Webeck Road Trip

Fri 23rd March the car was packed: bikes check, lycra check, 3 Webecks check, a Benger check, picnic lunch check, we are ready for the off! Destination Sunshine Coast, Mooloolabah.

Before you start thinking of wall to wall sunshine, blue skies with no hint of fluffy clouds, stop right there, rewind. Instead, try flash floods, torrential rain, chaos raining! Many parts of Aus this year have been sopping wet, it’s been one of the wettest summers on record, the Sunshine Coast was no exception. The day before we arrived many parts of Mooloolabah were quite literally swimming.

On arrival at our apartments, Friday the underground car park doubled up nicely as a swimming pool. And guess where the power for our residence was situated, you got it in the underground car park, underwater. So that meant no lift, we were on the 6th floor, no lights, no cooking facilities, no cup of tea or coffee for the gasping passengers. What it did mean is we could go to bed at 7.30pm!

Despite not having the required wellie boots our apartment was in a great location on Alexandra Headland just a short hop from race start. We had a great view looking straight on to the beach, the apartment had all the mod cons and the kids, Ben and I scored the bedroom with the en-suite, treated!!



About midnight the power came back on I was advised I was in the land of nod, until………beep beep beep beep, 3 am the alarm had gone off. Apparently, an elderly lady was getting a little annoyed with the “light” hum from the smoke detector indicating the batteries were low and needed changing. So of course what else does one do in that situation, grab the walking stick, turn it upside down and boom, job done light beeping over, bring on the ear piercing, screeching beep, beep, BEEP!

We were in Mooloolabah to do an Olympic Distance race which is half the distance of our favored distance, this essentially means you have to move your legs faster as the pain is over quicker. The race is made up of a 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run. Both Ben and I were racing but in addition we had a guest appearance from Ben’s dad, Russell who was completing the swim leg for a team. A number of our fellow Coff’s Tri Club friends were also racing which added to the fun. Mooloolabah was also hosting an Elite World Cup race for the men on Saturday and ladies on Sunday.


Sat morning it was the usual drill of going through the motions, light spin on bikes, dip in the sea to check out the conditions, pack the lycra, get the bikes ready and so on. The motion I will confess I do not want to get used to is walking up and down the stairs carrying our bikes and kit, still no lift working, not that I counted but I reckon we hit nearly a thousand step ups before power to the lift late Sat night! BIG shout out and praise to the firemen and their hoses who pumped all the water out and returned the underground swimming pool back to the underground cap park.

Sat afternoon we watched how to really race, bring on the boys! And they did not let us down, looped bike and run course made it very spectator friendly, they were riding and running right next to you so you could watch the pain in their faces, encouraging to see they suffer too!



Race day morning as usual was an early wake up call, 4am the alarm went off, this time Ben’s alarm not a walking stick colliding with a smoke alarm at pace! Ben was under starters orders at 6.45am one of the 1st waves with the uber fast boys in the open category. This category is for those at the top of their age group but do not have a pro race license. I was not off until 8.31am one of the last waves not a great deal, and Russell just before 9am with the teams!



In a nutshell the race was more challenging than anticipated with the conditions being dealt to us, chop and currents in the sea and ball breaking wind on the return leg of the bike. Both ben and I had solid races I would say, we also both came 13th in our categories. As I, Catherine, is writing this I can add I was not happy with my race and sulked for a few hours after!! Essentially it did not hurt enough which meant I did not try hard enough, I know I could have gone quicker. What this does mean is ….. I will punish myself next race, no sulking allowed!!! Russell had a great swim and should be very proud of his achievement.



Sunday afternoon it was the turn of the female pro’s, a very exciting race with some great Aussie and GB efforts, ok ok I will say it, yes an Aussie did win! She totally deserved it with a very determined, gutsy performance. Rest time over for us to we were back on our pegs running, 40min jog pre dinner.

Ben and I had promised Marg we would cook and take care of all things food so she could really enjoy herself and have a rest from the kitchen. Marg also needs a mention for being our support crew, she was also up at 4am with us starting the encouragement. Not sure if there is an acronym as yet for a “Triathlon Wife and Girlfriend” TWAG?? I will not brand Marg one of those, instead, a great supporter always there to cheer us on which is hugely appreciated.

We were not heading home until Tuesday so spent the day on Mon in the stunning Glass House Mountains, we also got to see some friends from Coff’s who are currently in Brisbane which was a lovely bonus. Tuesday we were back on the road, destination home Coff’s Harbour.






The last few days we have done the usual tasks of unpacking, washing, catching up on e-mails etc etc. Training already back in full swing, BIG session planned for Saturday, 120km race pace effort on bikes, followed by a 50 min race pace run, bring on the weekend!!!!!!

Cake, Candles and Coff's routine / racing....

As promised in our last update training has started to ramp up again! However, a lovely day off was had on Fri to celebrate Ben’s Mum’s birthday. It kicked off in style with breakfast out by the water, there is not much better way to start the day than with one of my fav’s……smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, YUM! Next stop was for coffee then a picnic lunch by the water again at Nambucca Head, about 45 mins from Coff’s. The sun had his hat on all day and treated us to blue skies. I blame the sun for tiring us out, cup of tea and a few mins of quiet time when we got back then more of my fav’s…this time salmon for dinner. Anyone would think it’s my birthday!!! Cake, candles and singing were of course all part of the celebrations.

The training over the weekend was a mix of long, slow steady stuff on Sat just over an hour in the sea and 4 hours on the bike. Sun the pace was stepped up a few gears, it was time to take the locals on again at the sprint tri organised by the Coff’s tri club we are part of. Fast, furious but fun racing was had by both, Ben notched up another impressive 2nd place and I managed 1 place better than Ben with a win over the Aussie chicks, I was stoked!!!! Recovery run in the afternoon, not so stoked!!!

Out of my lycra, I have had my nose in some books and fingers tapping away at the computer doing some research for our forthcoming trips. As mentioned before my mum is coming over in June for a month, part of her trip will be a visit to and taste of the Hunter Valley, as specifically requested by her followed by a trip to the red center. A 2 night stay in a cabin has been booked for the Hunter Valley and an itinery / route has been put together for our Alice Trip to take in the sights, by our very own expert! Kimmy, Ben’s sister is coming out bush with us which will be amazing as she has been in Alice 10 years and I reckon could survive longer out there on a trip than Bear Grylls, she is not escorted by a film crew and the entourage that follows him!!! Just to give you an insight in to how resourceful this lady is she can cook chickens whilst driving her car!! Move over Clarkson too, I thought that was something that happened just on Top Gear!

It was no threat from Ben last week that training would start to ramp up again this week and hurt! It’s hurting! Between Sun and Thursday I reckon 5 sessions have been dicing with the no pain no gain analogy.

This weekend we will be up at some ridiculous hour, by that I mean before 4 am to head an hours north up the coast to Wooli. A half ironman distance training race has been organized, so this is about the taking part. Instructions from the boss are too swim and bike hard, so yes that means race then ease right back on the run to a Sunday stroll pace, perfect as it will be a Sunday! It will be a Webeck day out as Ben’s dad will not just be coming along for the ride (car not bike!) he will be doing the 2.2k swim as his dress rehersal swim!!. Next weekend Sun 25th March both Webeck Junior and Senior will be racing at Mooloolabah, oh and a Benger!

Be back on the blog to update you on the Webeck road trip and race with the speedy guns!!

Husky Race Report

Ben's Huskisson Long Course (2k/83k/20k)

4.00.11 (12th overall, 3rd Ameteur)
Swim - 29.21
Cycle - 2.11.12
Run - 1.19.36

Big turn out for what used to be the Aussie Long Course champs. In it's 5th year it houses just over 1200 keen triathletes. Included were 2 of the top 5 from Hawaii World Champs which was a shock. The location is a 'destination' as it says on the postcard. Beautiful spot in Jervis Bay for a swim, undulating looped riding and 2 out and back loops hugging the foreshore for the run.

After a week recovering from Falls Creek LC I was feeling ok in the days leading up and after riding and running on the course a few days before I was excited to race again. We were staying at Mollymook with relations and it made for a relaxing lead up with good times. Mum and her sister were also down to watch the race so was nice to have some enthusiastic support.

No fuss for the morning of the race, just a lot of animals around. Got in the water in plenty of time. Again my swim was a little off and lost my way a bit. I was just lucky it was a wetsuit swim to even things out a little.

The bike was good fun and no problems this week. Just kept controlled throughout trying not to go into the red. Too much drafting in the lead pack once they gathered from behind me. Makes me nervous so put the foot down to try and stay away from the games. Coming into T2 I spun the legs out a bit and again the pack went by and I gave them a 15sec start into T2 as didn't want to get caught up and risk a penalty.

T2 was angry and quick. I was out of there and running in the clear. Once on course I was in hurt mode and confident running from the previous week. Having my mum and aunt out on course was great for some high fives and the crowd all around it was great. Very pleased with my fuelling, effort and time as kept concentrated all the way to the finish and kept thoughts within. At the end of the day I wasn't quite fast enough or 1st but not all that far off.

Breakthrough race backing up from a solid race the week before.

BTM


This is another good reason Ben and i make a good team, he writes all the essentials of the race report and i can just add my fluff! Essentially i was not quite as fast nor did i kick quite so many Aussie bums! My little legs got me round in 4 hrs 39 mins which bagged me a 5th spot in my age cat.


Strategically i had one of my better swims getting on and holding on to the feet of faster swimmers which gave me a toe and kept me from slipping into a lazy pace.

On to my beauty, my bike and we meant business!! It was like Piccadilly Circus out there with packs of riders everywhere i looked. lap 1 of the 3 laps i managed to loose most of the traffic, left them behind and not vice versa. Laps 2 and 3 i rode like a women on a mission, head down and no looking back.

My running legs are never as strong as my cycling legs and i often have the feeling i am going backwards. This time the run felt different i actually felt as though i was running. The next 20k's was all about form, form, form oh and the odd high 5's to the cheering supporters. My little legs on this occasion did not let me down i had the run i have quite literally been chasing for years, went sub 1 hour 40 mins, high 5 to me!!!

Racing and Gate Crashing....

The past few weeks has all been about racing and as the update title suggests “gate crashing”! After our race at Fall’s Creek we chased the sun again and came down from altitude back to sea level. Pre-race we spent a very relaxing few days with the first set of family, Uncle Geoff and Aunty Lyn in the slow paced town of Mollymook. I say slow as I was informed it’s a very popular spot with the retired folk. Either way they (the vet’s / seniors’) chose a great spot, the beaches are well worth a visit. Our time in Mollymook certainly was not in the fast lane as we were recovering from one race and getting ready for the next, which essentially meant eating, hydrating, stretching and keep the volume of training fairly light. Our race was at Huskisson, Jervis bay another destination spot with wonderful beaches.

Race morning was to be an early one 3.30am the alarm went off as Ben needed to be on the start line for 6.40am. I did not start for a few hours but as we were staying 40k from the race it was an early one for both of us. We were not the only ones up early that day, Ben’s mum was down visiting her mum and her sister, Di, they had kindly signed up to be our support crew for the race.

Race report to be uploaded separately but all good, a great race was had by both of us. Ben surpassed great and smashed it he came 12th overall posting one of the quickest times, 3rd quickest to be exact for an age grouper (non pro athlete). Our support crew did very well and the cheers were hugely appreciated as it was not just tough on us out there, it was getting toasty hot out on the course.

Post-race we celebrated with a few wines, an indoor bbq (the rain spoilt the original plan) and a game of cards, “who’s the man” which kept us up way past our bed time 10.45pm! We gave ourselves a day to chill before we hit the road again. Our day of chilling was very chilled, coffee by the beach with the local folk.

Next stop on our gate crashing tour was a few days in Mittagong with Aunty Di and Uncle Ian, we also got to spend some time with Nan who is just round the corner. Similar to our time in Mollymook and post-race our days were not hectic, quite the opposite. Coffees, lunch, leisurely drives, may be a cheeky bit of cake with coffee!! From all the places I have visited in Aus. to date, Mittagong reminds me the most of home with its rolling countryside, wealth of trees, but, we were spoilt with lots of sunshine! We were also very spoilt with dinner cooked for us every night by Di.

Sydney was our next destination where we landed on the door step of Aunty Suze and Uncle Trev. Tourist sights are being left for when my mum hits Aus later in the year, June, so ….. Sunday early doors we headed south for the Royal National Parks and took the bikes for a 3 hour ride to the coast. It’s a mecca for bikes, our type of bikes and motorbikes, cars on this occasion were in the minority. It took a little while for my legs to get going who I think were still in bed having a lie in, or wishing they were!! The ride was a great mix of some flat-ish fast roads and some ups and downs. We took a little de-tour on route home to grab a drink at Cronulla, the Southern Beeches. Just purely as FYI this is where a few of the top Aussie Iron man athletes come from.

Bondi Beach was next on the visit list where we had a swim in the well known Ice-bergs ocean baths, quick run along the forshore followed before we met up with one of my girls from home Emma with her little man Charlie. Walking along the beach we certainly got to witness a few sights, this place is great if you are a fan of people watching. Pair of dark glasses and a coffee you could be entertained for hours!!!

Doing the tourist swimming pools over the next few days kept us wet at times, we hit the Ian Thorpe aquatic center and Homebush pools which is where the swimming was held during the Sydney Olympics. Other tourist sights we can tick off the list is the 3 sisters at the Blue Mountains, they are so not blue!!! We did somehow manage to dodge the rain which is drenching and flooding many parts of the South.

Like many city dwellers on Fri it was time to escape the rat race and hit the road to head out of Sydney, destination Newcastle for a wedding. Newcastle was where Ben did all his drinking and partying oh and studying whilst at uni. Time to meet more people, this time his uni boys and of course the bride. A great few days were had in Newcastle, seeing a little of the city by foot and car, lots of chatting, getting my nails done for the wedding, of course the wedding Inc. a spin on the dance floor, my only complaint….I am soooo out of practice wearing heals at the wedding my feet were killing!!!

We are now back in Coff’s and straight back to training. This week will ease us back into things with nothing over 4-5 hours per day then the training will start to get ugly!!!