Yesterday, David and I both competed in the Pursuit Distance, Hillary's Triathlon.
This was David's 3rd year at this event, this was my first - in fact, only my 2nd triathlon of this distance.
![Race Start - Female 750m ocean swim]()
Race Start - Female 750m ocean swim
The race started with the Enticer distance competitors heading out on their 250m swim, 7km bike, 2km run with wave starts based on age from 7.30am.
![Perfect conditions at 7.30am on Hillarys beach]()
Perfect conditions at 7.30am on Hillarys beach
At 8am the Pursuit distance racing commenced. Pursuit distance is 750m swim, 21km bike, 5km run. Following the Open category, all 105 female competitors headed out together in the 2nd wave start at 8.03am - myself included (my age group 40-44 in the Green caps), followed by the 291 male competitors starting at 8.13am (David's age group 40-44 in the yellow caps). Each wave group is distinguished by colour-coded swim caps allocated at registration.
![Michelle in green cap at race start]()
Michelle in green cap at race start
We couldn't have asked for a better morning - clear skies, calm, clear waters and friends to cheer us on.
![Setting up in transition before the race]()
Setting up in transition before the race
The bike course was 3 laps of closed main road with only just the smallest inclines so race times were expected to be good. Both David and I had minor incidents on our bike race with David's computer failing to initialise, which meant he didn't have a pace counter to monitor his speed, and I made a rushed gear change and dropped the chain on my final lap. This only caused a slight delay to get off, refix the chain and get back up to speed but I pushed very hard to gain lost ground and used a lot of energy in a section of race where I probably should have been preparing my heart rate to be steady for the run.
I found the run exceptionally hard. We both struggle with this part of triathlon, although David has been working much longer than me on trying to better his time and is showing improvement so I guess I have to keep at it a bit longer yet and not expect so much so soon. Can't help but be competitive though, that's my nature. The temperature had crept up significantly however and although it was only 9am, all competitors found the heat very draining. Water stations seemed far away and I thought I'd never be able to finish this race - I was beat. I dragged my sorry feet past a few people who were walking, so knew that walking was the very last resort and tried so hard not to let myself stop. I had my sight set on finishing the event in under 1 hr 30 min and kept checking my time to try to push on but failed to make that challenge with (a few tears, and a few wobbles) a very poor run time of 35mins, when in training I can run the distance in 24mins. But that's triathlon. No one really cares about my sorry tales of pain in this sport - I've just been told to "toughen up princess!".
![That look says - thank god that's over]()
That look says - thank god that's over
So, here are the results.
DAVID MARTIN - PURSUIT
Category Male 40-44 (field of 40 competitors)
Swim: 14:05min Place 12th in category
Cycle: 37:53min Place 4th in category
Run: 24:13min Place 19th in category
Overall 7th in category
MICHELLE MARTIN - PURSUIT
Category Female 40-44 (field of 13 competitors)
Swim: 15:44min Place 7th in category
Cycle: 48:30min Place 9th in category
Run: 35:33min Place 12th in category
Overal 11th in category
And finally, I would just like to say thanks to David for sharing such a "special" valentine's day with me. LOL !
