Hawkesbury Triathlon Club Race: An Utter Debacle

During my preparation, I made the decision not to bother packing my pump, spare tube and tyre levers. This becomes relevant later.

The triathlon starts with a 500m swim in the Hawkesbury River: four laps of a 125m stretch of the river. The current was very strong today, and the first 125m was against the current. I knew I was in trouble soon after the start. My breathing and stroke was all over the place, and I was starting to panic (apparently this is common for Hawkesbury tri first timers). I took a couple of breathers on the kayak of the course marshal, and even with the easier trip back downstream, after 250m I was gone. The marshal told me I could get out and still do the rest of the race. I hated doing it, but I knew it was the only realistic option.

I seemed to take an age in transition to the bike, but I felt pretty good once I got out there. I had done the course on the bike plenty of times, so I knew exactly what to expect. I did it a bit quicker than I would on a training ride, but I was deliberately leaving a bit in the tank for the run. The course is a two lap course (10K per lap), and the first lap passed without incident, but four kilometres into the second lap, the inevitable happened and I had a flat back tyre.

I started wheeling the bike back to the start, but after going 500m, a bike (not another competitor) passed in the other direction. He asked “Have you got a flat?”. I replied “Yes!”, so he pulled out his puncture repair kit and we fixed the flat. 15 minutes later the tyre was pumped, I thanked my new friend profusely and proceeded on my way as fast as I could. At the 16K mark, the car that was sent out to look for me caught up with me and confirmed that I was still alive. I got a big cheer when I rode back into the now packed up transition area and they asked “Do you want to keep going?”. Unsurprisingly, I screamed “YES”, but by this stage, I was told to do the 2.5K option for the run (two laps of a 1.25K circuit). I set off at what I thought was a quick speed with my heart rate at 92% of maximum. I was stuffed. I finished the 2.5K in 14:50. I have no idea what my swim time was, and the bike was about 1 hour 15 minutes.

So I think I will file this race under “unfinished business”. I’m utterly stuffed this afternoon. There was some bad luck, and there is an area I need to work on. I might try to do some training in the Hawkesbury before the next one in four weeks time.

The great thing was I did not notice any knee pain whatsoever at any time during the race!

This evening I will engage in an orgy of TV sports watching with cricket and tennis. I've earned it.