Race Report – Hervey Bay Triathlon April 2012
24 Apr 2012
After a week struggling with a Gastro virus, Hervey Bay Triathlon was never going to be an easy feat. Never-the-less, I loaded the car Saturday morning and made the four hour journey up the coast, driven by the motivation that another olympic distance race would only assist my preparation for Cairns. Sipping on my PureSport workout water bottle regularly throughout the day, I did my best to put a week of dehydration behind me and focused on hydrating and refuelling the body to give myself the best opportunity to finish Sunday’s race with limited health implications.
My lack lustre week of preparation continued with an interrupted night sleep on a mattress possibly designed for cavemen. But determined not to allow the uncontrollable to upset my race, I again focused on my race morning rituals including my PureSport Recovery drink accompanied by banana and honey on toast. Needless to say the race day nerves and energising breakfast soon kicked in and I felt ready to race.
Despite feeling like the longest Olympic distance swim I have ever done, I felt great in the water and exited the swim leg second out of all the age group women, which is a nice feeling when you know that is your weakest leg done. I had a great transition and very quickly found myself at the front of the age groupers, with no one in sight to chase down. The first 10km of the bike course felt fantastic and I established I formidable lead over the rest of the pack. This gave me plenty of opportunity to concentrate on getting the hydration spot on, which I have been known to neglect in Olympic distance races in the past, resulting in severe dehydration symptoms during the run leg. Subsequent to how fantastic I had felt on the run leg at Victor Harbor triathlon, I chose to ride with a highly concentrated mix of the PureSport workout drink and ensured that I had a drink every 5km of the ride.
Unfortunately, despite my best effort to ensure that the race continued to go to plan, it all started to go pear shaped half way through the cycle leg. Starting in my lower back and left hip, I progressively started to feel a sharp pain through my glute and eventually down my left leg, which I knew meant trouble for the run. Apart from the increasing pain in my glute, I ran out of transition feeling quite strong. Unfortunately the pain soon got the better of me though and my gait was badly affected from as early as the 1st kilometre. Moments of “should I withdraw?” kept flashing through my head, but I just kept convincing myself “see if it improves in another kilometre”. Needless to say, it did not improve, but I managed to find the finish line, 10 minutes clear of my nearest competitor.
Despite the injury, which I am now receiving physio for, the body recovered very quickly from the race, which can only be attributed to improvements made in my pre and post race hydration. While I use to be known amongst my squad members for my dangerously unhealthy appearance at the end of a triathlon, due to poor hydration, I finished and recovered from both Victor Harbor and Hervey Bay very quickly, and injuries aside felt eager to get back to training the very next day…. If only I was allowed.
