I spent most of last week petrified of doing Noosa Triathlon as an individual. That’s right we are talking on road! And as many of you know I live for the challenge of the off road but I had signed up for this race not long after the Noosa tri last year. I really liked the thought of this as a big goal -doing a local event and such a big one like Noosa. This was the race that dared me to dream. I head out and spin the legs over on what was a stunning day. Ride, Coffee, Chat, Clean bike, Swim a nice way to spend the morning before I head in to take in the atmosphere at Noosa. It is incredible a buzz with thousands of people. I was excited to be hanging with some great friends and seeing all our training come into action. Picking up our race packs we headed off to check out the expo before racking our bikes. There are thousands of bikes. It’s quite a sight. The night is a blur of getting home eating, packing my bag for the race, and setting my mum and sister up with the Subaru race tracker to follow not only myself but a few other friends. My mum might not make it to my race but she sure is there racing every race via this great tracker. As I finally feel ready I get a message that makes me realise this is it... This is race time. When I wake all the training I have done will come into play. I head up the highway bopping to music trying to force in porridge. Transition is set up quickly and easily with half an hour to spare we head off for coffee I can barely talk I am so nervous. I don’t want to eat but I know I should I force in a muesli bar as we wait for time to slip by till our race starts. My race plays out in my head as I sit at the mount, dismount, run exit and finish line and I try to envisage the race ahead. Quickly I head over to watch the Elite male and females swim start before heading back to the big screen to watch them head out on the ride. Ben from Giant Sunshine Coast is racing the pro field and Jamie as a fellow age grouper both got super early wave starts. It’s great to be able cheer these guys on before I head over to start my race. Off road tri’s are loads of fun and quite social. With its challenges it also has some things I take for granted for example I swim with far less people. There is still the hustle and bustle to get your own space but nothing on this race. I am racing as an Athena (70kg+ female) and our wave has the 99+kg men as well as the 50-55yrs ladies I somehow managed to get on the outside but I was still in the front which meant I was going to get swum over. 200m in and I was wondering what on earth I had signed up for. All the doubt fills your head but a quick reminder that I hadn’t spent countless hours in the pool honestly what was a few elbows and shoves. Thank heavens I had been training with a friend who loves to tap my toes to get me to swim faster, I had a laugh and enjoyed the coolness of the water as I saved my legs for the ride and run to come. Into transition I had to try to find my bike row 33, 9 sections and it should be somewhere. Crap! I was racked between 2 HUGE guys 6ft+ and easy 100+kg I said excuse me and looked for my shoes as I put on my helmet and sunnies BLOW! Where are my SHOES!!!!! That’s right on my bike! grab it and go. In off road tri’s I put my shoes on in the transition area and run with my bike and jump on. On road well, a day out and I’m learning how to do a flying mount. I play the scenario over in my head as I process what I need to do. Again and again I run it over before I attempt it and make it out the drive and down the road feet in, feet out get off the bike and try again. It works again so I get off before it doesn’t work and I cause myself some kind of injury (We all know I crash stationary) As I run out of transition I repeat Run, hands, jump, land, feet! Run... HANDS.. JUMP... WOOOOOOHOOOO LAND!...... FEETTTTT...... WOOOOO..... I’m on I’m riding Last year I rode in a team so I roughly new the bike course to be a little undulating which I was fine with. Just beat last years time of 1.29. I got in a good rhythm trying to keep consistent on the up hills as well as the flats. My goal on the bike was to try and make the 40k in 1.15 and I was cutting it fine I had to keep pushing I didn’t back off till the last bridge when I had to take my feet out. As I jumped off reading 1.16 I hear my sister and her son scream out “There she is!” “Go Corinne!” I was busy processing the next transition so there voices didn’t register till I was past them. I was so thrilled that they were there. BOOM BOOM the run transition bridge makes you sound like an elephant. With minimal room to run around people it was a little argy bargy with a few of us till we got clear. I hadn’t even got back to where I thought my sister and Korz voice were coming from and I hit my stride I felt good. I checked my time at the 1k 4.50p/k, 2k 4.50 what was going on? Was I going to blow up? Who knows, I’ll find out within the next 8k if I do. It was getting hot and Tim(Coach Tim from Giant Sunshine Coast) was yet to catch me. He started 28min after me and I had told him to try to catch me (secretly I thought he would wiz by on the bike). I saw familiar faces on the run which spurred me on (Thanks Sammy – fellow Liv Ambassador) At the turn I was getting hot and bothered. My arm from my crash last week was getting salt in and burning so I started to run faster. No excuses Corinne. I had seen some friends who I had done the beginner tri course with so had been on the hunt to catch them. As I rounded the corner to Walan Cres the locals had come out with hoses and set up sprinklers it was such a welcome reprieve. A sign said ‘Welcome to Walan Cres local transition’ I laughed and thanked them for their support as I finally caught the girls Not far now! 3k to go I was feeling pretty good so I picked it up again. “Your flying girl” came a familiar voice, Tim had finally caught me “your running strong keep it going” as he picked up the pace “See you in the water at the finish line.” and the chase was on! all I had to do was keep pushing. I didn’t dare look around I caught sight of the flags billowing in the distance and new the finish shoot was not far. Over the bridge it was congested through the norrow VIP area I ducked and weaved my way through I was totally focused, the end was in sight. Jamie jumped out at me I can’t really recall what he said but he looked pretty excited as he cheered me onto the finish so I was guessing I must have been close to my goal time. I checked the clock and wasn’t sure when it was started I stopped my watch 2.18 damn I must have missed my swim start and only started it when I hit transition. I had a quick chat to Tim in recovery before heading out on a mission to get changed and find the others. Finally I caught up with Jamie, Christine and Wayne they had all said I had a great race. It felt really good but I still had no idea what time I did. Finally I got a chance to ask what my time was? 2.48.00 I was in shock. Totally over the moon. I seriously was blown away. All in all though it was a fabulous day racing. I felt blessed to have the support of my family and friends. To a few key people you know I wouldn’t have even made the start line without your strength and guidance. Looking forward to doing it again next year. What else would you want to do on your birthday weekend. Right! Can I knock another 10min off? Happy training and racing. Try to stay upright ;)
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 07:18:03 +0000
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