Race Week Taper!

And so taper week has finally arrived and I'm now 6 days into it with race day looming tomorrow! Race week in a different country or city is always full of challenges - you need to figure out where you can go to do the easy training sessions before race day, suss out the race venue and hunt out replacements for the things you have inevitably forgotten to pack!!

I arrived into Brisbane on Sunday night which is about 600km away from Yeppoon where the race is being held! I was staying with friends Hannah and Michelle in Brisbane for a few days before flying out to Rockhamptom - 45km away from the race venue! I figured Brisbane would be a good opportunity to start acclimatising to the heat and it would prove easier to suss out swimming pools etc with a bit of local knowledge on my side! Hannah had found me an awesome 50m outdoor pool to swim in which was only a 15 minute bus ride away from their place so it was nice to get a swim in outdoors with the sun on my back although I do have to admit to it being a little chilly :) Running was easy to navigate around the city and I'd decided to save my cycles up for when I arrived in Rockhampton so that I only had to assemble my bike once before race day!

My bike box had taken a complete hammering on the flight across the Tasman - it had holes punched into the sides and resembled a triangle shape as opposed to the rectangular form I had farewelled it in at Auckland airport! Thankfully my bike was still in one piece and I hadn't lost any vital items out of the holes in the side - I had horrible visions of having to race naked or run in bare feet! By complete luck Hannah lives opposite a bike shop so I was able to beg a new box for the next plane trip!

Weather wise Brisbane did nothing for the heat acclimatisation plan! Monday was around 20 degrees which was lovely but then a freak weather front ripped through Queensland and with it brought cold fronts and torrential rain - temperatures were down to 10 degrees and in the remaining 2 days I spent there Brisbane recorded the largest rain fall for August in 120 years! Much to my complete surprise as well as the lack of sunshine I woke up on Monday morning with a sore throat! Obviously non too impressed by this having gone through the process of having my tonsils taken out a couple of months ago to get rid of this very problem - race week lurgy! However it was no where near as bad as the full blown tonsillitis I am usually plagued with and responded to the concoction of Berroca, ice blocks and a pharmacy load of vitamins - by Wednesday it was gone - and so I had to concede that indeed having the tonsils out was worth it after all!

Thursday afternoon I arrived in Rockhampton - 23 degrees, blue skies and sunshine! I quickly assembled my bike and hit the road for a 90 minute spin! Now it's always tricky knowing just where exactly to cycle in a strange place and I figured the best strategy would be to cycle out towards the race venue - I received a few toots along the way - it was a dual carriageway with a fair few trucks but it didn't seem too treacherous at the time! On my return however I learnt that I had just tootled out along the notorious Queensland Bruce Highway which perhaps may explain the odd toot from people!! I opted for slightly different cycle routes for the other days!! My bike has taken the two plane trips well - the gears needed a little bit of tweeking and my headset is a bit stuffed and grunty but all in all the bike looks pretty mean for race day!

Hannah and Michelle arrived into Rockie yesterday and we pootled up to the race venue which is set in a massive hotel resort! We did all have complete accommodation envy as the place is super lush but also the prices are very lush and after all this is triathlon on a shoe string! Our accommodation is about a 1/4 of the price and although we have hired a car and have to commute 45 minutes on race morning it still works out at half the price....we just had to keep reminding ourselves of that!! The girls have got their bikinis packed ready for cheerleading from the poolside tomorrow and there is even talk of a well timed slide down the water chute as I pass over the resort bridge on the run course!

The course itself is a little hard to judge! The swim is in the sea but yesterday when I did a little test swim the current was in a good position for the course and it wasn't too choppy at all! I was a little shocked to discover that on exiting the sea you have to run up a vertical sand dune and then up some stairs and along a stretch of path to get to transition but a few practice runs up the sand dune and I think I have mastered the art of running up it!!! I did a couple of laps out on the cycle course yesterday - it is pretty darn windy out there and I'm not sure if it's the tail end of the weather front lingering around or if its usually that windy! Rumours are that the winds are pretty wicked so I will be putting all that high cadence work to good use!! I haven't really been able to suss out the run course - it's 3 laps all through the resort grounds and through some bush trails - I'm looking forward to the run though and hopefully the heat won't get to me too much!

So I'm pretty much good to go! Just got to go register and listen to the race brief before tucking into a cheeky pizza and having an early night!