Tara - Day 4

Swim: 6000m, :50
Bike: 150K, 5:35
Run: 10K, :50

(Nelson to Collingwood with Takaka hill race and KOM and tack on to 150K)

Up early to run 50mins to the pool for a ‘supposed’ 7am swim start. Heath and I ran together with Lou a few paces behind (only Lou then ran back to the hotel – he was a little bit confused, but got a ride back to the pool). Today there was time to swim 6K (for the second and final allowed 2-point bonus) and it was Steven and I who stayed to do the long swim. Unfortunately the pool people were late and I got pretty cold waiting out front after getting a bit sweaty on my run. I did warm up in the 20 x 100’s on 1:30 set with Scott, John, Steven, Chris and support crew Daniel and stayed warm doing a 200fly! But I then sufficiently cooled down again once I got 2/3 of the way through the IM set (12 x 100IM/150free continuous swim).

We got back to the hotel to eat and head out on our ride to Collingwood. Collingwood is a cute little town in the middle of nowhere and unfortunately the ride there was so rainy and cold it was hard to take in all the beautiful scenery.

Today was the Takaka Hill Climb race and KOM. I was feeling pretty tired and tried to stay with the leaders for a while. My pace dropped off and decided I would just prevent anyone from passing me and hope that Steven would remain only one place in-front of me. I took my glasses off because I was fogging up and couldn’t see anything in the rain, only to drop them on the ground. I just got these new Giro glasses and I love them. The other day in the TT Del, dropped his glasses and kept on riding. I did not pull a Dell and stopped to pick them up. Bad idea. It is a steep climb! Anyway, I got to the top and put on layers for the cold and wet descent. Ouch, that was painful!

Once I got to the bottom of the hill (Lou is the only one who descends slower than I do!), Russ, Ken and Douglas and I all grouped together to ride to our lunch stop in Takaka. I decided to do a big pull because I wanted to get to the food and get warm. We were cruising at about 38km/hr for most of the way. Had to get to the church on time!!!!

I changed into some dry clothing for the ride into Collingwood and unfortunately my stomach was very crampy. I managed to hang on the bike with a slow ride (some with Jo) to tack on to 150K.

I had to lie down and had trouble eating dinner and had to miss out on going to the local Collingwood pub to hear Scott tell his hilarious stories, but in the end, Dr. Big D Douglas saved the night and gave me an anti-gas type pill. Thanks Big D!!