Gatorade Triathlon, Sandringham - 10 January 2010
750m Swim, 20km Bike, 5km Run
I'll say a few things about this race.
1. After completing (and loving) the P2P swim the day before I wasn't really in the mood for another race the next day. I felt fine physically, just didn't have my head in the right spot. Never a good way to start.
2. I decided to race because you get a free copy of the daily paper (and my swim results would be in it!) and a bag of lollies (which my five year-old had asked me to give to her). Not great reasons, huh!
3. I hate jellyfish! Actually, hate is too weak a word. I really detest the disgusting little things. And I knew they'd be in the water and I wasn't really in the mood to deal with them.
4. In 22-years of triathlon I have never not finished an event. Until this one. When I started running into the head-sized jellyfish I decided to take the easy way back to shore. Thankfully the race director, a friend of mine, doesn't mind if you just wait it out till the last competitor from your group leaves the water and you can join back in. So in the results I "finished" but in my heart I know I DNF'd. Oh, the shame. You can understand why I have not posted in over a month.
5. Oh, the bike ride was average and my run ok.
So not much of a race and hence I was a bit over the idea of telling everyone about it. But hey, it's done now. So there!
After that race it was full-on into bike riding for the rest of January with a trip to Victoria's High Country and then a holiday in Adelaide watching the Tour Down Under.
I'll save that for the next post.
Cheers, PB :-)
PS - I think I've been seduced by this whole Boston Marathon thing again. I have started planning a trip there for the 2011 race (my qualification will get me entry to that one). But I cannot believe how expensive hotels are in Boston. Aaargh! So a bit more research to do yet.
Oh, you waited it out on the swim bc of the jellyfish, not bc you "gave in", etc. No biggie. You did finish!
ReplyDeleteYay for Boston marathon. It is a great experience. Hotels downtown are expensive, but Boston has great public transportation, so look at suburbs (Cambridge, Arlington, Brookline).
I'd wondered where you'd disappeared to Paul. Thought it might have been a shark attack ;)
ReplyDeleteA friend (blue wiggle) rode his bike following the TDU - had a great time.
We've always done well using TripAdvisor - you can read reviews from people who've stayed at the hotel.
Thanks for the advice Ana-Maria and Ewen. With over twelve months to go I have plenty of time to get right into one of my favourite things - research!
ReplyDeleteBoston 2011 is an exciting challenge. Will you be training for a marathon in 2010? You got ahead of yourself by achieivng your goal of a sub 3:20 in 2010. The good thing is that you can build a good base in 2010 without feeling under too much pressure to achieve a particular target time this year.
ReplyDeleteI presume you will try Furman again in 2011 but maybe you can afford to adopt a more relaxed program this year. Is the Great Ocean Road Race still on the agenda?
Thanks Canute. Not sure about a marathon in 2010 (including the Great Ocean Road event) as I am struggling a bit at the moment with the long runs. But plenty of 14k-21k events to keep me in form.
ReplyDeleteYou can be sure that when I begin marathon training it will be under the guise of Furman once again. It worked for me in 2009.
Cheers, Paul