Teams race reports (October Westlakes R1 2020)

West Lakes Summer Series Race 1 –  I am pumped about being back at West Lakes to race. (Bring on the swim!)

For this race, Aaron asked us ‘to go by feel’ and to not wear our Garmins! … OK – Let’s do it! So went watch-less for this one.

SWIM: the 800m swim was really good; I set myself up in my usual spot up at the front. As always, the women’s Age group wave is sent off after the men’s Age Group wave, where I have to navigate through a lot of the slower male swimmers.  I felt strong and steady. As instructed, I pushed hard to the first buoy. Turning at the last can, I was swimming with a couple of young female competitors to the beach.

My T1 sucked! My brand-new wetsuit felt awesome, but I had trouble getting the Velcro at the top of the zipper to release! Finally, I got myself sorted and off to the mount-line as quickly as possible.

RIDE: I headed off on the bike feeling good and with ‘power out of the corners’ and ‘stay aero’ on repeat in my head. High cadence from mount-line to the first corner, then down into aero position and push harder to complete Lap 1. I pushed hard into the headwind and when the wind was behind me, took in hydration on laps 3 and 4. The first lap I felt I settled into a good rhythm. I was comfortable and felt powerful as the four laps 2 clicked over.  I was able to get my feet out of my shoes on the last corner to the dismount line and nailed the step-through dismount! (woot)

RUN: T2 went well.  I took a mouthful of BCAA at transition, but my feet were numb from the cold. It took almost all of the first lap of the run to feel my feet again. I started with a comfortable rhythm and progressively built up for Lap1. Not wearing my Garmin, I had no real idea of my pace but felt I was pushing well. On the second lap I pushed a bit harder aiming for a negative split and with the finish line in sight picked up my cadence for my best effort home.

We had such a good morning. Great weather and great team camaraderie. Lyn and I came 1 and 2 for our Age Group, and (despite COVID restricted training over winter) my overall time was a PB on the last West Lakes race last November. Gotta be happy with that.  Now we are back racing I know I need more speed work, but my focus is prepping for the Murray Bridge 70.3 in three weeks! 

Amanda Carne

The day started off like any other Sunday event day however I was nervous, I don’t know why as I have always been more excited than anything even on my first half ironman I wasn’t nervous, it was weird. I did have a sub 1 hr and 26 mins overall goal time on this one (which may have caused the nerves) whereas with the limited tri events to date that I have done I have never set a goal time, my goal is normally just to get out there and get it done and enjoy and finish the challenge giving it my best. Got to the course in plenty of time and had a good warmup in the lake finding the water temp wasn’t actually too cold, besides the bit of chop I felt great and ready. However, when the race started it all turned to shit pretty much from get-go, got caught up in a shit fight and blew up about 200mt in, so disappointed I fell into that trap! Next 400 or so mt of the swim was a struggle I could not get my heart rate down, I breast stroked for a bit on a couple of occasions to try to catch my breath but as soon as I started back in the freestyle my stomach went into knots and gasped for breath to the point I was going to raise my arm and pull out or get myself to the shore. Persevered with a mix of breaststroke and freestyle to the last buoy and then bang all of a sudden I started coming good and was able to hold steady fast swim to the finish. Didn’t take me long to recover in transition (probably because I spent so long fluffing around) then jumped on the bike actually feeling pumped and fresh! The bike leg was steady maybe to over-cautious to not push it too hard in the headwinds but not being a strong cyclist or more so lack of experience I probably took it a bit too easy, can definitely push a little harder on the bike next time but still very happy that was my fastest kph bike leg to date. 2nd transition downed a gel and gulp of water then hit the run and got into a sweet steady pace, couldn’t feel my feet at all but my legs were great it was almost like I didn’t just ride 26ks. Took the 1st km steady then built it slowly over next 3 ks legs feeling good and light then let rip on the last half km finishing fast, with still slightly numb feet! Nutrition hydration and overall health spot on, no lactic build and up to no hitting a wall. In a nutshell, The Good: strong negative split run, The Bad: slow transitions, The Ugly: poor swim.

Anthony parfilo

Actually wasn’t sure how the race would go having had minimal sleep after finishing work at 1 am. Thankfully I didn’t feel fatigued during the race. Great to be back racing and catching up with the team again.
Usual green smoothie for breakfast, although didn’t really feel like it but made sure I did, no breakfast after a late night I think would have been a complete disaster. Good warming up with the team too didn’t feel rushed or stressed. Got a reasonable warm-up swim done. Off and racing, I settled in the swim a bit sooner than I usually do. Probably needed to push harder at the start. Sighted the whole race which went well and was thankful for a swim during the week in the lake. Wasn’t as cold as I thought race morning. There were a lot of people doing the breaststroke, glad I didn’t need to do this too. Out of the water and going into T1 was fumbly and I was annoyed. Had trouble finding the cord thingy to undo the zip on the wettie and took way too long getting it off and out on the bike.
The start of the bike went well, feet in shoes and velcroed up in good time. A good place to start and had a really good max. speed going along West Lakes Blvd as I knew there would be a headwind on Military Rd and I swear each lap it got just a bit harder. Made sure of sticking to plan and pushed on through it and made it up along Sportsman Drv. Really enjoyed the bike this race, feeling better and better. Need to push harder going into the corners though instead of going steady. Didn’t actually feel too cold apart from my feet. They were quite numb when I got off the bike.
T2 was much better.
Out on the run I went (numb feet and all) Took roughly about 1/2km to settle into the run making sure I didn’t go too hard at the start, I was feeling quite good so had to just hold a little. My run felt consistent, held the pace and was really pleased with how it went. First good race run with past injury under pressure and pleased that it didn’t pop up during the race. I thought the other lady in my age group wasn’t far behind me, (although I whizzed past her on the second bike lap) which gave me more motivation to push on and not have her pass me. When I had a look over my shoulder no-one was there. Need to think that more often in a race and ride/run harder. Toes were still tingly after the run but soon got back to normal/warm when I stopped. Best race run I’ve had for a long time, and managed to push harder toward the end, something I haven’t been able to do for a few races.
Overall quite pleased with the race and keen and motivated for the next race. Lost a bit of mojo over winter, it’s good to be back racing and training with a purpose.
Big thanks to Aaron for ongoing support. Also thanks to Rod for his support, race photography and humour.

Bron Williams

I haven’t raced at Westlake since Australia Day Jan 2019. I didn’t have a very good pre-race swim on the Sat but I’m glad I went. My feelings on how I went is a quiet mixed disaster, stronger, fitter comes to mind. Disaster the swim but all things considering I completed it. The transition from swim to bike my stuff had been spread everywhere, a wardrobe malfunction which was fixed by wearing my vest & my watch had done a screen lock so the whole race is recorded as swim I was nearly tempted to take it off in transition. The bike felt strong for the first 2 laps until the wind picked up in the 3^rd. I was feeling like I was going to make some time up until this point. I had a good dismount off the bike into transition. The feet were a bit frozen getting on the shoes. Run felt good and got my negative split with the second lap being a 1.36min faster than the first.

Good to get back to racing but a lot to learn ready for the next one. Always great to race with the crew and we were lucky with the weather that the wind held off as long as it did.

Becky Harris

There was a real buzz of excitement for the early morning start. It was the first Triathlon of the season.
The swim start was a bit chaotic but no real trouble. My goggles fogged making it hard to sight, but there were plenty of swimmers around me and I kept pretty well on course. The water was cold and I didn’t have much feeling in my feet or hands so the transition was slower than usual as I had trouble getting the wetsuit off. The bike leg went well. I pushed into the headwind along Military Road. The 4 laps went by quite quickly. My feet were still numb from the swim so running felt a bit weird. I built into the run and finished with a strong last km to place 2nd in my Age Group.

Lyn Humphries