Blood, sweat and tears - Devonport Oceania Championships

What a week! Coming off a great race in Geelong two weeks prior to Devonport, I had recovered well and had planned a solid weekend of training before tapering off again to race on Saturday. I had a cracker session on Saturday and was fired up for another long hard session on Sunday but the slippery conditions on the road had other plans for me. Despite telling myself I needed to be careful on the wet roads my need for speed got the better of me and 45km into my ride I slid on some oil going around a bend and landed hard on the road taking bark off my hip and my elbow. Not the best thing to do 6 days out from a major race. Feeling sore and sorry for myself I rode home rather slowly but glad that everything was still in one piece and got patched up once home with the help of my training buddy Michelle. My attempts at training over the next few days were rather feeble but I tried to stay positive reminding myself that I still had 5, 4, 3... days for the swelling and bruising to go down and the stiffness and pain in my shoulder to go away. However hard I tried though it was hard not to get stressed, angry and upset at myself with several sessions ending in tears. Bring in the coach. Cath reminded me of a conversation we had following Geelong about how I had shown I could pull off a great race when everything in my preparation goes to plan but that if I wanted to really become a good athlete I needed to learn how to pull off a good race regardless of the circumstances - things are not always going to go to plan, especially when travelling to races! Here was the perfect learning opportunity and all of a sudden what seemed a horrible misfortune became a challenge; a chance to test and to prove myself.

With copious amounts of Arnica cream and massaging, and a bit more positive thought, my shoulder loosened up enough to swim with only a little pain on Tuesday afternoon. By Thursday morning I could run with discomfort rather than constant pain from the bruising - just in time with only 2 days til race day! I was still feeling flat though but just had to trust that with the adrenalin of race day my body would be firing again and I wouldn't feel a thing.

Then came the travelling, and with it more stress with delays, cancelled flights, lost bikes and no pump. But that's a whole other story. I had my bike (Clare wasn't so lucky, hers arriving at 6am race morning before a 7.45am start!!), and eventually thanks to the junior boys from WA pumped tyres, made it to race briefing in time (just), and even got a quick ride over the course before heading back to the hotel for dinner. Phew!

Coles Bay beach along to bike course

With another post lunch race start, this time at 2:15, it was a nervous morning of waiting in the hotel room as the hours... or minutes... ticked slowly by. A phone call from mum, several calls to coach Cath and a 30 minute walk had me feeling slightly better by the time 12:00 rolled around and it was time for me to get ready and go.

The race was again only sprint distance with 750 swim, 20km bike and 5km run. Just as well as the conditions were tough and I was very glad not to have to turn around for a second lap of the swim like the age groupers who all raced Olympic Distance earlier that morning. We pros are just soft ;)

Warming up I knew I was ready to race; as I had hoped I couldn't feel a thing with the adrenalin, my body was feeling light and fast. I practised a few ins and outs, duck diving under the waves on the way out and body surfing on the way in. The surf didn't seem too bad and I was confident that I could get out past the breakers fairly well then settle in to my swim.

The challenging surf conditions (Photo courtesy of Triathlon in Pictures)

The race started with a beach start and a long run of 100m or so down to the water. I was one of the first girls to hit the water and had a good start, taking advantage of my height to run and duck dive a little further out into the water than some of the other girls before I had to start swimming. And that's where any advantage stopped. My lack of experience swimming in the surf showed and I slipped back a few places through the field. Contrary to what I expected, it was actually harder to swim out past the breakers as the waves got bigger and were combined with chop. The constant waves were disorientating and I felt like I was swimming in a washing machine (although, I've never actually tried swimming in a washing machine...). Knowing how important your mind state is to your race performance I reminded myself to remain positive thinking everyone else is getting thrown around too, and even if I have the worst swim ever there's nothing stopping me having a cracker bike and run.

Approaching the first swim buoy I started to feel a little more comfortable and regained a bit of lost ground. On the way back in the gaps in the field were constantly changing with some girls catching waves and others not. One moment I was being swept on top of the girls in front and the next they were 10 or so metres ahead. This yoyoing continued all the way back in to shore and I managed to remain semi in contact with the girls in front. Eager to get out of the water I got a little too excited when I thought I saw the bottom and put my feet down to start duck diving only to find I was still beyond my depth... A silly mistake that cost a few seconds. I usually never stand up until my hands touch the bottom while swimming but it can be difficult to judge with waves. One moment you're in 50cm deep water and the next 1.5m deep as a wave washes through. I got my momentum back and eventually made it to shallow enough water to run. Relieved to be out of the swim, Devonport had one last trick to play on me and just as I thought I was safely running in calf deep water I found a hole to tread in and promptly landed face first in the water. Slightly embarrassing but funny at the same time I laughed it off, jumped up and ran onto the sand. Run up the beach, wetsuit off, helmet on and I was off onto the bike.

I caught Natalie Van Coevordan who had come out of transition just ahead of me and we worked together to catch Gwen Jorgensen and Lauren Parker about 3/4 of the way around the first lap of 4. There were 3 girls ahead of us; Jodie Stimpson and Aileen Reid working together about 10 seconds in front and Maddi Allen by herself in the lead after a dominating swim. We worked well together however given Gwen Jorgensen's running speed the girls ahead would never have let us catch them easily and put time into us every lap. A large group containing almost the rest of the field was 30+ seconds behind us but riding well. On the third lap I sensed the other girls starting to tire a little and the main pack was starting to put ground into us. Knowing that some of the girls in that pack could out run me I wanted to get to transition with as much lead off the bike as possible. My legs were still feeling good so I broke away in the last lap and put 12 seconds into the girls I was riding with.

Riding with Gwen Jorgensen and Natalie Van Coevorden (Photo courtesy of Triathlon in Pictures)

I headed out of transition 30 seconds behind the race leaders and set my sights on catching Maddi Allen who had been caught by Jodie Stimpson and Aileen Reid part way through the cycle. I was passed by Gwen Jorensen within a few hundred meters of the run, moving down to 5th on the road but shortly after caught Maddi putting me back into 4th, and the leading U23 and Oceania athlete. Just after the turn around to begin our 2nd and final lap of the run I was caught by Charlotte McShane, also an Australian U23 athlete. None of the other girls had put significant ground into me and it was clear that the race would be between the two of us for the Oceania Championship title (Jodie Stimpson being from GBR, Gwen Jorgensen from USA and Aileen Reid from IRL were not eligible for the title). I stuck with her for the second lap, taking turns to dictate the pace from in front. Not wanting it to come down to a sprint finish I put in a surge with about 600m to go but she came with me. We ran on for another 100-200m before she surged and I wasn't able to go with her. I crossed the line 8 seconds behind but stoked with 5th place and 2nd Oceania and 2nd U23. I had passed the test and backed up with another good result, proving to myself that my race in Geelong was not just a fluke, and this time relying on what has always been my Achilles heel - the run!

Oceania Championship podium (Photo courtesy of Triathlon in Pictures)

Devonport will always be a special place for me, being where I did my first draft legal race and first ocean swim at the Australian All schools triathlon championships 5 years ago, shortly after taking up triathlon. It was here that I decided that I wanted to become a professional triathlete (rather than swimmer which is what I had aspired to throughout school) and it seems fitting that it is on this course that I have now won my first Elite medal. I will definitely be back again next year!
Thanks again for all the amazing support I recieved over the weekend, and sorry to anyone who had to put up with my post crash woes!

My next adventure takes me across the ditch for the Wellington Oceania Championships, this time Olympic Distance next weekend.

Gillian

** Thanks to Anne-Marie for the photos