Tri-ing Down Under

So four months ago I finally made the move over to Australia. 10 years after visiting initially and vowing to myself that I would one day move here it finally happened. It took a long time but the right job opportunity with no major life dramas and it was time to finally make the leap.

I contemplated writing a blog post when I got here but given that technically I’m living here and this isn’t just another trip or travel adventure I thought that might get out of hand if I spend the next however many years blogging about life down under. Having just completed my A race of the season seemed like the perfect opportunity for one though.

When I got here I was determined to throw myself into life and meeting new people and the first place I started was with a tri club. There are many differences between life in the UK and life here and maybe I’ll list them all off in my next blog but for now I’ll focus on this one. Back in the UK tri clubs are a bit of a social affair. For the most part people join for the one or two swim sessions a week more than anything, and join cycling clubs for riding and running clubs for running, or just do their own thing. Here you join a tri club and not only are there club sessions 6 days a week but you also sign up to a coaching program at the same time. Cycling clubs are not the social, lets go for a ride and stop for cake, club, they are the, you’ve joined the club and all we do together is race, clubs. As for running clubs, I created one as work so obviously that’s the best one around!

Back to the tri club….everyone has the impression that triathletes are, for the most part, pretty arrogant people, but I can tell you now that in general, the egos here are a different breed. This meant the concept of joining a tri club was actually quite an intimidating prospect.

I spoke to 3 clubs in total and picked the one that seemed not only the least intimidating and least pushy but also the most friendly and welcoming and I certainly wasn’t wrong. There were no big egos with the one I went for and they were far from intimidating; I first met the TAG crew at their Christmas party and my first ride with them was along the Great Ocean Road where we stopped at the Chocolaterie for cake – I had found my people and I didn’t look back!

Through this club I have already made some incredible friends, got tri trips planned (significantly more successfully than trying to get a tri club trip to Mallorca sorted back home that’s for sure!), had numerous household items donated or lent to me, been out for endless brunches and cake (somewhat instigated by myself in most cases!) And found a great coach! I’m the kind of person who thrives off structure and a plan and despite a few off weeks where the weight of moving to the other side of the world caught up with me, I have loved it. In particular I started to enjoy my long runs with great views and hours of chatting to Tania and Karen, trying to keep up with Mitch, Al and Craig on the long rides, the Wed morning girly group intervals rides, swims with Megs where we screamed at any moving object in the sea below and getting to know everyone else who has made me feel welcome and like part of the club from day 1.

Knowing there was a 70.3 that was basically going to be on my doorstep and learning just how many people from the club were training for it I decided I may as well join in the fun and see what happened. At the time I was however barely running partly due to a back injury and partly due to my distinct dislike of running. I also flew over here off the back of 3 months worth of post B2022 games celebrations and farewell parties (recently referred to as “the Todd of Sumner 2022” by a former colleague….) so my fitness was far from ideal and diet had largely consisted of gin and chocolate. When I signed up I did pre-warn Kate that she had her work cut out- luckily she was up for the challenge and had 16 weeks to sort me out!

10 days before the race we were on our usual Thursday morning run with our early morning warm up along the river and despite having the brightest of head torches I managed to absolutely stack it. Not just like a little scrape fall, but a proper both knees cut open, grazed hands and a grazed chin. My biggest concern was whether the cuts on my knees would heal in time but luckily the women who sat next to me at work that day is a mother to a 6 and 4 year old and swiftly informed me of the dressings I needed to go and get to make them heal faster and scar free. I was skeptical but she was right and by race day they were pretty much healed. However either when I’d fallen or in the runs the weekend after I had somehow twisted my knee and now this was my biggest concern, would I make it round the run or not?!

I’ve done 3 70.3s before but for some reason the days before this one I was the most nervous for any race I’ve ever been in my life. I’m not sure what it was; maybe the sore knee, the lack of running I’d done before I moved here or the fact I had way more people supporting me than ever before, both as spectators and as fellow competing athletes.

Karen and I agreed to do check in and bike racking together as this was her first 70.3 and initially the intention was that I’d be able to help calm her nerves but quite frankly it was the other way round. Whilst she was soaking it in getting all excited I was starting to feel more and more sick by the second!

The morning of the race Grace very kindly gave me a lift down to the waterfront for 5.45am where I met Karen and we headed into transition to set up. I had given myself plenty of time but somehow the 2 hours went by in a flash. I’d done my very short run warm up (my knee held up OK for this which gave me some hope) and spent some time vetting into my wetsuit as which point Alister pointed out that I looked very distressed….he wasn’t wrong! I walked into the swim pen and before I’d really had chance to take it in we were being ushered forward to the start line.

Before I knew it I was in the water…..and bam there it was, the first jelly fish! I managed to maintain some composure but given I was only 200m the panic of seeing more was now quite real. You’ll be glad to know there were no more! I settled into a comfortable pace and enjoyed the rest of the swim. It wasn’t too crowded and even at the turns I didn’t feel like I was fighting my way through a mass of people. I had no idea of how I was doing for time but I felt strong and the conditions were perfect for my swimming style (ie it was flat and there were no waves!) It wasn’t until after I finished that I learnt I’d got a PB on the swim! Safe to say that the huge amounts of open water swimming I’ve done here definitely helped, compared to back home where I’d get maybe 10 Open Swims in all summer rather than 2 a week for 3 months here!

Transition was fine, I located my bike quite easily and there were no dramas so off I headed out on the bike course. Its a two lap course and we’ve ridden it twice in training. The first time the conditions were great, the second time was horrifically windy. The conditions on race day were fine, nothing spectacular but equally I didn’t feel like I was going to get blown off at any point. I knew I had to keep it steady on the bike; history has taught me that killing it on the bike only makes my already awful running even worse! It’s a hard balance because I knew I could go harder and part of me really wanted to get a bike PB that I knew I was capable of achieving, but equally I knew the run would be tough and I shouldn’t let my ego get in the way and make it harder for myself! To be fair I was only 30 seconds off a bike PB and know I could have given it more.

Second time through transition was equally as uneventful as the first time and off I headed out to run 21km. I had a plan and I tried to stick to it as best I could – it was simple – do not walk! As I ran out of transition I heard a loud “Go Em” and looked across to see Matt on the grass cheering me on. The support crew only grew and after about 2km I came across my next set of cheerleaders- Grace and Britt. They’d gone all out with banners which I was not expecting at all. It took me by surprise so much that I almost started crying there and then! Luckily I held it together and ploughed on.

I felt surprisingly OK, my knee was holding up OK and I was going a decent pace, admittedly in hindsight a little too fast, but I knew at some point I’d hit a wall so I just needed to enjoy it while it lasted. The cheer squad from work kept growing and it was so nice knowing that I only had to go 4km til I’d see them again! It meant a lot to see them all there and it just highlighted to me what a little family we have here who, no matter how well you do or don’t know someone, no matter what level in the organisational hierarchy you are, we are all here together and we will always be there for each other when both good and bad things happen.

There was a secondary cheer squad at the tri club tent who were about 1km from the work crew so I mentally set myself the task of getting to each cheer squad which kept me going and broke down the 21km into management chunks. I hit the inevitable wall in the run at 14km but I continued putting one foot in front of the other in a running motion, albeit a much slower one.

I didn’t walk at all, largely because I was too scared that if I walked I’d never start again. I also began to realise that if I continued running I’d not only get a 70.3 Run PB but I’d also get a PB across the entire 70.3 distance by about 10 minutes. I set my sights on a 5.45 finish, got one final cheer by the B2022 squad and attempted to speed up for the final 500m. They’d managed to relocate themselves to the finish line and as soon as I heard them cheering a big grin was plastered on my face – they’re the best finisher photos I’ve ever had!

Overall I finished with a swim time of 31.11 (PB), bike time of 3:00:34 (30 seconds off a PB), run time of 2:05:25 (PB) and an overall time of 5:44:31 (PB of around 10 minutes). I say around 10 minutes because my best performance to date was at Outlaw with a time of 5:55:29 but Cotswolds saw me cross the finish line in 5:52:42 but with a bike that was short and a run that was considerably short (like 1km!) I’ve always counted Outlaw as my time to beat. Well not anymore!

After I finished I hung around to watch Karen finish so I could celebrate her amazing achievement as well. Turns out I did too much hanging around, photo taking and too little eaten as I suddenly plummeted off a cliff as I started to feel horrific. Luckily a shower and a takeaway later and I was ready to join the end of season tri club party and enjoy my first alcoholic drink since 1st January!

I learnt a lot of things from this race, the week leading up to it and the entire last four months to be honest;
– You are never too old to go after your dreams. I’ve spent the last 10 years wanting to move to Aus but just before I left someone said to me “this isn’t the kind of thing you can just do in your 30s, it’s what people in their 20s do and you’ll be sacrificing a lot to do it”. Well that may be true but I always knew if the opportunity came I’d forever regret not taking it and only time will tell if I have really sacrificed some of the things I want to achieve in life to go after this dream.
– Despite being the other side of the world from the majority of my closest loved ones, we are our own expat family over here and we will always be there for each other through the good and the bad. So for anyone back home who worries about me being here alone, fear not, I have plenty of people I can count on when I need them most, both in new friends and in stronger friendships formed through moving to Australia together.
– Looking at my photos after the race with a friend I was discussing just how much I dislike some of them are and she said “just remember, that body got you through that race and that’s something to be proud of.” This is so true! I spent the weeks leading up to the race stressing about how I am at least 5kg heavier than when I last raced a 70.3 in 2019, and trying to get my weight back down (and failing) but it turns out that weight is irrelevant if you’re underlying fitness levels are there because I still managed to PB!
– Always trust the coach, trust the process and stick to the plan! My OCD for all greens in training peaks paid off for sure. Big thanks to Kate for coaching me through to a PB and getting my back running!

I’m not sure what’s next at the moment, leading up to the race I was keeny to do a full ironman next. This is still something I’d like to do one day but I’m not sure right now is the time so I think I’ll just stick to focusing on my running and doing another 70.3 next season, oh and getting my social life back on track for a bit! My next trip is back to the UK so I’m not sure this quite classes as a blog worth adventure but we shall see!