This week I competed in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Triathlon Championships in Wanaka. This is a long travel as this is the South Island and I’m from the North Island, we left on the Tuesday and flew from Auckland airport to Queenstown as there are no direct flights to Wanaka.
My race was the Thursday so I had a day free before my race to settle in and get everything ready for the race. This was the first time I had travelled with my bike and had to take it apart and pack it into a bike box, so this was my task the day before to put it all back together and ride it to make sure everything was ok and working.
Lake Wanaka was 16 degrees so pretty cold, especially as I am used to swimming in a pool rather than open water. I takes a while for the body to get used to the temperature, especially the face. During my warm up I got my full run and bike in but then for my swim my time was compromised by the briefing being called early and my bike racking taking a bit longer than expected. I still got in but far from what I was planning to do.
The swim leg of my triathlon was ok not amazing but I think my body struggled in the cool temperatures, I finished not too far behind but going into the bike leg I knew I had to go hard, my time again was just average so I didn’t gain too much ground but felt strong on my ride and the hills so that shows my improvement in my training. Then finally for my run I knew this was my key section and to give it my all, I was going strong still feeling the cold water at this point but I had enough to gain ground on some of my competitors and overtake 1 or 2 athletes in my grade. This made me happy as I didn’t give up.
I finished 16th in New Zealand and my split of my run was the 6th fastest in my age group so that was a extra win. I’m looking forward to cross country season and continuing to train towards the next triathlon season too!