Swim:
i had a bit of a last minute panic attack as i was preparing for the swim, with my tri race suit zip breaking as i was about to put my wetsuit on! Thank heavens my hotel was only a 5min walk away from the swim start! a mad dash back to hotel to grab a pair of swimmers at 6:45am, killed any chance of doing a warm up swim, as i made it to the start line with about 2 min to spare! The water temp was 19 degrees and you could smell the diesel coming from the nearby boats at the Hobart Wharf (not so nice!). With adrenlin running thanks to my mornings scare, we finally kicked off at 7am. Determined to have a good swim, I tried to push the pace and settled into a nice rhythm behind the feet of a few other girls. i exited the water about 6th which i was quite pleased with! however i still had a fair chase on the bike as the leading swimmer was out 3min ahead of me!
Bike:
probably the best age group course you'll ever find here in Australia!! 8 laps of a 5km loop. Each lap with 2 moderate hills, 1 very steep but short hill (don't we all just love Wilmont Street?), and 3 U-turns!! Unlike most age group triathlon courses (where you get sent out for 20ks without needing much brain power or bike skills!) this one really shows who the real cyclists are! I must say that my bike skills are slowly getting better, so i absolutely loved the Hobart course! i rode hard and on every hill, every U-turn, and every downhill I made up time on the girls ahead and by the end of the 8 laps, I had made my way into 2nd place and only 30sec down from the leader :0)
Run:
A quick transition (an indoor one inside a massive boat shed!!) and i was out for my favourite leg. 4 laps of 2.5ks on the run. it took me less than a km to catch the leading female, and from then on it was a matter of holding off any chasers behind me! with each lap though i saw that my lead continued to grow as i ran (spurred on by a great crowd!) so i knew i had the race sewn up as long as i didn't blow! Thankfully i didn't, recording again the fastest run split (39min), and crossing the line (what a relief!!!) in 2hrs 18:40min. some 2min ahead of the next female. A true indication of a tough course with windy conditions making it even harder!
So overall, a great result and a fantastic weekend! 7 medals from the Tridents Gang, and a very proud coach! (3 cheers for Ben! hip hip hooray! x3 :D) Hobart is definitely my favourite race mainly becuase of the awesome bike course! Next stop is not far away - the Australian Olympic Distance Champs in Geelong on the 4th March!! (maybe i'll have some birthday luck that weekend too! :D)
Till next time! :)
Cheers!
Shell :0)