Reflections of 2012 - a great triathlon year.
Not much more to say other than 4 races – 3 x wins, 1 x 2nd.
Falls Creek Long Course in February – 2nd place in 40/44 age group.
Cairns IM – 1st place in 40/44 age group.
Shepparton 70.3 – 1st place in Mixed teams category (Thanks Kate & Sam !).
Canberra 70.3 – 1st place 40/44 age group.
Seriously, these results are the culmination of a great seasons worth of training. I trained hard, up early – 4:15AM, nearly every day of the year to either ride, swim & run, although the run is not all year round. Pretty much my training for all events was well timed and helped me deliver some great results.
The races themselves were all so different. Falls Ck. was tough. It was cold, the swim hard and the altitude at 1650m above sea level, was enough to have an effect on your performance. I loved every minute of it though. I was never in a position to challenge for the lead as I my swim was so poor, but it was great to claw my way up into 2nd position for the age group.
Cairns IM was the polar (pun intended) opposite. Hot, sea level and no excuse for not going as fast as you can. The scenery on this race is 2nd to none– stick this on your bucket list of races to do as the venue & event management is absolutely awesome. Check my race report on it.
Yeah baby, Cairns IM A/G win !!
I teamed up again with gun swimmer Kate Lister & the ageless Sam Stewart for another crack at the teams event at the Shepp 70.3 under the TEAM XOSIZE/ROCKET SCIENCE SPORTS banner. I rode and despite a fracture to a small bone in my hand when some clown decided to run in front of me the day before, the team worked well to be again called Mixed team champs.
Rockin' the TREK Speed Conept for Team XOSIZE / Rocket Science Sports
Canberra 70.3 is one of my favourite races. I try to lock it in every year as it is a great chance to catch up with long time great friends Tony & Leesa. The event was in a bit of disarray this year I thought, some corners had been cut in competitor safety and a few other areas which took the edge off a great day. I swam 34ish minutes then rode like an absolute demon on the altered 5 x 18km circuit. I had the ride course short by 1.6km but still managed to ride a 2hr08min ride for a 42km/h average speed ! I felt so strong on the bike it was incredible, then got off for the 21.1km run. I passed the fella who was in the A/G lead at the 1km mark & not long after I saw Magnus Michelson running at full steam chasing me down. He was running at 3:32min/km pace where I was at 3:45min/km pace. I had to monitor the gap which was made easier on a 3 x 7km lap. I managed to hold Magnus (who had now ran into 2nd place) off, we eventually recorded the same split on the final lap of 4mins/km & took out my A/G by a few minutes. I rattled off a PB of 4hrs 8mins which i’m really happy about as the Canberra ½ Ironman was my first ever long distance race I competed in back in 2002. I remember nervously sitting there post race waiting for the Ironman Oz slots to get posted up before taking my spot for the old IMOz race at Forster/Tuncurry. That was back in the ‘good old days’ when you had to work your butt off for an IM spot & not just have a fast computer connection like current. I’m starting to sound old and jaded so I will end my rant and post now !!
I hope everybody who takes the timeout to read all this are fit & healthy and have some great goals set out for the future.
Also special, special thanks to my supporters – Team Lewis, Rapido Cycles in Keilor Rd. Essendon, XOSize – they are at all the big events – awesome wetties, shoe selection and what they don’t know about Tri’s ain’t worth knowing, Rudy Project, thanks for hiding my rough head under your awesome looking helmets & glasses and John Quinn Elite – my sounding board & inspiration.
Cheers – train hard & train safe ! Matty.
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