Dash, bash, splash and … dash!

ACT Saucony Series – 2km / 15km/ 400m / 2km

Happy Sunday!

This morning my alarm went off at 5.00am. After an initial confusion, I hit the shower, had breakfast, then headed to the Australian Institute of Sport – the venue for the 4th triathlon in the ACT Saucony series.

Although the format of today’s race was rather different than a usual triathlon.

With a 2km run, followed by a 15km ride, followed by a 400m pool swim, then finished with another a 2km run.

Or a dash, bash, splash ….and dash if you will!

We headed off after a mass start on the initial 2km run. The group pace was fast, and the relatively flat course meant for some super speedy run times. My recent cold meant that I was feeling it in my lungs, and was a little slower than I hoped.

However, It wasn’t long until the transition area come back into sight (as did my photographer/cheerleader Mr BBB!), where I changed into my bike shoes and headed out for the 15km cycle.

I immediately passed a few people straight out of the transition area, which was a huge moral boost.

The cycle course consisted of 3 x  5km laps, which contained both uphill and downhill sections.

Not having wave starts, the course was initially crowded, making it difficult not to draft. By the final lap, numbers seemed to have thinned out however.

The ride actually went pretty quickly and my legs felt good (even if my lungs didn’t!). I think the recent mountain bike rides have really paid off when it comes to leg strength.

Arriving back into  transition, it was off with shoes and on with swim cap and goggles, as I headed into the swim portion of the course. Rather unusually, the swim ‘course’ was held in the AIS pool,  with 8 laps to be completed.

(haha oh god – when will I learn that the goofy smile + thumbs up combination may not be my finest look??!!!)

It was a strange sensation to jump into the water after a run and bike leg, but it was quite nice to not have to worry about sighting. Mr BBB was apparently distracted during this portion of the race and took no photos! He tells me that a one-legged competitor was kicking some serious butt in the pool which I guess is a little more inspiring than my no-doubt slow flopping swim ;)

Out of the pool relatively unscathed, it was back to transition to change into sneakers for the final 2km run.

This time, it was an out and back course, with the turn around point approximately 1km from the finish line.

I really enjoyed this second run as it felt, for the first time today, that I could breathe without needing to blow my nose every 2 seconds.

I crossed the finish line in around 1hr 10min, which is slower than I had hoped for but not too bad given the long transition runs. I’ll be interested to see the split times.

Overall, this was a great race, with a fun format and a hassle free venue. The volunteers and marshals were also super friendly, making for a relaxed and enjoyable race.

Being finished by 10am, Mr BBB and I had the rest of the day to ourselves. Which we promptly filled with shopping, organising…

Eating…

And Baking.

But more on those later ;)

What about you? Ever done a ‘back to front’ race? What did you think of it? Not being a strong swimmer, I definitely prefer to get it out of the way first. But, I guess it is nice to mix it up every now an then ;)

Happy Baking :)