Busselton was my first 70.3 since winning Canberra back in December. I was excited to race and was going there with one objective in mind: to win.

That’s of course with respect to the strong pro women also racing, all of whom have been competing the last few months and are in prime race fitness.

Busselton means a lot to me as it was where I had my first ever win as a professional in the half ironman distance back in 2007.

We had horrible weather the day before the race and it was predicted to rain on race day. And at 2am on Saturday morning there was a lightning and thunder storm in progress. But by 5.30am the skies had cleared and looked like it was going to be a spectacular day.

Arriving at transition, however, it was clear that the wind had stuck around. There also was a swell in the water and it was black. It was the worse swim conditions that I’ve had seen here. Still, I was happy because the conditions overall worked to my strengths.

The women started 1 min after the men and I knew I had to get to the first buoy in front. Once I achieved that, I knew I would have to stay in front.

The swell made it a bit of a challenge. It was very hard to navigate. I did catch a few pro men, and yet I had no idea where I was going. I was feeling so strong and swam fast. I finally found where the exit was and was the first woman out of the water.

Not unexpectedly, my time for the distance was very slow. I think I may have swum an extra 500m or so (: But time of course is relative and nothing something to dwell on. My bike awaited me.

I got out onto the bike course and within the first 5min dropped my front aero bottle. Not a good move. It contained my water. I did know that at 10km there was a drink station so I rode with what I had until then.

I was feeling so strong and fast on the bike not knowing where the other girls were — and not wanting them to catch me.

At the first turn around point I saw Belinda Granger and Kate Bevilaqua working together behind me.

It was quite windy on the bike and I wasn’t sure which way the wind was coming from – everywhere! I did the first loop in around 1hr and 13min and then really started to push hard. I started to get cramps in my quads at around the 55km mark, and immediately increased my fluids.  

By the 75km mark I was feeling unreal!! I finished very strong and was still out in front. It was a great way to start the run.

I made sure to pace myself carefully early in the run especially as I hadn’t run 21km since December. At each turn around point I saw Kate closing in on me. I picked my pace up at the 10km mark, feeling really strong, but by 14km the pace caught up to I and I developed a stitch. As a result, I slowed a bit and that’s when Kate, then Felicity passed me. I ran through my stitch to cross the line in 3rd place.

More than anything Busselton gave me a report card on my current fitness. I know how a better idea where I need to focus as I prepare to head for the ’summer’ season in the US.

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Keeping the hype and excitement up since recovering from fractures in my elbow, and more recently a sinus infection, I thought I’d see where my fitness is at the moment and decided to compete at a little race at Brighton Le Sands.

Mick Maroney had messaged me the day before to see if I wanted to do an aquathon as he wanted to see if I could still “chick” him. The race was on Wednesday morning earlier this week. My partner Aaron and his business partner also came along to support me (thanks guys!)

Rubbing it in he told me he has raced 9 times since January and in his most recent one, at Kurnell, he finished first overall. (Note: Those mental games don’t work anymore Maroney; I’m not the marshmallow I once was.)

So it was me versus about 30 men from the fire and police forces (All I wanted to do was BEAT MARONEY). You can read a bit more about the event here

Not feeling the least bit intimidated, I made sure I showed off my bright red skinfit suit along the shores of Brighton Le Sands (:

It was an 800m swim and a 5km run. I didn’t have the speed in the swim but still came out in about 8th. I wasted about 1min tying my shoes up as I didn’t yet have elastic laces on my new Saucony Kinvara’s. Still, I ran like a bullet.

It was a 2 x a 2.5km loop. I felt great for the first 3km, not too far off Maroney (I mean, the leaders). I ended up in 5th place overall, but most of all had such a great time.

Yes Maroney did beat me, but he better watch out for Sydney (:

So I’m all on track to race in Sydney and can’t wait to test out my new sponsors products.

Welcome on board Xterra Wetsuits.

Train safe and enjoy this autumn weather whilst it lasts.

Geelong Multi Sport Festival was held last weekend and was a great success for everyone involved, a big shout out must go out the USM crew and all the associated sponsors such as Hotel Urban for making the weekend a great triumph, I really think that this is where multi-sport is heading now as weekends such as this include everyone from the community and involves much more than just sport with a festival atmosphere with events like fun runs and open air cinemas. It was just a shame the weather didn’t want to play the game.

On a personal note I made the trip over on Friday enduring the long drive from Adelaide arriving in Geelong Friday afternoon to wonderful sunshine that would soon change as I woke up Saturday to a huge downpour on my ride around Geelong. This was pretty much a sign of things to come as I stayed inside for most of the day resting in preparation for Sunday’s race. The Urban long Distance race was a high quality affair with athletes such as Fettell, Griffen, Berkel and Jacobs etc in the mix so it was going to be a fast day. Personally I was not sure how the racing form was after a long break during December to fix my calf issue and not racing for a while, but I was feeling fit and healthy so I just aimed to give it my best shot. I knew the swim would be a fast affair with Clayton and Pete taking off leaving myself with Tim and Griff about 1min45 off the lead. I have been swimming really well at the moment but the 2 up front are at a level which is unreachable in the water for me and most athletes so I cut my losses and comfortably swam with the group of 3 in the 2nd pack, out of the water and after receiving time checks on the leaders I climbed the heartbreak hill out of transition with Griff powering up front, I have been doing triathlons for about 14 years now and I still remember this hill from doing junior selection races and it still hurts! The bike for me didn’t feel great as I was pushing the whole way into the torrential rain, and all the while Clayton was extending his lead eventually pushing out to about 4 minutes at the end of the bike with Griff, Tim and myself coming off the bike in equal 2nd with Pete about 45 seconds back. I knew after about a km of running that the legs were not going to enjoy the day so it was a matter of getting through the run and maintaining my position. The boys at front were running hard with Griffo having a good day eventually grabbing 2nd place to a barnstorming Fettell who had a phenomenal day in trying conditions, Berkel held 3rd with me in 4th spot and Jacobs crossing the line in 5th spot. I was actually happy to finish a race without injury and the good news is that the calf held up and the signs are good for Ironman Melbourne in a month’s time. The lack of racing really found me out on the weekend, but I have to start somewhere as I am an athlete who needs to race myself into form so the result is encouraging from that stand point. I have one more race in SA on March 11th which should be a good lead up into Melbourne, but as it stands now I am in heavy heavy training and have recovered well after Geelong.
Thanks again to USM and Urban for making the weekend a pleasurable one despite of the weather.

Matty

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