Break Your Limits

…at last….after 2 months of initial excitement, gradually turning into nervous tension, all that worry and pre-race jitters have now passed – thank goodness (who’s idea was it to race anyway, Ray?).

Race day started with an early alarm. I knew I was in the last wave (8:45), but I hate rushing and would prefer to give myself more time than not enough so it was an early start.

Unlike the City of Perth triathlon (Where again I was in the last wave – the price you pay for being over 40), the morning went quit quickly and it wasn’t long before I was heading down to the ‘coral’, whatever that is (maybe someone could explain?) for the swim start.

On arriving, I met Ray, Paul, Trudy, Michael, Bec, and I think Mr Steve was lurking in the background too with his large ‘lenses in hand’. A quick hello and off Ray went into the water for his start, minutes later it was my turn. In I went, and a short swim over to the start line. Then I heard over the loud speaker that it would be 9 minutes until we were released – great!

Time soon passed, surprisingly, with some light banter amongst nations, then…1 minute…30seconds….’go!!!’.

The start was as expected, with myself watching the stronger swimmers disappear off into the distance, a sight I’m quite used to now. I settled in and swam with the group around me, keeping an eye on them but letting them navigate (If you ever swam with me, you’d understand why. As Ray once said, “If you’re doing a 2Km swim and you want to swim 3, then follow Alistair”. He’s right though, I swim like a banana – I’m not the straightest). The pace was a little slower than I possibly could have managed but I decided to draft my new found friends.

1.8Km up the Swan and it was time to turn around and head back, just 1.2km left. Thinking this should be fairly quick being the shorter leg with wind behind, how wrong I was, it just took forever. Getting stung in the face didn’t help either with leg cramps instantly following. What made me think I could stand up in deep water I don’t know, but I did, and amazingly, I could touch the bottom – brilliant! I stretched out my calf and continued on.

The end of the swim arrived (not soon enough I must add) and into transition where, much to my surprise, there were still about 40 bikes left – I couldn’t believe it. I sat down to put on my shoes, like a real amateur, my legs were cramping quite badly.

The bike leg was quite uneventful, I didn’t go too hard but I certainly didn’t take it easy either, I wanted to keep something in reserve for the run. I was monitoring Ray as we passed each other and he seemed to be going about the same pace as me.

Off the bike and into the run. I seemed to start off ok and was passing quite a few people. I ran passed Shao and continued on up the road feeling quite good. It didn’t last long. At the same place where I passed Shao on the first lap, he passed me back. “Stick with me” he said. For a few minutes I did, but he was running really well and I just couldn’t hold onto him. I carried on the best I could but feeling like I was getting slower and slower, which I was. That was the last I saw of him until the finish.

Into the last lap and all I could think about was crossing the line and having a bath for some strange reason. I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter with the sun burning my back and my shoes felt like they were on fire. “This is harder than an Ironman” said an athlete. “You’re not bloody wrong” I thought to myself.

300m from the finish and I summoned up what little energy I had left for the final dash down the finish chute, over the line and collapse in a big sweaty mess along with all the other athletes.

That was the hardest race I have ever done – Ironman, forget it!!!! I’m sticking with Sprint distances from now on…

Well that’s it, it’s all over now. I’d like to say a big thank you to all the BYL crew for all their help and support; it makes a huge difference as you all know. A big thank you to Joe (who probably did more running than I did), for all his encouragement from the Narrows Bridge right up to the far end of the run course, he was everywhere.

And a big thank you to Ray, for all his time and patience with my endless questions, and for simply getting me to the fitness level that I am today…

And last but not least, a big well done, and I mean a big well done, to all the BYL athletes. That really was a tough one….

…..see you in Busselton!