Talent ID Sprint and Moreton Bay Tri

All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them

- Walt Disney.

One day I want to be a professional triathlete. But to do that I have to overcome my insane fear of jellyfish. Over the weekend I competed in the Triathlon QLD Talent ID Sprint and the Moreton Bay Sprint distance triathlon. The Talent ID is for ITU junior athletes for selection into the Talent Squad. It is two races, 30mins apart- 300m swim, 6km bike, 1.5km run. Short and sweet. Or so I originally thought.. That Saturday I was mentally pushed to the limits.
As I walked down the beach to the race briefing I spotted over 20 jellyfish washed ashore. Jellyfish are my worst nightmare.

A quick backstory..

I competed in a small Gatorade Tri Series race at Raby Bay a few years ago. It was just after king tides flooded the harbour. As I was swimming suddenly a blue jellyfish covered the right side of my face and slid down my neck. I had never been stung by a jellyfish before. It felt like a thousand hot knives piercing my skin!! I started to panic but kept swimming. Then again I swam through another pod of jellyfish! I was stung again! I began freaking out even more and eventually was pulled out of the swim, puffy and numb.

Everyone gets stung but I had created an intense fear of jellyfish over the years that I started to panic before the race briefing even started! I was so glad my coach was there to calm me down. She made it clear that if I want to get to where I want to go, I must overcome my fears.

I pulled myself together, got in the water and swam my little heart out! Ironically, I managed to avoid all jellyfish! I think closing my eyes and only opening to sight helped a little.. Unfortunately for me, that time I spent panicking, drained me physically. I got onto the bike exhausted. After a small break, some energy boosters and a cup of concerte I got back out to the start line again for race 2.

There was a competitive field in the junior women with plenty of young talent and also a couple of great triathletes. Emma Jackson, Gillian Backhause and Youth Olympic Games Gold Medallist Brittany Dutton. It is a good indicator to see how you stack up against the big leagues (or see how far off you are). 10th overall so I'm happy with my first hit out of the season. More to come!

 

Sunday was the day I was pushed physically. After two high intensity races I had to prove myself and back up for a full sprint distance race. The night before I spent a few hours massaging and rolling out my muscles. (My roller has become my new best friend). I then cooked myself my usual pasta with vegetables and drank a good 2L of water. In the morning I felt fired up and ready to race!

Most of the Vision crew were in teams going head to head. They started 3mins after my wave! I could not have the coaches' team catch me, or any of the Vision crew for that matter! That was definitely a good motivator for me. Greg, (annoyingly) caught me in the last turn around on the bike, but I made sure he didn't get far. I went onto the run with Cath two seconds ahead. I refused to let her beat me so I surged past, (ok.. it was more like a full sprint past), put a few other competitors inbetween us and held a consistent pace over the 5km. Luckily, I held them all out.

Overall I was a fantastic weekend of racing. Thanks to Cath and Greg for helping me overcome my fear of jellies. Thanks to all the Vision teams for pushing me through the race and all the support from the crew. Now it's time to prepare for the National Duathlon Champs in Adelaide.

KAITLYN     1       JELLYFISH    0