Saturday 19 September 2015

Race Report: Chicago Blues

The Finale 

So sadly, this race became less about competing and more about survival.



I still had a nasty virus that had given me the flu, a fever and a cough and with minimal sleep I was struggling badly the morning of the race.

I did a little run warm-up at the start and was struggling to 'suck em in' (I couldn't breathe), which is not ideal going into the most competitive field I had competed in.

So this meant I would have to be a little smarter in how I went about this race, which is not my usual approach (my usual approach is to go all guns blazing and see how it goes).

The start of the swim was lightning quick. We were in the A-group and I parked myself at the back and tried to breathe. The water was beautiful except I kept swimming through lots of seaweed, which tickled my feet.

During such a competitive swim, people are very very aggressive in the water. They will rip at your ankles, swim over the top of you and try to use you as an ironing board. Luckily I am too big to be moved around, so generally I am the one who glides over the top of smaller, weaker swimmers.

I jumped out in 22 minutes, which I was happy with and proceeded to run the 3 minutes into transition (yeah 3 minutes, WTF). In prior races I've gotten so excited that I've finished swimming that I'll break into a full on sprint and blow myself up in the space of 2 minutes. Luckily, because I was being smarter, and I physically couldn't run hard, I ambled into transition and onto my bike.

The bike course was unusual in that it traversed a number of tunnels and underground areas, which is also where they filmed a lot of the Batman chase scenes. While this made me happy that I was following the Batmobile, I couldn't breathe very well for the first couple of K, and the thought of pulling the pin entered my head. Yet I recovered, and proceeded to have a decent ride (I think it was very short, but aw well).



Now the run. I had actually put myself in a position for a decent overall time if I could churn out my usual 37 minute 10k (with a goal of 36minutes pre-sickness into the race).

Yet it was hot, and that whole breathing thing was really affecting me (who would have thought?), so I was on struggle street for the last 7k.

What do you think about when you are battling hardcore, well below what you can and should have achieved and feeling pretty shitty? Honestly, in the back of your head you want to stop. Put an end to the madness and pack it in.


I had a couple of songs that I was rotating through my head (I was trying to pump myself up with Wolf Like Me by TV on the Radio, which you can listen to above, but to no avail).

I was also really keen to go back to bed and finish watching Kill Bill, and it helps having the support crew (Mum, Dad and Fiona) madly cheering and looking on with great concern as I slowly fell apart in front of them.

So overall I was pretty disappointed with how I went, with an overall time of 2 hours and 11 minutes, which is 7 or 8 minutes off my PB and nearly 10 minutes off my goal time for the race. Yet I was happy and proud that I had gotten through a race feeling like I did, and with a truly terrible 2 or 3 day preparation.

What's next? Have a couple of weeks off, cos my body is hurting and then gear up for a couple of triathlons in November.

Thanks for reading, I hope it gives an insight into the life of a friendly triathlete.

Luv,

Murray




Friday 18 September 2015

The Good News and the Bad News

IT IS TIME


So there is good news and there is bad news.

The good news is that after months and months of training and waiting, race day is tomorrow!

But there is bad news. I've picked up an infection this week, probably from a lack of sleep and the travel. I've been stuck in bed with a fever and a bad cold the last day and a half, trying to sleep and recover.

So unfortunately, I feel about 80% and am honestly worried about what will happen on race day if I try to over-reach myself. I know that as soon as I hit that start line I will be a competitive ass-hole and race as hard as I can but in this current state I have no idea what will happen.

And the second piece of bad news is that it has been raining the last couple of days and the race committee may cancel the swim and make it a duathlon, which would see the race start with a 3k run and then go to the 40k ride and 10k run.

While this would have appealed to 100% healthy, competitive Murray it is making sick, tired and shitty Murray feel anxious.


(This is obviously not a photo from Chicago but it sums up how I'm feeling at the moment)



I still hope that I will wake up tomorrow and feel better, but if not I will just have to get on with it and deal with the situation the best I can.

I'll chuck up a race report tomoz but until then, goodnye!

xo

Thursday 17 September 2015

Post-Airplane Ride --- The Jet-Lag sets in

Jet LAG! 


So it's Wednesday morning in Chicago and we've been here a grand total of a day and a half.

The flight was relatively fun. Watched some very good movies but didn't sleep, so by the time I got into Chicago in the afternoon after 18 hours of travel, I was pretty wrecked.

Tuesday was spent in a daze as the dreaded jet lag took ahold of me. I wanted to sleep but I COULDN"T!!!!




So Tuesday became a bit of a write off. Went for a little jog around the Lake, which is goddam beautiful by the way. My legs are really tight and sore from the plane, which is a bit worrying and it has made me incredibly grumpy, but it will hopefully pull up well in the next day or two.

We are staying in these amazing apartments overlooking the lake and the race course. I will most likely take a photo and post it up but I cannot be bothered as of yet.

The path by the lake is full of triathletes who have come for the race. Over 6,000 people have shipped in and some of the bikes that are on display are absolutely ridiculous. It sort of becomes like a little parade, where everyone is sizing each other up.... peacocking, if you will.



We are going to do a couple of architectural tours in the next couple of days and roam the city. It's hard because I want to relax and get ready for the race but I also want to check out the surrounding area. A Catch-22 if I ever saw one.

Went for a gentle swim this arvo with Chris Hislop from Balmoral Tri Club. Here are our photos!












So hopefully everything comes good in the next couple of days. Our age-group is split into two starting groups and I've managed to snag a spot with the A-team, which I think is the faster heat, which will be interesting. 

I will bang up a post on race day and then a race report! 

Until then 

hex hoe 

Sunday 13 September 2015

The Airport, Farewell and a Surprise?

Adios Amigos


So I made it to the airport this morning, bike packaged up and ready to go.

My taxi driver explained to me that his plan when he hit 80 would be to rob a bank, wait for the cops to arrive and then spend the rest of his life in what he considered to be luxury in prison.


Am I an accessory?


Moving on, I did my last couple of training sessions on the weekend.

It's an awkward stage because you want to be going hard but at the same time, you don't want to hurt yourself, your bike or your ego.


So fronting up to the final session on Sunday morning, I felt a mixture of relief and enormous fear! (Like this clip from Ice Age)



After I successfully navigated the minefield that can be the final hard session, I returned home to begin some Sunday morning gorging.

However, my numerous attempts to start on multiple helpings of muesli, toast and fruit were halted by Camilla and Sagar (housemate, friend and king of the Curry Rolls), who were trying to throw me a wonderful surprise brunch.

Unfortunately, one of our friends (she who shall not be named and shamed......Ellen) had given the game away on Saturday night, and the constant stream of friends coming into the house at 10am for no real reason raised some questions. Also when Matt "Activities" Coulton walked in and said "Happy surprise brunch"........



So while I wasn't completely surprised, it was a great way to see everyone and eat a lot of good food.



Back to the airport! What's the plan for the flight? Watch a lot of movies and try to relax and enjoy the long day of travel.

I managed to charm the absolute shit out of the Qantas lady at the check-in desk, who gave me an aisle seat in the emergency exit row. Which for a lanky, long-limbed larry like myself, is very very very exciting.


I'll get into Chicago on Monday afternoon, and then the preparation begins!

Until then.

Ex oh



Tuesday 8 September 2015

Hello, Goodbye....Chicago!!!!

Welcome 

Hello and welcome!


This will be my blog for the next week as I, Murray Robertson, go to Chicago for the Triathlon Age-Group World Champs.

So needless to say, I'm fairly excited.

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/8/7/16/anigif_enhanced-buzz-24766-1375906010-42.gif



I've been training for this race for nearly a year. I had to qualify to get invited, so I went to Townsville, Brisbane, Wollongong and Canberra to do Olympic Distance races (1.5k swim, 40k ride and 10k run) and accumulate enough points.


Obviously I got enough points but not without some high-end, soap opera drama.


At the Canberra race I had come out of the water in 6th or 7th place overall, and stayed there for the ride.


It was a 4 lap bike course, and coming to what I thought was the end of the bike section, I called over to Mum, Dad, Fiona (my sister) and Camilla (the Girlfren) to check that this really was the end.

"HOW MANY LAPS TO GO!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

I was confused, (and I look confused, caught in the act) because my Garmin was telling me I had only done 30k, so I should have one lap left......... So I did another lap. An extra lap, as it turned out (the course was very short).

Coming into the run, I saw people who I had been beating were now miles ahead of me.

This meant that I spent most of the run passing people and then politely asking them how many bike laps they had done.

I finished and realised my mistake.... Luckily I wasn't the only one who made such a rookie error. But still, words were said and hands were waved around.... and we move on.



My training has been really good. I've had a couple of injury scares (hamstring and calf problems) but they have been managed and obliterated.

I'm almost ready to leave and with only 8 days to race, I'm pretty  scared but raring to go.

I'll do updates each day on how Chicago is, what is going on and my daily activities.

Until then!


ex oh


P.S I got a write up in my Tri club's (Balmoral Tri Club) newsletter, you can check that out herrrreeeeeee