Feb
9
2010

Kinloch Sprint Triathlon Nationals

An article by Debi Hazelden

There’s me, third from the left!

The Accommodation

Remind me never to stay in backpackers in the centre of Taupo the night before a really important triathlon race! My partner and I booked into Go Global Backpackers since all accommodation and holiday houses in Kinloch were booked up, except of course the ones worth $200 a night. Which now I wish I had paid for! The backpacker accommodation was above a pub, opposite a pub and beside pubs. It was a hot evening and with no air conditioning we needed to open the window… Of course there is a huge generator right outside the window. Hmmm the start of a great evening! Luckily the generator was turned off just after midnight although the pubs were still raging.

The Morning

The night before I always plan what time I need to eat specific things the next morning and the time I need to get up. So I woke up at 6am, grabbed my oats and yoghurt and walked sleepily to the kitchen. Only to see that it didn’t open until 8am! Oh man, change of plan. I scoffed down an Ems Power cookie (chocolate oat explosion – my favourite!) ate half a banana and fell back to sleep.

I woke again at 7:30, got everything ready and made some porridge. Scott and I sat in the morning sun eating my second breakfast.

Pre Race Nerves

I realised how nervous I was. This is the race where I can qualify for the World Champs in Budapest. I wonder who I’ll be racing against, how fast they are. I get nervous mostly about the swim start. If I go too hard I tend to freak out from being out of breath, which ruins me mentally. In races I practice thinking different things during my swim to help me with this. I used to think ‘don’t freak out’ but this didn’t help at all! Now I think about certain people I can see, trying to swim on their hip or feet, and trying to catch up to them. This helps a lot, I also thing about my arm movements, the pull, the push and kicking.

Swim

Swimming in lakes is always a pleasure after practicing at Corsair Bay in Christchurch. You can’t help but taste the water while you swim and fresh water is way better than the salty taste. The swim here was pretty uneventful. It was the first time I’ve managed to swim on the hip of another swimmer for at least a buoy length. A great achievement! I was out of the swim in 13:51 which is definitely in the top half. I was 37th out of 100 and happy with that as wanting to save energy for the other disciplines.

Bike

The bike was a hilly course out and pretty speedy back in. I passed quite a few girls on the ride out on the hilly parts. On this race I seemed to do better on the longer hills, giving me the chance to pick up a few places. My bike time was pretty good 41:26 finishing 17^th.

Run

Wow, I think I went too hard on the bike. I really struggled on the run. It was a 2 lap course with 2 hills on each lap. I was fighting the entire way, thinking I was going to get the stitch at one stage but lucky it didn’t eventuate after lots of deep breathing.