Wow, back when I was just starting in the sport of triathlon if someone had told me I would going to go to 3 Olympics in search of my 3rd Olympic medal I would have told them they were crazy! But that’s exactly how the last 8 years have been since I first qualified for Athens. Crazy!
A lot has happened over that time and going into this campaign it’s going to be very different from the rest. Obviously the biggest change is that I have 2 beautiful kids now who give me balance and something to fight for, but they also limit my time to train and to sleep. I think the pros out weight the cons, and I already have a very good support network around me to help and assist me over the next few months.
My 3rd Olympic campaign is already well underway, just to qualify is such a big step, but that hasn’t come with its little setbacks. In the past I was fortunate enough to qualify early and was able to focus on a quality build up. However this time round I missed out on qualifying early in the first selection race in London last year by just 25 seconds. The final selection race was last weekend in Sydney, not the best timing being just over 100 days out from the start of the games. I decided to stick to my plan of just focusing on a proper build up to London and not peaking for Sydney, this was a little risky but I’m in this sport to win medals not just to go to the Olympics! So it’s a relief to have made the team and not compromised my chances of a medal.
The race in Sydney went surprisingly well, admittedly there was a lot of pressure on plenty of guys in the race as NZ wasn’t the only nation to be going through the selection grinder! Some people thrive on this pressure and other collapse!
Since I won the race 2 years ago the course has undergone a few “facelifts”. I think I won on the right year as the finish line was in front of the Sydney Opera house, a very memorable moment in my triathlon career.
This year the swim start was once again held in front of the Opera House on near perfect conditions as we dove in for the 1500m swim. The temperature had just risen enough to be a non wetsuit swim after the women had swum with wetsuits earlier that morning. The weaker swimmers prefer wetsuit swims and obviously the fish prefer non wetsuit, I personally don’t care when I’m swimming well I’ll make the group regardless. I’m certainly no speed demon, but my swimming is strong enough to put me in the mix of things and was able to exit well positioned to make the front group for the 40km bike ride.
With the new bike course I was happy the weather was on our side as it was a tight and technical course around the streets of Sydney. Last year it seemed as though most of our races were cold
and wet even though triathlon is a summer sport. I’d been working on my cycling over the winter months and was happy to see all that work paying off as I was able to sit on the group comfortably and position myself out of all the trouble. On a tight course such as this sometimes its easier to be at the front of the pack than it is to be at the back with all the corners and 180’s there is less of a gap to close each time.
By the time it came to the run the front group was 40‐50 strong, I get hassled a lot with the World Triathlon Series races being just a 10km running race. However people need to realize that
this sport is so competitive nowadays that on courses such as these it’s almost a suicide mission to go it alone. If I had my way I’d have the hilliest, toughest course I could find ‐ wait ‐ just like the Auckland course… Anyway, it’s not going to be hard and hilly in London so this sort of racing is great prep.
Onto the run and one thing I can say that has changed over the last few years has been the intensity of the run. In the past it used to be a fast 2km then ease back for a bit and start playing games. Now it’s just flat out for the whole 10km, no easing back, just put your head down and grit your teeth. I certainly didn’t feel fast out there, but I did feel strong and was able to hold a good pace throughout and finish in 12th.
Still not a win, but I feel it’s a step in the right direction and one thing I have realized at my age is that you have to choose your battles, so to come away with a solid performance and not to have “spent” myself I’m pretty happy.
So some very exciting times ahead, the plan from here is simply more training and racing, I will continue to train out of Santa Cruz CA, where I’m very happy and the sun is out. Thanks to everyone for all the support, plenty of excitement ahead.
Bevan