NSW All Schools Triathlon

NSW All Schools Race Report

On the 28th of February, I competed in the New South Wales, School State championships. This event was held at the Sydney international regatta centre. It was a clear day, with a top temperature of 36 degrees. Luckily my race started before the heat set in.

The swim was a 750 meter straight line swim in the murky, fresh water of Penrith Lakes. With the recent heat in the west, the water was a balmy 25 degrees. We weren’t allowed to do a swim warm up, so I was limited to do some dry land exercises to try to activate some muscles before the swim. As I started swimming I found that I was very tight through the shoulders and was struggling to get a full length stroke. As the swim progressed I soon realised I wasn’t swimming to my potential, so I immediately began working through the processes. I was thinking about my stroke length, drafting and breathing. My swim wasn’t the greatest but, I didn’t let that get to me. I just forgot about it and moved onto the bike ride.

The ride was a 20 kilometre, 4 lap ride around the regatta centre. My ride didn’t have the greatest start, as I mounted my bike and went to put my feet into my shoes I made the discovery that there was something in my shoe. As I realised the problem, I got so set on fixing it that I forgot that I was about to hit a slight up hill. As I hit the slight hill, I lost too much momentum and tumbled off my bike. This was a silly mistake that I have learnt from. The bike progressed successfully and I was relatively happy with it. Although I rode 5 minutes slower than the previous race I competed in on the Gold Coast I wasn’t too worried with how I rode. Not much went on in the ride apart from me thinking through the processes and riding.

As I began the run I started with a fresh mindset and focused on just having a good run. After the Gold Coast when I struggled on the run I was reminded to start thinking through the processes before I ended up struggling. So from the get go my focus was on, standing tall, deep breathes, relaxed shoulders and strong drive with both the arms and legs. I felt really good on the run and had the fastest run off the bike I’ve had in a while.

All up I felt this race was beneficial for learning. After my stack on the bike I reinforced the need to check everything in transition, including the insides of my shoes. Also not to lean over and try to fix something whilst going up a hill. I feel like I had a good mindset the whole race so I’m taking away the positive of that and my run.