Hawaii Age Group World Championships 2005

So, after i joined the Tridents Triathlon club i trained very well and improved out of sight.. Mind you, i was still at the Defence Force Academy and training was restricted quite a lot.

I was struck unlucky though because i developed my first lot of shin splints due to the fact that as part of the army had to do running and stores carries in those boots. They were bad news for shins right from the start. I started off my training with shin splints so i didn't actually start running for awhile. But eventually i did get over them and i started my running.

I had to be very dedicated (fortunately that came naturally) and i sometimes would rise in the early hours of 4:30am just to train before compulsory Roll Call at 6am. I also bought myself a new bike. A Felt- F55- i loved it! I trained right through winter (Canberra winter that is and learnt the hard way just how cold it really gets here!).
Again, i was struck unlucky and got my second round of shin splints. I dont know what was the main culprit- the incresed running- coming from a swimming backgroud, the running in boots, or just the spped at which i returned to training after my first round. Anyway this second lot was bad and it took me right up to Hawaii.

On arrival to Honolulu i hadn't run in a month and my shins were very painful. The doctor had advised me not to race. She thought it could have been a stress fracture and wanted me to get a bone scan. If it was a stressy i wouldn't be able to race. My mind works in different ways and anyone who knows me knows that wasn't an option. I figured if i didn't have the scan they wouldn't know if i had a stressy and i could race. THe doctor thought i was nuts but I haggled with her and we made an agreement that i could race if i had a bone scan as soon as i returned. OK i was happy. Skipping to the scan which i had on return and yep there it was a stress # on my left tibia. So after Hawaii i had a bit of time off!

Hawaii Race Report:
Well it started with 10 days in New Delhi, India visiting my parents who are living there. I had a great time of shopping and going to the Hyatt Gym, where I mostly just rode the stationary bike. It was great acclimatization though! Delhi was very hot and humid. Finally it was time to go to Hawaii, I didn’t do it the simple way. I went back through Mumbai, on to the 12 hr flight to Sydney followed by the 10hr flight to Hawaii.

Surprisingly I wasn’t jetlagged!? I guess it was all the excitement. Getting the hundred bikes off the plane was interesting- and they definitely didn’t do it the most efficient way but eventually they all came off and we left to go to the Ocean Resort Hotel. I was lucky to just make my 12:30 massage as soon as we arrived at the hotel which was perfect timing really. It was Tuesday- We had 5 days to acclimatise and train before our race on Sunday. On those days we cycled the bike course a few times, and to my relief the hill really wasn’t very big at all!!

It was a very fast course actually- it was going to be fun. We swam the swim course and ran the run course- well a bit of it, the whole 10k’s seemed a bit too far really. We ate at a restaurant called Lulu’s for pretty much every meal (for the boys many of them being the famous ‘slaughter burger’) except breakfast (although we did have a team breakfast there on Friday morning), and we ended up befriending the manager because we were there so often!!

Finally it was Saturday- the day before the race. We went for a ride along part of the course with 3x 5 minute efforts which were good after the very relaxed life we had been living over the past few days. A lazy day after that, we put our bikes into transition at about 4, and Pasta for dinner (Sonja Dyason and I- the boys insisted on having a steak from Lulu’s) and bed.

Going into the race I had no idea what to expect. All I really wanted to do was to beat my 1st Olympic dist Triathlon time of 2:27 (This was to be my 2nd Olympic Distance Tri). The race started for the AWOD’s (athletes with disabilities) at 06:10, and lucky JR got to race at 06:20, but I had to wait until the VERY last wave at 09:10. It wasn’t so bad though, I got up at 05:30 and went for a run with the boys (minus JR), Sonja and Izzy.

Breakfast then transition at 6:30, and back to bed at 7! I actually slept for half an hour too!! I was in the water for a warm up at 8:30. It was a deep water start Female 18-19’s with the 20-24’s, in the Ocean (with waves). The girls took off fast, I had a good position but it just wasn’t really my day for the swim- I felt pretty slow. Anyway it turns out I was actually 4th out of the water in my age group. There would have been a few more 20-24 yr olds in front too- definitely could have done better there.

1st transition good, onto the bike. I loved the bike. It was just an overall good ride. I passed the few girls in my age group fairly soon into the ride. I ended up riding nearish to a lot of 20-24 yr Auzzie girls. There were a few people who passed me, who had others sticking to them like glue drafting to keep out of the massive headwind on the way out along the highway; I had a good fair race though, chugging along by myself. I stormed up the undersized hill passing heaps of people- I think it’s all the Cotter rides we do! Anyway a very fast return with a tailwind most of the way. I ended up getting 1hr08, which wasn’t too bad! I passed my last competitor in front of me right at the start of the run, putting me in first place (which I didn’t actually know at the time).

The run was really hot! The first 4k’s were ok then the heat and the fact that I hadn’t run properly for a month before hand, because of shin splints started to hit, and I just wanted to hold on. I did in the end I guess with not a great time of 47min, but still enough to keep me in front and win my age group! My time in the end was 2:21:33, a solid performance for my second Olympic Distance ever but definitely room for improvement!