Everyday I find myself performing sacred acts of repetition, like setting up my breakfast on my tray precisely the same way every day, over and over, then taking it downstairs to share it with the company of a digital versatile disk. Mundane or not, it's pretty much a ritual. Tantamount to breakfast, a race to me is a similar act of ritual, seeing as though races are the reason why we all train!
So it was great to have our first race back of the season in Caloundra on Queensland's sunshine coast on the weekend. Although a few weeks of off running due to injury left me with complications, I was able to put them aside for a 4th place finish behind some fast guys. Like the saying goes, there's no school like the old school, and this race was the headmaster! The race format was 300/7/1.8, with the old school part coming in upon running straight from the run back into the swim to do it all again. This provided for many tactical opportunities, and also many chances to sting! On the whole, I felt like I was mostly doing the stinging part, as I had to play catch up on the first run leg as I dropped my shoe and lost time on the first bike dismount. Normally I would have just left the shoe there, but the second bike leg told me to go back and pick it up. Entering the water again just off the front group, I was able to pull back time to start the second bike at the front of the chase pack, trying to pull back Courtney Atkinson and Dave Matthews. Getting on the bike, training mate Jimmy Seear also had his shoe unwillingly depart from his pedal, which lost him time, and weedled our front group down to 4. Its not nice when you have Jimmy chasing you down on the bike, because he always will! The bike was tough, with my SRM reading over 1KW consistently out of the corners. Onto the run, Dan Wilson was out like a gazelle and it was down to a few us to sort out the minor placings. The five lap course was fast, and I had to time to waste in getting going. I soon had the company of Jimmy's hard breathing on my shoulder, which turned into a sprint for 4th place. Those who know me don't need to be told I'm not partial, and definately not synonymous with sprints, which left me with all sorts of questions when I actually came out on top. Yet the sprint was not aesthetically sound, nor glorious when I crossed the line horizontal after slipping and saying hello to Mr. Grass (Pictures below!).
So the race format made for a great change, and despite the weather causing headaches for some, I really enjoyed the wet conditions. We have another similar race to this coming up on the 28th of Feb at Raby Bay. Until this next ritual, I'll keep you posted on my others.
Thanks for reading, Josh
So it was great to have our first race back of the season in Caloundra on Queensland's sunshine coast on the weekend. Although a few weeks of off running due to injury left me with complications, I was able to put them aside for a 4th place finish behind some fast guys. Like the saying goes, there's no school like the old school, and this race was the headmaster! The race format was 300/7/1.8, with the old school part coming in upon running straight from the run back into the swim to do it all again. This provided for many tactical opportunities, and also many chances to sting! On the whole, I felt like I was mostly doing the stinging part, as I had to play catch up on the first run leg as I dropped my shoe and lost time on the first bike dismount. Normally I would have just left the shoe there, but the second bike leg told me to go back and pick it up. Entering the water again just off the front group, I was able to pull back time to start the second bike at the front of the chase pack, trying to pull back Courtney Atkinson and Dave Matthews. Getting on the bike, training mate Jimmy Seear also had his shoe unwillingly depart from his pedal, which lost him time, and weedled our front group down to 4. Its not nice when you have Jimmy chasing you down on the bike, because he always will! The bike was tough, with my SRM reading over 1KW consistently out of the corners. Onto the run, Dan Wilson was out like a gazelle and it was down to a few us to sort out the minor placings. The five lap course was fast, and I had to time to waste in getting going. I soon had the company of Jimmy's hard breathing on my shoulder, which turned into a sprint for 4th place. Those who know me don't need to be told I'm not partial, and definately not synonymous with sprints, which left me with all sorts of questions when I actually came out on top. Yet the sprint was not aesthetically sound, nor glorious when I crossed the line horizontal after slipping and saying hello to Mr. Grass (Pictures below!).
So the race format made for a great change, and despite the weather causing headaches for some, I really enjoyed the wet conditions. We have another similar race to this coming up on the 28th of Feb at Raby Bay. Until this next ritual, I'll keep you posted on my others.
Thanks for reading, Josh
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