike shoes off, runners, cap, OJB’s on, swig of caffeine shot and away we go… umm no we don’t.
By now it was a bit warmer on the mountain top and the tar had melted a little more. In trying to do transition standing up (as you normally do) I had inadvertently gotten a few bits of tar and rocks stuck to my socks. I started running, and felt them immediately. I stopped (while standing), took off shoe 1 and removed rocks. Shoe on, repeat for 2nd shoe. Start running. Stop… rocks had fallen off socks and into shoes. Repeat shoe removal process and removed rocks from socks and shoes this time.
Start….stop… more in there.
I retreat the massive 5 metres to my base camp, sit on a towel, remove shoes, remove socks and put 2nd pair of socks on, then shoes (AFTER INSPECTING!) and finally I’m off. Brett mentioned the macca helmet episode in his husky report… this was me with my shoes. There was a couple of expletives in that moment let me give you the tip.
Off we go.
Straight off the bat, you leave transition and head straight up a grassy hill. I didn’t get to see the trail the day before as it was all roped off, however if this was the order of the day then I was in for a LONG DAY!
Hill done, onto a winding track for about 1.5km then BANG… Hill 2… much much much worse than the first one and I raise my had… I was one of just about everybody who walked a few steps on that b*tch. Brilliant, 1.5 to 2km in and already I’m walking. 3 laps of this garbage to do….
(I point out now it was only 2 laps… however I thought it was 3… so that was a mental battle for me for sure!)
Turns out it was tooo bad after that. The track wasn’t awful. It was pretty solid with just a little loose gravel and was reasonably flat although with plenty of gentle rollers and little sharp up and down ditches (for drainage?)
At the end of lap one I was seriously considering my Ironman future. I was struggling to maintain sub 5min pace (which I thought was an absolute disaster) and I was hurting. Melissa Rollinson loomed as I was completing lap 1… buoyed, I ran a little better for a little bit in order to not look like a complete spastic… until she was out of sight and I resumed in my rut of “this run time is sh*t”
I stopped to p*ss at the very beginning of lap 2. I kinda had the sh*ts but yeah, I was also busting and would have wet myself soon. If I was feeling great in my run there was no way I would have stopped and possibly even done it on the run… but I wasn’t happy, so I stopped and let all those regular faces I was running near go off in the distance.
Snakes hiss done, back to the trail. Being the start of lap 2, I knew there was the hills to get through first and foremost… win #1 was that Hill #1 was gone from the 2nd lap and the 2nd hill was the only one to get up… or so I thought at the time.
I walked a little more this time on the hill…as were most people… trust me, only Roo would run up this hill… once at the top, I took off. I felt good for a few steps until a clown going the other way had a case of premature gel ejaculation and squirted his chocolate gooey gel right down the side (and inside) my right Newton!! Gimme a break… you fcking cnut!!! I thought…
such anger.
Quick scoop of gel out of my shoe using my finger on the run and I continued on. I didn’t stop as it was only gel and it wasn’t coming out anyway.
Surprisingly I had a new found grin and bare it attitude to this lap (post hill) and I ran quite well for most of the lap. I got to the end of lap 2, by now knowing it was only 2 laps, however the Garmin only read 18… km. Where’s the extra 2kms… if I had have known it was 18km surely I would have been less cranky with my poor run and been able to speed up?
..oh there it is… just up ahead there was a detour UP and over/around transition. Nice hill to finish off the course, there was jog through a bit of an overgrown bumpy outcrop above the transition area then back down a much more civilised track on the other side. We then turned almost 180 degrees and headed back to the finish line which was on a loose gravel road and ending in a 300m gradual incline. Excellent and just what the doctor ordered.
Race over, pat on the back, bit of fruit and a GIANT branded water bottle… with water. No medals, no towels… just kudos from the MC and a hug and kiss form Mandy and Eli. To be honest, the last bit is all that really matters in these races now… to see their smiling faces at the finish line. It tells me 2 things… they support me & 2, they care enough to know when I am finishing!
Eli, then used one of his new favourite toy shiny rocks and scratched my sunnies good and proper! Blees him, I like think he was only trying to give me a hug J
Immediate post race reflection… bloody hard course that one… and happy I finished it. Quite pleased I stuck it out actually. Not very happy about the time though… actually I was annoyed at the time (4:59:13) seeing it was slower than my best 70.3 which is longer distance by 10km riding and 1.1km running. I knew inside me though that I had nothing more to give in terms of speed though. Sure I could have stumbled some more kilometres but they wouldn’t have been any faster.
I’m a hard task master with my results and I immediately questioned the worth of travelling all the way down to Victoria to do this race… it was bloody tough that’s for sure… but in the end it was just a race, and I am just an average Joe competitor. I’m no superstar, I don’t win, I don’t come top 5 or top 10… why do I make Amanda and Eli up sticks and travel all that way for the race of an amateur?
Who knows?
Chuffed to hear I came 15th in the end as I expected a lot worse… I expected this result to be Canberra’esque… so 15th put a smile on the dial and it clicked that (although I wouldn’t be using them) these were my first ever ITU qualifying points J Double points at that. My time wasn’t great, but it wasn’t that bad after all. I could have been fresher for the race but I put that down to nightshift work all that week which took the stuffing out of me..
Nutrition I believe was bang on.
Feedback on the course? Not sure I’ll go back, unless it’s a decent family trip and there’s a few days for the kid(s) to enjoy themselves in and around Mt Beauty, which in my opinion was a much better place, and a cheaper place to stay than Falls Creek itself which is purely a ski resort area with exorbitant prices for hotels or Share accommodation only. Not much I could find for the budget conscious family unfortunately.
The course itself did not suit my strengths at all (freshwater, hills with sharp descents, trail running) so in many ways it became more of a practice session in mental toughness and a body strength training exercise (at pace) than a race as such. I think the experience will have me in good stead for Port IM though as I know whatever Port throws at me, despite being only half the distance, this was a much tougher track.
Lastly, the cold… don’t listen to weather reports. The forecast had miserable weather all the way up to and including the race. The reality was the days were beautiful, the arvo’s were wet… yes the nights were a little chilly, but it didn’t feel anything close to the freezing I thought it was going to be… The 2 Endurance Junkie suits did the trick perfectly for the ride and run and I was fine... apart from my toes on the ride. Those in jackets were p*ssies and would have been sweating buckets. I could have used arm warmers and even a wind vest instead of 2 suits, however I was quite comfortable.
Cheers - photos to come when I can afford them!!
http://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event.py?event=Sports%2FJRAU%2F2012%2FFalls+Creek+Triathlon&new_search=1&match=305
