I am an Australian Triathlete!

Sunday April 16th - Guess what I did today, an Australian Triathlon! Surprise! I didn’t tell anyone I planned to do it as I wasn’t sure I was really going to go through with it, but I did. When I first got here and joined the YMCA in Kew, I met a trainer, Jeff, who was about to do the Australian Ironman. He helped me set up a training plan for my goal this year of doing an Olympic distance Tri sometime after I return to the US. He mentioned that although the Tri season was pretty much over in Australia there was one race left in Geelong on April 15 and encouraged me to sign up. I pondered the idea for a couple of weeks and it sounded really good. It was a sprint distance (meaning short) and how cool would it be to do a triathlon in Australia? So I signed up and began stressing out. First I stressed about my training, was I going to be ready? Then I stressed out about swimming in the ocean. Those of you who know me will recall my freakish fear of sharks and my conviction that they are lurking everywhere waiting to manifest my worst nightmares. Then right before the event Jeff tells me the water temperatures would be low enough that I would need a wetsuit (15 C = 59 degrees F). A Wetsuit??!! Small problem, a) I don’t own one and b) I have never done an event needing a wetsuit. “No Worries” says Jeff, I know a guy that will rent you one. This was said the day before Sue and I were leaving for the weekend. Some more stress ensued but I did manage to connect with Jeff’s friend and rented a wetsuit.

So the morning comes and I get up at 5:30am, Sue drops me at the venue and heads back to the hotel for some more sleep as she is still fighting a cold. I feel like I’m going to puke. Why did I think this was a good idea? The water temp is 15 degrees Celsius which is 59 degrees Fahrenheit but at least the air temp wasn’t much different making the water not feel quite as cold. It is also a deep water start (which I have never done) meaning that you have to jump off a pontoon and tread water for about 30 seconds before they blow the starting horn. I managed to panic my way around the 400 meter swim course (note to self, spend more time training for the swim leg). Emerging from the water I staggered up the ramp, dizzy and wobbly, Oh yeah, I didn’t eat this morning as I thought I was going to puke. Into the transition area where I got my wetsuit off in the most ungraceful way possible. Still dizzy and wobbly I got my bike gear on and headed out of the transition area. It was a long way running next to the bike (or in my case staggering) until arriving at the place you’re allowed to mount and start riding. Good thing for me because I finally regained some equilibrium. The 16 km bike leg went pretty well as did transition to the run. The only problem on the run was that about halfway thru the bike leg I realized both of my feet had gone to sleep, probably from the cold. While this wasn’t a big deal on the bike, it did feel a bit awkward while running. The run was 4km and at around the 2 km mark my feet started getting the feeling back which meant I didn’t feel like I was running on stumps anymore. I actually felt pretty good on the run (thanks to my running coach, Stan, who nags me to run more all the time). I finished feeling pretty good but haven’t got my time yet as they didn’t post them at the event. I will have to wait until the results are online.

Sue picked me up and I managed to get in a shower before we had to check out of the hotel at 10am. We went back down to the Triathlon and watched until noon. We met Adele (GDB Nurse Helen’s friend) for lunch and had a wonderful time chatting with her and getting more tips on where to travel. Adele is a lovely lady who is a retired travel agent. She has had many interesting adventures and is actually leaving for Italy in 2 weeks to have some more.

After we said goodbye to Adele, Sue and I went back to the Triathlon and watched the woman’s Elite race. These are to top competitors in Australia and we had a great time watching and cheering.

We arrived back in Kew by early evening feeling satisfied by another adventurous weekend. And we still have one more day! Now that it’s over, I’m glad I did the Tri, but I can tell I will be sore tomorrow, I’m more out of shape than I thought!