Nepean Triathlon 2010

Love doing Nepean as it was my first triathlon back in 1991 when my then Maths teacher Tricky Bullant convinced me to stop talking about it and to have a go. Must say though it is no longer quite the same without the descents onto wooden bridges, dodging bike wheel wide cracks and over sized bolts, and the run leg will never match Sanctuary Drive. Things move on though and the current course certainly has the speed aspect that enables fast times given the right conditions.
Speaking of which I noticed it was hot out there yesterday. as much as you try to tell yourself you have no control over it and it is the same for everyone. There comes a point you have to accept it is hot.

The swim being my worst leg normally leads to feelings of dread as I anticipate being crunched by those around me and laughed at as I exit the water trying to hide my swim cap so the crowd don't notice that I'm from the group that got out some time ago. But this morning it was just pleasant relief to soak up the coolness of the lake in waiting for the gun.

Got to the end of the swim fairly clean with not too much water polo type action, having decided to start out on the 2nd row of markers just past the boat on the start line. Stood in 19mins ##sec making it to the mats in 20mins 02sec. My best swim for a long time.

The bike felt good and being in a latter wave gave the opportunity to pick off cyclists from earlier waves for motivation along the course. I really like the corners of the industrial area as a brake from the long stretches around the lake and along Castlereigh Rd. as such found myself drawing back some time on better swimmers as the the ride continued. Racking the bike with a pleasing 51mins ##secs including the two transitions.

Having done my first tri in 2 years a couple of weeks ago I was confident I would run OK in comparison to those around me at this point. However my confidence took a battering as a mad Beer Betting Frenchman in BRAT speedo's and calf compression socks screamed past me over the bridge.

I had planned to have a crack at sub 40 mins on this run to stick it up some beer betters on another thread who have been gloating over 10km times and found the metronome paced perfectly going through 5km in 19mins 58sec. As always though the 3rd quarter was the mentally tough one. Particularly on this course with it's persistent straight down the back end of the lake playing tricks with my mind every time I run here.

In the end I was pleased with my 41min 33sec and 1hr 53min 05sec for the day. That gave me a 3 minute improvement on any times I have recorded since my Uni days when work constituted 8hrs of lectures a week and the rest of the day was spent training or playing with the lifeguards equipment down the local beach. All in a period of semi relaxed I'll do what I feel like 6ft preseason training and learning to live with our newest resident the 4 week old Genevieve.

Once again well done to Warrick and his extensive crew on the organisation that makes the oldest triathlon in Aust one of the best year in year out. And congratulations to all who finished on such a trying day. Also good, despite the preseason status of most of those racing to find myself amongst a number I have been a long way off for some time now.

The rest of the week has been quite slow though to be honest. Managed to crank out an easy recovery swim on Monday but then struggled with sore hamstrings and lack of sleep through Tuesday and Wednesday. After another sleep reduced night into Thursday drag myself around the basic hill circuit with Sleep Train, vstaR and Cougar Bait in an attempt to gain redemption for missing the Tue run.

Should manage a swim tomorrow morning and then it is off to do some reco of  the run course at the next event. Whilst squeezing in a Great Auntie/Uncle visit and a weekend with the nieces et al. Hoping next week should see a return to consistent training (sans reports and marking) and the continued pleasure of teaching my daughter about music, for Genevieve: