I really enjoyed this event, and the weather was perfect (taking into consideration the days leading up to, and the days after).
I hadn't trained as much as I wanted to, but I did finish nearly 40 minutes ahead of my Hawaii time.
The Swim: The counter-clockwise loop from the Loo-with-a-view towards Point Cartwright and back was fairly easy - made even easier with a wetsuit swim! If the temp was below 24.5C, wetsuits were allowed. Thankfully, 10 years on, by wetsuit fits again!
T1: A fairly easy, albeit kind long run (as I was near the exit point) into T1. Similar to Honu, you have to start up hill, but it's not as steep.
The Bike: This leg was fast and fun. It starts with a few small hills coming out of Mooloolaba, before hitting the Sunshine motorway (the entire southbound side closed for the race). The ride takes you down towards Coolum, before turning back. The way back was pretty windy! You then turn back towards Mooloolaba and ride along the water towards Maroochydore, before looping back towards Mooloolaba. It's a 2 loop course to make up the 90km. Unfortunately for me, I lost my electrolyte tabs around 30km in...they flew out of my jersey, I should really get one of those bento boxes!
T2: T2 is pretty straight forward. At this point, the temps are still good, but the wind has picked up a little.
The Run: About 1.98km into my run, my VMO's cramped (possibly due to my electrolyte issue) - remember I had no issues in Hawaii, which was much hotter - so I figure I'd sorted nutrition out. Thankfully, I only had 20m to an aid station, although I was seriously thinking about pulling the pin. After some electrolytes, coke, and watermelon (repeating every aid station) I managed to knock out the other 19km. This is also a 2 loop course, down along the end of the bike loop and towards Cotton Tree.
I knocked off some noticeable time from Hawaii, finishing in around 6h10mins. Bring on Noosa Tri!
