Coogee Beach Triathlon....

Two weeks before the Busselton Half Ironman I raced the Coogee Beach "Adventure" Triathlon. By adventure they meant that it included a 500m beach run in between the swim and the bike and about 1300m of beach running in each lap of the run.... so it was going to be hard work but not what I would have called and adventure triathlon!!!

Coogee Beach is south of Perth, in the small town of Cockburn. Coogee Beach is a beautiful Beach and race morning was no exception at all as can be seen below:
Mind you Jason probably wasn't noticing the "beauty" given that we were up at about 4.30 am to get there in time for an early race start.

This was my last race prior to the half ironman so I was trialling everything that I would use in the race to ensure everything was in good working order.... and it was all going well. My pre race preparation was going perfectly. I got Jason to help me with my wetsuit (not really needed for WA races but I thought I should use it). I got Jason to zip me up as per usual.... and the wetsuit was really loose.... I got pretty excited as I have been trying to get to race weight recently... so I just assumed that the weight loss had happened..... hmmmm. It was then that Jason pointed out that instead of being in my nice blue seventy helix I was in a shitty (and two sizes too large) ironman instinct.... arghhhhhh I must have picked up the incorrect wetsuit in NZ at nationals!!!!!

SO of course I got all panicky and worried and upset. I was after a bit of sympathy but Jason knowing that I needed to race in a few minutes time basically said "sort your ??!**** self out"... of course I over reacted and said "you are not the same as the man I married... the man I married would have given me a cuddle"... hmm anyway to cut a long story short Jason was right... I didn't have time for cuddles. So I pulled it together- a few years ago this would have ruined my day so I must be growing up :-) and started the race.

The swim was ok... the wetsuit was WAY to big and it was filling with water but I swum side by side with another female swimmer and we came out of the water in the lead.... for the first time in a triathlon that I have done the organisers sent the females off before the males!!!

From then on I was in the lead and didn't look back!

The ride was a lovely 4 lap course with two long false flats and one decent climb/descent... it was also a little technical with a tough turnaround that I saw two accidents on!!!
The main issue with the ride was the sheer number of riders on the course.... so many people.



At least I got some clear riding space...

The ride to run, usually tough in a tri was great... I just ran really well, I felt great and I was getting more and more of a lead as I progressed through the race. Here I am at the back of the bunch on the beach... I was on my second lap and these runners were all on their first lap.

Here I am at the front of the bunch...
And here I am clear out in front of the bunch...SO all in all a great day out. First in the tri.... or so I though. Apparantly another female racer missed our start and started with the boys... when they took her 2 min off she beat me by 6 seconds!!!!!!!!!!! annoying. It would have been interesting had we the opportunity to go head to head!!! We swim pretty much the same, I am a better cyclist and she is a better runner... so it would have changed how we both raced had we raced against each other.