Sunday 22nd April was the last of the local tri club Sunday sprint races in the 2011 / 2012 season. As mentioned above we had not put the race face on nor had a speed hit out over a shorter distance for a while. Pre-race in readiness for Sunday we were anything but horizontal for some R n R, instead 3 days out we went in to the race with the following in our bodies:
Thursday: Bike ride 130km at race pace and 1 hour of fast run intervals straight off the bike
Friday: Long run 32km for Cat and 35km for Ben followed by a 4km swim session using paddles
Saturday: 4km swim followed by a 3.5 hour ride
Sunday Race day: 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run
Yes you are right in thinking the distances indicated above do sound awfully short versus the longer stuff we have been enduring, but, the shorter stuff is done at a much much faster pace with the heart up and staying up for just over an hour. Both Ben and I had great races taking a spot in the top 3. As it does not happen that often, I will add the next sentence……I was the first lady home and Ben was the 3rd boy home, wahooo go team benben!!
After we had re-fuelled with a big bowl of porridge we were back in the saddle for a 3.5 hour hilly bike ride, or as I like to put it when I am out on a Sunday at a Sunday pace, a “pootle”!!!
Mother’s Day in Aus falls in May when we are away so we had a “Faux” Mums day for Ben’s mum Marg. We took her to Bellingen, a shared favorite spot for coffee and cake, a wonder round the shops and a picnic lunch in the stunning Promised Land.
After our faux Mother’s Day treat we were back in the lycra, swimming laps in the pool and running repeats up and down the beach, dodging the dogs! Weds 25th April was Anzac day a Bank Holiday over here, we took advantage of the quieter roads and headed north for a 180km loop ride with a 40 min run off.
Weekend of the 28th was race time again, the New South Wales (NSW) Club Championships where all the triathlon clubs across the state met in Forster to battle it out, head to head, who had the best swim, bike and runners???
We made the trip 3 hours South from Coff’s with nearly 100 other club members to hit the starting line, joining more than 700 competitors from the 30 clubs competing in the 1km swim, 30km cycle and 8km run.
At Club Champs there are 4 coveted shields / trophies all club presidents want to get their mits on. 3 shields are for those category winners and the 4th for the top tri club within NSW across all 3 categories. Coff’s tri club races and battles it out within the category called “country”. Over the past decade or so Coff’s has often taken top honors as the best country club, however, over the past few years, 3 years to be precise the club has played 2nd fiddle and come 2nd just missing out on the coveted prize every member and the committee desired. Were things about to change, were Coff’s about to be top dog’s again, were team benben able to help bring the trophy home .…… and the top country club in NSW for 2011/2012 is ……………..................COFF’S HARBOUR.
Yes we did it and I proudly say team benben were integral in helping to secure the sort after win, contributing significantly to the overall points tally. Within our age categories Ben came home 5th and I managed a 3rd,, that’s big points and in this case points clearly meant prizes!!! Overall Ben was the 19th male over the line and I was 13th, female of course not male. The fairytale ending to a fun weekend.
That was the “play” over back to the “work”, over the past 3 days we have just banked the following training, 200k’s riding, 56k’s running and just an itsy bitsy teeny weeny 6k’s of swimming. (Swimming should have been closer to double digits but my stomach was rumbling so loud for its porridge the planned 5km set on Mon had to be cut short and pronto!!)
Next play dates:
• Byron Bay Olympic Distance race (1.5k swim 40k bike 10k run) 12th May
• Coral Coast Olympic Distance race (distances as above, in Cairns) 26th May tbc
• Cairns Ironman race (3.8k swim 180km bike 42km run) 3rd June
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