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July has been a month of firsts in my world! My first overseas trip of 2018, my first set of green and gold uniforms, my first time in Canada and last, but not least, my first international ParaTriathlon World Cup race.
Let me rewind a bit. Five weeks ago it looked like I was going to make the start list for the ParaTriathlon World Cup in Magog, Canada, which was a prospect both exciting and daunting at the same time. Luckily there was no time to think as from then on it was all systems go.
It was what I’d like to describe as an elegant scramble to getting everything done. From making sure I was race ready thanks to my coach Fab at Shock Team, that I was able to actually get myself here thanks to my sponsors and friends who have taken me under their wings, and to Triathlon Australia for giving me the opportunity to represent Australia was an honour in itself!
Fast forward a few weeks and I find myself locking into my seat at Sydney International Airport for what was going to be a very long and pretty brutal flight around the world. Close to 36 hours with no sleep and a lot of jet lag left me dazed and confused for the first few days in Magog. Although the Canadian sunshine and beautiful scenery slowly cured what ailed me.
As someone who usually plans my days and weeks with military precision it was great to realize for the next three weeks all that was on my calander was training, racing, eating, sunshine and some more eating. I could get used to this.
Before I knew it race day was upon us. Race day always throws me a bit. What I mean by that is that for the past five weeks everything has been directed towards this day.
Every thought, every action was and has been about how I can improve in some way, shape or form. Even if that unfortunately meant less donuts than I would’ve liked, sometimes in life you have to make big sacrifices! I trained and reached new found limits and places, and every second of it I was thinking about this race.
So after all that preparation, hard work and sacrifices (donuts) to get this point, suddenly that scream of “ON YOUR MARKS” comes over the speaker and it’s time to see how far I can push myself for the next hour or so.
I really enjoyed a nice bit of chop for the swim, breaking away early and trying to maintain a position up near the front felt great for the first half of the swim, but slowly I began to feel the competition closing in.
After a less than graceful swim exit, it was off onto the bike. It was a tough ride but I was really stoked to execute it as planned and knock my previous best time on the bike out of the water.
Then things both figuratively and literally began to pretty much fall apart. A slight issue with Cash my running blade had me unable to lock into it properly. The whole run felt as if it could fall off at any second, and I’d be lying if I said what I was doing looked anything like running. More of a drunken wobble around the course.
Now I could focus on all the things that didn’t go the way I wanted. That’s usually how I operate. Or I could look at the positives. I claimed 5th place, I raced a PB, two thirds of the race went to plan and I made no mistakes (I’ve got a short racing career, but a long list of mistakes!) Meatloaf hit the nail on the head – two outta three ain’t bad!
Now to go back to the drawing board and see what improvements can be made, for my next race in a few weeks time, stay tuned for more!
Until next time...