The aftermath of the Gold Coast Triathlon 2007.

I had a very bad Gold Coast Triathlon preparation the day before the event. I had checked into my Motel, The Sundale Motel on Queen Street, Southport, Gold Coast at around 10 am on Saturday, 2007. It seemed alright except that my room was just adequate but I doubt whether it was worth the cost for one night's accomodation. I was within proximity to the Triathlon venue which was worth the cost of the room. It was yet another bad night's sleep when the blokes from the room second from my room decided to have a binge session and loudly decided to have a loud verbal argument keeping me awake in the wee small hours of the morning. Once again I did not sleep the day before the event. I could hear the traffic on the Marine Parade which was so annoying. The pedestrian beeper at the lights kept awake as well. I had a triathlon the next day and I had to contend with sleep deprivation the night before the event. I was so angry with my final day's prep that I knew that this would have an adverse effect on my performance. True to my dire prediction. As I had lined up to hear the hooter for the start I was somewhat nonchalant when I had made my first few strokes of my freestyle leg of my triathlon event. It seemed surreal as if I were just going through the motions in my head. I was tired even before the start of the triahlon. Near the first bouy marker, fifty metres, due south, I was still trying to get out of first gear and I was unable to engage power drive on my swimleg. I saw people swim around me this time, not over me, I was tired and I was unable to feel the water at all, only after the five hundred metres and just over halfway through the swimleg when I had finally grabbed the water and felt it drive behind me, by this stage most of the lead swimmers in my group were about twenty to thirty metres ahead of me, there were some behind me but I hadn't noticed their presence though, except for the leading swimmers, or the younger blokes from the other category, coming over and easily passing me and heading to the exit sign on the beach. The transition one was smooth and surprisingly less hazzardly as I had thought, due to the rain the night before, the overpass bridge was wet and slippery underfoot. No tumbles this time. I was feeling comfortable and still strangely drained but not exhausted. My swimleg was not fast but it was not hard for me. If I was less tired from blood donation, half a litre of blood to the Red Cross on Tuesday, and a sleepless night in my Motel, I would have swam a whole lot faster. In fact, I would have performed a whole lot better if I was less charitable with my blood donation. T1 was clumsily slow when I was trying to slip into my shoes but had to stop my bike just so I could place my feet firmly onto the pedals. The bikeleg felt strangely arduous and I forgot to downgear to my low gears before mounting my bike. I can't think of everything damn it. Faster transition for the well attuned cyclists zipped past me and easily and smoothly rode over me. I was very slow to get into riding mode. I had been overwhelmed by the under thirties category riders. Once again, I would attribute my lack of energy to my sleep deprivation and blood donation. It was two laps and still I was just engaging first and second gear in my body's power engine. I never went higher than second gear throughout the entire triathlon. It was labourously slow even on my bikeleg which was meant to be my strongest leg. Mind you, when I was about to engage my faster and smoother riding mode the bikeleg was over. Transition two was smooth. My runleg, like my bikeleg, was very ordinary. I was just going through the motions and I was certain that I was not going to shatter any PB at all. I was overtaken during the run by many people even the not so lean triathletes seemed to pass me effortlessly. The reason is obvious by now. Even then my run was labourously slow. I felt the same way when I had first heard the starter's hooter all the way through the runleg and finally awoke when I was fifty metres out from the finishline. I have been used to Ironman triathlons training and I had found this had given me the energy to continue the motions of completing the runleg and even kicking in the last fifty metres of the 5km run. As the only triathlete from Crestmead I had found the local community to be very unsupportive. I had no vehicle and had to pay my way through to the Gold Coast. When I had finished the triathlon I had checked out of my Motel and caught a taxi to the Helensvale Train station and arrived at Loganlea only to find the Taxis unavailable with no phones operational. I had walked four kilometres carrying my backpack and pushing my bike from Loganlea Train station to the Marsden Shops taxi rank. A cab finally arrived and loaded my gears onto the cab for my journey back home. No one knows me in my local community, even though I am the only triathlete here. It does not matter, I will be focusing on the Mooloolaba Triathlon now.

The results have been posted on http://www.usmevents.com.au