Pinkies Triathlon Sydney - 12WBT Mini Milestone

So those of you that are regular readers, or who follow me on twitter know that I have had a rather rough week, last week, and to tell you the truth I wrote this blog at the airport on my way home, I just FORGOT to post it until now :)

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I went to Sydney last Saturday for my Grandmothers funeral, and then followed it with a quick day trip to Mildura for a work course, and then back to Sydney ready for my mini-milestone – the 2010 Ramsay Health Care Pinkie Triathlon.

It was to be 200m of swimming, 6km of cycling & 2km of running, all around the Sydney Olympic venue – Homebush stadium.

So on Saturday mum & I got up at the crack of dawn (literally it was like 5.30am!) and headed off… it was all VERY exciting.

Mums event was first (she was braver than I and had registered for the long course event - 300m swim, 9km ride & 3km run). I was able to watch her get in the pool & then ran around to the transition area so I could cheer her on some more.

Mum went SO well she finished the swim in 8.58mins, the bike leg in 26.14mins & the run in 18.22mins, making her official race time 53.34mins.

She finished 38^th in her age group (out of 73 finishers) & 430^th overall (out of 789 finishers)

My race was SOOOO fun… I honestly thought I was drowning in the swim leg, at one point I had other girls grabbing at my legs, and I was kicked in the ribs going around the buoys which knocked the air out of me… I left the pool feeling rather overwhelmed, not sure why I had decided to enter this stupid race, and didn’t I realise that I still had the cycle & run to go… as I ran to the transition area, I saw mum & she cheered me on… I have to admit that I ran a little faster after hearing her voice!

The transition was slow… I had to pull my bike pants on over my swimmers, and then another singlet on over my wet one, thankfully there was an event helper there to help! I then was off on the ride…. Mum had arranged for me to borrow a bike from one of her friends, it was a little older than mine, and the gears were not so good, but the bike leg was awesome… it was only 6km, and I breezed through it, I am sure I should have pushed harder, as the race splits indicted that I only rode at 17.13km/hr when I know that in my training runs I have been averaging closer to 23km/hr.

The run leg was as per usual HARD work for me… I just can’t break through the mental discomfort of running, and I have trouble with adjusting my speed, so that I end up walking. The headwind at this stage was STRONG and I was running into it…. I walked a little and then mum saw me and yelled out “why are you walking” to which I replied “you weren’t supposed to see that!” then she yelled “well I did so RUN!!”. The final 400 m were fun again, I was able to lengthen my stride and really push towards the end… which I was SO glad I did because my official race time was 39.18mins, under the 45 minute goal I had set myself!! J

I was very happy with my splits, I finished the swim in 5.56mins, the bike leg in 21.01mins & the run in 12.2mins, making my official race time 39.18mins.

I feel that I should have pushed LOTS harder in the cycle leg, and of course I should have ran the whole way in the run – but I did note that my speed in the run was 9.72km/hr despite my walking at times which I am very happy about.

My next triathlon will require a much harder effort. I have registered for the Gatti Series in the Tin-Man category. This will be a 300m swim, a 16.8km ride & a 3km run. This race is on the 31^st of October, and I am now on the hunt for a proper Tri-Suit to make the race easier, and I am ready to put in the extra training to bring my race time down.