Waterford Director, Cameron Smith, travelled to St Kilda to compete in the tough IRONMAN 70.3 Melbourne, which involves a 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 20.1km run.
After close to two years with no racing and a lack of motivation to commit to any serious training due to Covid-19, I went back to racing in a buzzing Melbourne for the Ironman 70.3.
The long drive from Newcastle started in the early hours of Thursday morning, arriving at the St Kilda accommodation tired but excited.
FRIDAY
Time to get out and move the body with a ride along the famous Beach Road in Melbourne. The crowds are out and the weather was great.
The bike course is smooth and fast and all bodes well for a fast bike leg. I stopped by the race precinct to scope out any new unneeded bike tech.
Then back home to eat and rest before going for a run around Albert Park
SATURDAY
I arrived at bike check-in and registration – too late to pull out of this now! Although the nerves are building and the thought persists that I haven’t put the required level of training in for this one.
All has been done now and I can’t do any more other than carb-load and get a good night’s rest before the gun goes off in the morning.
TRIATHLON MORNING
The alarm goes off at 4.30 am and it’s time to start eating and fuelling the body for the race before making the final 10-minute walk down to St Kilda Beach.
I head into transition and set out all my essentials for the day and ensure my tyres are inflated to ideal pressures before heading to the swim start.
SWIM
The gun goes off and I’m racing again. My wetsuit feels tight – not sure I’m the same weight as I was two years ago but I complete the swim in 32.36 minutes which puts me at 57th in my division. The long run out of the water to transition with cold feet on cold concrete was tough.
BIKE
Helmet on then out onto the bike. The roads are fast and smooth so it’s going to be a quick ride and hard not to get caught up with the over-exuberance of athletes going too hard early.
The bike leg was going better than expected. All the training on Zwift must have given me something after all. Then I hit the 70km mark and I could feel the fatigue setting in going through the feed stations yelling for coke to provide me with a much-needed sugar hit to see me through the 90km. The bike leg was finished with a solid time of 2.33.36 and a division rank of 69th
RUN
After getting off the bike I knew this was going to be a battle so as soon as I saw a training partner we settled and turned this into a long casual run as he was returning from injury and my run fitness was lacking. Finishing the run with a super slow time of 2.20.01 and a division rank 112th
With an overall time of 5.33.43 and a division rank of 112th out of 228, I’m not satisfied with the result, but hungry to get back to training now racing is back.