Monday 2 March 2015

Australian Super Corporate Duathlon

Yesterday, I had done my last triathlon event for the 2014-15 season. It actually was a duathlon as it rained more than 10mm over 24 hours so they replaced the 400m swim with a 800m beach run instead.

Fact: I have only ever entered into 3 corporate triathlons and all 3 have been changed to duathlons due to conditions (2011, 2012 and 2015). I am the bad luck charm for the corporate triathlons.

Saturday 28th February
I had a really bad sleep on Friday night so I didn't end up doing a ride on Saturday morning. I caught up on sleep and went straight into Elwood for coaching of the Try the Tri group. We did some basic bike knowledge and tried to change a tube. As the bike was brand new (just bought from the shop), taking off the tyre was a major issue and it took forever! Putting the tyre back onto the bike was also an issue. We made it at the end. The second part of the session was teaching the girls (this was an all female group) about running with their bikes holding onto the saddle only with one hand.

Once we got that part of the session done, we did some basic transition set up and they practised going into T1 and handling their bikes off the mount bars both off the saddle and their handle bars - this enables them to realise the difference it makes when you have your bike mounted from the saddle or the handle bars.

After the coaching session, I hung around for our team mate to arrive so we could arrange the order of the race and checked our bikes into the compound overnight.

I went out for lunch and then it was a nap before we headed out to see Foo Fighters. I am not sure what the hell happened to the city and the traffic but it was worse than peak hour during the week. It took us forever to get through Kings Way and there was an issue that the barriers were removed for the entrance into the GP so cars were entering the lake but had to turn around.

Parking at Etihad was so expensive - $30! We got there just before Foo Fighters played and we missed Rise Against.

The actual concert itself was fantastic. The downside was that our seats was right next to the aisle which people used to enter into GA which meant that our view was constantly blocked by people walking up and down. FF played for nearly 3 hours.

Once the concert finished, the journey home was the worse I have ever had. It took us an hour to get out of the Etihad carpark as there were no parking attendants and no one had any idea how to get out. Once we got out of the carpark, it was then traffic along Kings St, it took us more than an hour to get through <1km and once we got over the bridge near Crown Casino, I used the side streets in South Melbourne to get onto Nepean Hwy to get home. We didn't get to bed until close to 2:30am, not ideal when you have to wake up at 5am in the morning.

Sunday 1st March
Once the alarm went off at 5am, I got my shit together and got a lift into Elwood. We arranged for a 6:15am meet-up to get into transition together. We were notified that the swim had been replaced with a 800m run and based on my past experiences, it would be a beach run so I opted to be bare feet for the first run.

Kathryn, me and Suze


The set up didn't change much from a triathlon as I had my running gear all in the compound. I was the 3rd person in my team but luckily Kathryn is a pretty gun triathlete so she completed her race around 40min. The 2nd person in our team was Suze and then me. I waited in the team-handover section for about 15min (I got in early) before it was my turn to race. The run on the blue carpet was good. I ran past people as I like running bare feet (considering I didn't run in shoes until I reached Aus in 1997). When I got to the sand, it was a pretty slow run as I am not able to have a long stride. I once again ran past people once we got out of the sand into T1.

T1 was pretty uneventful. I don't do flying mounts.

The ride itself was short and sweet. I rode past many. There were so many people who were not riding on the left side of the road so in terms of overtaking - I tried my best. I only had 2 people passed me on the bike and they looked like they were triathletes - they had TT bikes. I got out of my shoes a few hundred metres from the finish like, something which I haven't done in so many seasons. I didn't do a proper dismount.


The run hurt and I am glad I started to run with the running group. I was out of breath on the run and it did hurt. I don't run fast and it showed.

I finished the event under an hour which was my aim. I was the slowest in my team but I also ran the furthest.

A few pointers out of this event:
  • Try again next year????
  • I wore the new Tri Alliance race suit for the first time during this event. No lubrication of the suit was applied but I wasn't racing very far at all. 
  • This just demonstrated the importance of doing interval sessions for both the bike and the run. As I had been doing interval rides on the Thursday morning, it helped with the speed. Due to the lack of interval runs, this showed in my lack of speed.

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