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Australian Duathlon Championships Race Report 2024
Every race I enter, I want to win. However, it’s not just about winning; it’s more about not losing. I dislike being beaten, even by those from completely different age groups. This mindset is why I entered the Canberra duathlon: I wanted a challenging training session to push myself harder than I can during regular training. I don’t want to lose. The Canberra duathlon also served as the Australian Championships, adding an extra incentive. The course, set at Stromlo, was by far the hardest duathlon course I’ve tackled. I was initially worried about the cold, as the temperature was 5°C (feels like 2°C). The day before, it had been 9°C…
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Managing Temperatures While Racing
It was known well in advance that racing in Townsville, Australia would be a hot race. Being too hot is the enemy when it comes to performance. Ultimately, those who handled the heat best would have the greatest chance of success. For a couple years, I’ve been using a core sensor to measure my core temperature. To date I’ve not used the data for any specific training, however I find it interesting how my body responds as my core temperature changes. I’ve observed that when my core temperature exceeds 38.5, my rate of perceived effort (RPE) to perform also starts to dramatically increase. Above 39.3-39.5 and my desire to cool…
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Townsville ITU Long Course World Championship Race Report
I flew up a week early for the long course world championships. I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to do well. I had a goal of trying to win, and claim the AG world title on offer. The challenge was to do my best performance and I believed if I executed that, it was an achievable goal. Although I did miss my family, the week flew by as I had a bit on work-wise, which I was doing remotely. The week up there allowed me to familiarise myself with the course I’d have to race – which helped. The morning of the race was a little surreal. I’d…
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Cairns 70.3 Race Report 2024
Years ago when I didn’t do triathlon, we happened to be on holiday at Palm Cove while the Cairns Ironman took place. Ever since then, the event has been of interest to me. With the long course world championships being hosted in Townsville in August, Cairns 70.3 seemed like the perfect prep race to get some familiarity with the conditions likely to be experienced. It certainly didn’t disappoint being among the best courses I’ve ever raced. We arrived the Thursday prior, which allowed enough time to go for a snorkelling day trip (on Friday) before shifting focus onto the race. I was generally relaxed, and quietly confident although my run…
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Australian Standard Triathlon Championship Race Report
The day before the race, Wollongong hosted elite racing with many categories including para, juniors and senior ITU athletes. It was quite spectacular to watch, although the weather was far from ideal. I find it inspiring, although I didn’t sleep terribly well. Race morning I was in quite a good headspace though, and was excited to race. It’s been sometime since I’ve felt this way about a race. I was quietly confident I could string together a solid performance, but whether it would be enough to win.. with an Aussie AG title up for grabs I was keen to give it a crack! Swim Leg They started us on the…
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Nepean Sprint Triathlon Race Report 2024
It’s been a long time since I did a sprint, about a year. However, I wanted world championship qualification points towards the mixed team relay being held next year in Wollongong. The night before the race the weather was terrible, heavy rains and lots of flash flooding made travel quite dangerous. My family and I stayed at my in-laws place, which meant we avoided the worst of the weather, however, we all had terrible sleep or maybe should say not much sleep at all! I got up nice and early to get to the Regatta Centre with plenty of time only to find out the race start was delayed. It…
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Husky Ultimate Triathlon Race Report 2024
I was up at 3:30am, it was always going to be an early start when I had an hour drive to the race venue. My amazing wife travelled down to support me, and we arrived at Husky at 5:10am. Plenty of time to get sorted and ready to race. I even had time to do a short swim warmup before the professional race started. Swim Leg I was the third person into the water for the 30-39 AG rolling start. Straight away I managed to bridge to the lead two, and sat on one of their feet almost to the first buoy. I felt them slow far too much and…
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Hobart 70.3 Race Report 2024
I was quite relaxed leading into the Hobart 70.3. Although, training had been going well, I’d been travelling + had some sickness in the weeks prior. I wasn’t as fit as I might have been otherwise, but on the upside I wasn’t really fatigued either. My focus was on getting a good training stimulus and seeing where my current fitness was at. No expectations, and no limits on what I was ‘supposed’ to achieve. I arrived Thursday before the event, which was a nice change from the usual arrival the day before. However, the weather had me a little anxious as I struggled to ride the course with 45-50km/h winds…
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Challenge Canberra Race Report 2023
Just after a storm passed, I drove to Canberra Friday evening with the family. The weather wasn’t looking good for the weekend, but although I was a little worried about bike safety, I was committed to racing. Saturday morning I got up and did my pre-race spin/run in light rain, and then the weather started to improve! At registration and bike check-in the weather looked great, until a heavy rain shower hit, but the forecast for race day was now sunny. Mentally I felt a little different than usual about this race. After absolutely smashing all expectations (and myself) at Western Sydney 70.3 I wasn’t hungry to test myself. I…
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Western Sydney 70.3 Race Report 2023
The day before the race during my pre-race spin and run, my shins were quite sore during the run. It had me quite worried, but I tried not to dwell on it and just prayed it would be okay on race day. I’m not a morning person. I hate early starts, yet I woke up before my alarm at 4:15 am race morning. I always try to organise as much as possible the night before to remove any thought process when I’m still sleepy. I mindlessly ate and prepared bottles etc. and it was then time to hop in the car and drive to the race venue. I arrived, signed…
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