Welcome Back to Racing in the Wild West

January by numbers:

swim = 47km

cycle = 1011km

run = 262km

times I questioned if I was ready to race = countless

Swimming 47 kms, cycling 1011kms, and running 262kms. Hello January. These numbers are by no means the craziest or biggest that I have recorded in training before, but the one thing that they have been is consistent. And it was this consistency that was enough to give me the confidence that I was in some sort of good form, heading out to Goondiwindi for Hell of the West. Hell of the West this year also doubled as the Australian Elite Long Course Championships, meaning it was going to attract a strong field of athletes across all fields and age groups.

For the past four years now, I have started my racing year in Goondiwindi, and can definitely say I’ll be back again next year. Not only do they put on a stellar race, but every single person in town goes out of their way to make you feel welcome. This year there was only one difference

The only difference this year, to the other three years that I have made the journey out here to race, was that there has been a 12 month gap between races. Hence the number of times I questioned whether or not I was race ready!

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in & day out" ~Robert Collier~

Regardless of whether I thought I was race ready or not, the trip to Goondiwindi commenced. And what better way to take my mind off the race, with a four hour drive filled with coffee stops, chocolate coated blueberries, more food stops, giant cactus trees, endless fields of mystery crops (does anyone know what they are growing out there?), and watching the temperature gauge rise. And just like that, we arrived in Goondiwindi. The Macintyre River greeting us, all ready for some serious triathlon action in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Saturday in Goondiwindi was like an oven, though true to form the locals threw their arms wide and welcomed all the athletes to their town. It was time to have one final check over my setup for Sunday, and my bike was dressed to impress with some flashy TLR Race Wheels. I knew that my bike at least looked fast, I was now hoping that my body was ready to match it the next morning. The lovely McColl family took me in for the weekend, and produced one heck of a meal on Saturday evening, so no excuses in the nutrition department. Then it was time to set the alarm clock for a very early 3am start.

Standing on the edge of the Macintyre River at 5:00am, it was pitch black. I might not have been able to see who was standing beside me on the boat ramp, though when names like Tim Reed, Luke McKenzie and Clayton Fettle are in close vicinity you know you arena for a tough day of racing. Goondiwindi’s Hell of the West is always a unique race start, as you dive into the water in the darkness and follow the flashing light of the lead kayak until the sun starts to rise enough to light the way. By this time I had settled in to a solid pace and tucked in behind a few other athletes with those big three names ahead of us. The swim stayed this way for the whole 2km and as I exited the water and found myself among a group of three other athletes I pulled down my Xterra Speedsuit and pulled my new Titan Performance Group racesuit up and prepared for 80km journey along the Barwon Highway.

It's a tough course to get any idea of where your competition is but with Lindsay Wall and Dan Stein we set a solid pace for the first 40km. I was surprised when we caught both Luke Mckenzie and Clayton Fettell and went straight past them but when the current Ironman 70.3 World Champion is still out in front there is no time to really think about that. At the turn I saw he had a healthy gap on us but we were working well together and with all of the Hammer Nutrition I was taking in I felt as though I was in good shape for the 20km run ahead of us. That was until the 55km mark where I noticed my front tyre was a lot softer than what it should have been.

After a few explicit words and a magical can of Pitstop, I was back on my way, but had well and truly lost touch with the boys I'd been riding with. Even though the next 25km was definitely not at the same intensity, it did make me focus on my nutrition and being as fresh as possible for the run. I came off the bike in fourth place, knowing I had a mountain of work ahead of me. Normally I would use my watch as a guide but with that still sitting in my bedroom (I'll put that down to first race forgetfulness), I had to run by feel and when you haven't run 20km off the bike in a long time that isn't easy! Tim was in a league of his own but I quickly caught Dan and had Lindsay in sight but at the same time was watching Luke build strongly through the run.

​​As my running legs started to fade and just at the time I was passing Lindsay, Dan made his way back past me but I was still in 3rd and only had 6km left to run. The podium was within reach but with 3km to go Luke went straight past me and I had no answers. The podium would have been a great way to get back to racing but I guess that is something that will drive and motivate me to the next race. For a first race back in 12 months, I definitely made a lot of mistakes but there are also a lot of positives I can take away from the race and the weekend to continue building through 2017.

I'd definitely forgotten how much racing hurts and recovery is definitely the top priority for this week. Hopefully it isn't too long until I'm back on the training track because now that I have the taste for racing again I want more! A big thank you to all of my sponsors and supporters and I'm super excited to see what the rest of 2017 can bring.

#triathlon #triathlete #swimbikerun #goondiwindi #hellofthewest #race #racing