Last weekend was a pleasant weekend away with the boys (The Animal and Welsh Exchange Student) down at Huskisson, for the Australian Long Course Championships. Husky is the last race before Ironman and is a great opportunity to put some of the training into practice and see how far the training has improved things. Admittedly the distances here aren't even half ironman, but they're reasonable.
Swim 2km, Ride ~183km and run 20km.
I was aiming for anything under 4:30, and just wanting the run to be good, and get a chance to practice the hydration and nutrition.
Started well with a decent swim, feeling good the whole way and trying to keep the pace at about 80%. Finished in 29 something after a good run up the stairs into transition. Took a while getting the wetty off as I didn't use any lubricant on my legs, but everything else went well and was on the bike course after 31 minutes.
The ride was great. Not as quick as I would like but focused on staying out of trouble from the Draft Police, as I didn't want a repeat of Port Half. Pretty much had no one riding my pace anyway, majority were slower oldies from the wave in front and the occasional super quick bunch from the wave behind. There was a bunch of 3 riding with me end of lap 1, which I left behind at the water station as I didn't need to stop. By the time they caught up and passed me again we were in the hills heading out of Husky. They all bunched up as they hit lots of slower folks from the teams. I looked back and saw the TO coming up, and decided to put in an effort and get out of the mess. Took them all wide and put in some distance, with the sound of the TO's whistle behind me to spur me on. They all caught me again by the end of the second lap but 2 of the 3 pulled into the penalty box and I can only assume the 3rd did as I didn't see him for the rest of the day. I was pleased about this, when you try hard to ride clean you tend to enjoy those who don't getting penalised. Bike split was 2:18, which isn't too bad.
On to the run and I decided at the last minute to leave the hydration belt behind. I will use it for Port and should have practiced using it here, but in the race mindset I decided against it. For 20km, I didn't need it as the aid stations were close enough. It hadn't become too hot at that stage either. I felt great on the run. I'm not quick and I settled into a rhythm after about 1 or 2 kms. Usually I fade very quickly on the run, but each time I felt my speed drop I made that little bit extra effort and picked things up again. This seemed to work, leaving me with enough energy to give the last 4-5km a decent go. Run split ,1:30.
Total time 4:18. 6th place in male 25-29 and 70th overall.
Identified some areas for improvement, but overall stoked with a great race.
Training is going along nicely, trying to manage the next 2 intensive weeks before the taper begins.
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