Wow, what a journey and what an experience! So much to say about it all, so many emotions, so much support, and so much discipline.
Obviously, this experience has been a big thing for me; as mentioned in previous posts I never had the goal of wearing the “green and gold” as I really didn’t think I would ever be at that level, but I made it. The whole experience was a little surreal, these guys are serious competitors and as you may have read in a previous post about imposter syndrome, I really didn’t think I was worthy of being in that field. Well I was wrong, I was worthy and I was happy with my result.
The numbers: well you may have seen my goal was to finish in the top half of the field; now to remind you, there is no “padding” at these races, all the competitors are good! very good! so I thought (inside) that the top half was a tad ambitious, but if I had a good day and put it all together then anything was possible, Turns out I achieved my goal, I was 20th out of 44 in the category, I can spin this another few ways 😉 I was 10th in the Commonwealth, and second in Australia (yes I know, but it’s fun to look at the other stats). Could I have gone better? No, not a chance, my average heart rate for the 29 minutes of my race was 187, yep, 187, that’s average, not high; high was 208 and I went through 200 about 6 times. So could I have gone harder, the numbers speak for themselves.
Mistakes? Yep, I made a few minor and basic mistakes that I feel cost me about 20-odd seconds. Although the biggest mistake I made was well before the race, I hadn’t analysed the course, I looked at profile maps but really didn’t appreciate the hill on the ride, I assumed it was a rolling rise, well it was a long way from that, it was 1.5 km up! and that blew me up a little, I went well, but not fast enough to stay with Ken (a fellow Aus competitor) as he moved away up the hill and that was it. On a positive note, I did go past an American up the hill so that fired me up 😉 but the mistake I made was I hadn’t prepared (in my training) for hills, I had done some strength work but minimal, it was all about speed and if the course was flat I could have had the 40km speeds required. Anyway another learning experience.
All that aside, it makes no difference, if I got 20th or 15th as there was very little in it anyway (seconds) either way I am exceptionally happy and I did my best and that’s all I ever wanted to do.
I am proudest of my discipline in the training; I created a plan, I dieted and I stuck to it! I can’t tell you how hard that is for someone like me, I enjoy the good things in life a hell of a lot and to sacrifice so much for what felt like an eternity was really really really (is that clear enough?) tough. But I did it and I’m proud of that. Carpe Diem hey! Although the many gym sessions at Mt Buller when I really wanted to be out skiing or relaxing by the fire, the runs in the snow and rain, the endless laps around Hawthorn Velodrome, and not to mention the monotonous swims (yes, I hate swimming, like really hate it…) but I followed my plan and stuck with the discipline. Just a side note all this training was over a Melbourne winter, not a lovely warm summer as Triathlon training is usually done.
Also, a big part of my discipline comes from running a training group on Zoom for the rowers, it’s those sessions that keep me honest, it’s from these athletes that I gleen much motivation to push on; I am of the view that I can’t tell others what to do unless I can back it up and do it myself. I apply that to my coxing in rowing as well; I can’t go out on the water and tell the rowers to work hard if I haven’t done it (and usually a lot more) before the sessions.
The highlights? Too many to mention! And I dare say I will probably be updating this post for some time to come as other thoughts come to mind.