LUKE WHITMORE "Professional Triathlete"
Yeppoon 70.3 - 2011
I had a regrettable weekend in Yeppoon in terms of racing. I have come off a really good winters training and was excited for my first race of the season. Firstly because I love racing and it had been nearly four months since my last race at Port Macquarie and secondly because I was keen to see if my form had progressed from the previous season.
All kitted out in my new gear from Champion System I was ready for a hard days racing, or so I thought. The swim start was sluggish and I really was quite slow in the beach start. Straight away I displayed poor technique and got smashed by a small beach breaker and lost a body length on the boys in front. The start of the swim is crucial to me as it really is my weakness and I have to be super aggressive to stay in contact. If I can last 500m or so I usually fair ok. Today I lost contact within 100m, which then meant a solo swim. Disappointed with my efforts I quickly switched mindsets into getting stuck into the bike ride, knowing I had 40secs to make up on the swimmer in front and 3mins on the leader I had my work cut out, but was positive if I could bridge the gap to the tail end of the field I could work (legally) with a few boys to minimise time to the leaders. I had confidence in my bike.
Until about 2km down the road what I thought was my hamstring (but turned out to be my right adductor) tightened up. I thought it was just a twinge and would go away and I continued to push, unfortunately the pain just got worse and worse. I found myself standing up to try stretch it out on a flat piece of road, not ideal when your trying to time trial and bridge the gap to guys in front. By about 8km it was so painful I decided to stop. (Never an easy decision despite the pain and knowledge that you are getting further and further behind) I called it a day, had a stretch and tried to ride back to town. I couldnt it hurt too much. I then couldnt even bend down to get my bike shoes off. I was taken back to town to begin recovery, an absolutely shocking feeling lying in the medical room with ice on your leg after investing a lot of time over winter in being fit early in the season.
I was disappointed at missing this opportunity to post a solid result for myself but also all my loyal sponsors and especially my family who give up a lot so I can train and race. I know my work this winter will not be lost and can only put this performance behind me and focus on the next goal. I will be working very hard with my physio to iron out this issue and prevent it happening again.
I am really excited about the upcoming 12months with some big changes in several areas to be announced soon. A big thankyou to Champion System for getting my new kit done in time for this race and I think you will agree it looks great.
