HI All
When you own your own company, you rarely take a true vacation; it is normally just a Working Holiday. I have, however, often been referred to as a fitness fanatic: I don’t spend my holidays lazing on the beach; I prefer to challenge my physical limits by entering an energetic sporting event
Over the past few years, I have been competing in various Half Ironman Events around Australia, and this year I chose the one in Geelong, which is situated about an hour south of Melbourne. I was hosted by Airbnb in a suburb that reminded me of where I grew up in Bulawayo: – flat with wide open spaces and well-planned housing developments, plus wide streets. I rode down to the local Coles Supermarket a few times to buy a few groceries, and, on one occasion, my cell phone fell out of my pocket. After much searching in the area, I went back to the reception at Coles to be greeted by a knowing smile and an unharmed cell phone a short while later.
Geelong is a lot cooler than its northern neighbours, so the weather on race day was perfect. 1500 of us started with a swim around the bay in slightly choppy waters, and I had a great swim finishing in the top third of competitors. The route for the 90km cycle had just two small inclines rising just 60m above the start, so times were very fast for the super fit leading cyclists. My Cycle time was the slowest of all the 1289 finishers! Being ahead at the start of the Cycling leg meant that I was overtaken by over 700 cyclists – so many of them were riding the latest and best road bikes with their covered tyres creating a loud whooshing noise. The ads tell you that these bikes have “Endurance Geometry; Magnesium Frames; Integrated Hydration…..” Just send us a cheque for a cool $10k and it’s yours!
Those of you who have competed in a Triathlon will know that the hardest part of the event is when you jump off your bike and must start running with cramped quads. One of my personal highlights was the fact that I managed to comfortably run almost all the 21km half marathon at the end. The other good news was that I came third in my age group (3/3) and was the oldest finisher, so I was given a podium finish. The local Spa had sent down their trainee masseurs, so I was given a full-body massage moments after crossing the finish line.
Those of you who have taken up any aerobic sport like running or triathlon will at some stage buy yourself a Garmin watch. If you are anything like me, you will start to take more and more interest in your fitness indicators (some might call it an obsession). FYI, at the time of the Geelong event, mine read VO2 Max – 44; HRV – 111ms; and Resting pulse – 35bpm.
I’ve now been involved with the Half Ironman (70.3) in 4 different locations around Australia. If you are looking for a fast time, Bustleton (Dec) in Western Australia is the best option; for best in views, you would be wise to compete in the Maloolooba 70.3 (Sept) on the Sunshine Coast with Cairns (June) a close second.
On my next trip to that part of the world, I plan to spend a week or so cycling around New Zealand – there are, apparently, numerous specific routes that you can take with the complete range of accommodation at reachable spots along the way. Anyone keen to join me? Ciao for now, Mike G.
