Race Day

Race today is all done and dusted. I think I am happy with how it went. I think.

The result was an okay one in the end. In terms of placing I came about where I was expecting, 6th overall and 2nd in my age group. Even if the race had gone absolutely perfectly that was about where I was likely to come place wise. Happy enough with that.

Where my uncertainty about today comes from is in regard to execution. I am still undecided whether I did the race badly or actually pretty well. Good chance it is one or the other. The time was much slower than I was hoping for and I there were certainly bits of it that I could have done much better. However, by the end of the race I felt like I had put together a decent attempt. Good bits and bad bits I guess.

The race itself was a four lap affair. 3 x 5.5km laps and then a 4th lap of 3.5km to bring up a total of 20km (or thereabouts). 20km is a pretty long way on a paddleboard anyway, however, today's race was made a bit more demanding by some very strong winds. These winds meant some good tail winds for half a lap, but also some very, very tough head winds for around 1000m every lap. Fighting those head winds every lap, as the fatigue built up, was part of the reason for the slow times.

When it came to the race, I didn't get a good start, letting a lot of people get away from me and losing any opportunity to get in a decent drafting position, which meant I was stuck slogging away by myself for the first lap or so. I am still undecided whether missing the draft was a bad thing, or perhaps a blessing in disguise. Not having a draft certainly meant I was working harder, but at the same time it meant I was able to pace myself a bit better, which, as I found later in the race, was probably a good thing.

The first lap wasn't particularly fun, feeling pretty slow and uncomfortable. After the first battle into the headwind, as I passed the start/finish line, I was certainly tempted to head into the beach and call it a day. Not a good start

Things continued in the vein for the 2nd lap. I was watching my heart rate and trying to bring my effort under control because I was conscious that event was a long one. Controlling my effort in that way made it feel like I wasn't making any progress through the field though. I was hoping that by pacing the race well I would start to move through the field as the event progressed, but most of the way through the 2nd lap that hadn't happened and I was feeling a bit low about my ability to haul in any of the people in front of me.

Around the 10km mark though something seemed to click and I found my stride (or stroke) and my position improved. For the next 6 or 7 km I steadily worked my way through the field, improving my place 4 or 5 positions. The final 3.5km lap still was amazingly painful, but by that stage I was close enough to the finish to slog it out. After the race I was very happy to see that the race was actually negative split, with each 5.5km lap getting progressively quicker. Happy to note that bit down as a success.

So in the end it was a bit of a mixed bag. My time was slower than I was hoping for, but everybody was slower today due to the conditions and a slightly longer course. Position wise I came about bang on where I expected and in terms of pacing I was pretty happy with how that panned out. Some elements of the race certainly could have gone better, and it would have been nice to be able to get in a bit more drafting, but on balance I think I will note this one down as a good day out.

Sure glad it is done with though.