Maitland Triathlon – The day when I ran with my heart.

Date 10.10.10

While the World Ironman Championship was being battled in Hawaii, 350 triathletes rocked up at a little town called Morpeth, and painted the town red!

The crazy dogs: The day before, I was out riding in the country side enjoying the pastures. Saw a big black dog come running towards me from a farm house. I raised the speed but the dog chased me at 45kph! I didn’t know they could run that fast! Then on the highway, another dog jumped out of a moving car to attack me. I didn’t stop to see if the dog was ok. If it were ok, then I shouldn’t be close to it.

I had an excellent carbo dinner with Dan Benton and his Orange Tri Clan. They are an absolutely friendly bunch. One of the young triathletes was wearing a sponge bob t-shirt like me!

On the race morning, I met another dog called Tim Reed. He usually races in smugglers, but expressed some “private” concerns for not smuggling in this particular race. Fair enough!

I raced the mid distance triathlon, which is 1.5kswim, 55k bike, and 12k run. The race started quite suddenly, even before all the triathletes entered the water. The river swim was enjoyable, although one can’t see anything in the murky water. The water was fresh and felt pleasant at 19 degree. I must have been out of the water within 30min.

The bike starts with a little hill, so you can’t put your foot in your shoes until you are on top of it. Once on the course, it takes you through scenic country side. The course is pretty flat with some rolling hills. At around 15km into the bike, I saw another dog barking at the triathletes as they went past his house. Deja vu?! Tony from BRATs, some girl in green top and me kept exchanging positions on the bike, none really able to break off from the group. We three rode together for 80% of the race.

On the run, I was cheered by lovely kids from Orange tri club. It took me 4-5km to build into it. Once felt cramps in the quads, but they disappeared when I stopped for a few seconds and stretched. When I found my form, I found myself in an undulating grassy field with heaps of twists and turns. It was quite a complex course, but there were cones placed to guide the triathletes. Once I was on flats, I kept building it up in the run. Around 9km mark, the course goes through a very narrow trail along the river, which was congested by the fun run participants. I somehow dodged them and kept hammering it. My heart rate was in the red zone with still three km to go. I was cooking inside, but held my form. Usually, my heart rate can shoot up at the beginning of the activity, but drops a bit when I settle in a pace, but looking at the graph, it is clear that it went higher and higher into the deep shades of red zone. My heart pounded over 180bpm for the last 40% of the run. I raced with my heart.

Overtook a few buggered triathletes and hundreds of fun runners in the last two kms. Crossed the finish line with a little fella from the Orange clan. Then lay on the ground for 5min to catch the breath. I had given it everything. The endorphins were at the same level as on the first Ironman chute.

Well done to all those who did there first triathlon of the season. Thanks to the vollies, and the cheer crowd, especially the Orange clan kids who gave me hi fives , and Dave Hay who had to pull the pin due to an injury. The lolly shop at Morpeth is heaven when you are cooking inside, and want to grab an ice cream.

One can whinge about the sudden swim start even before the swimmers could enter water, lose dogs on the course, the congestion by the fun runners on the narrow trail along the river, but I honestly don’t care. It was a great day, and I raced with my heart. I always have fantastic experience in "H event" races. Whether I will do it next year? Hell yeah! :)