Backgroud: Swimming.

In June 2009 I decided to retired from a fruitful career as an Open Water swimmer in pursuit of Ironman Triathlon. It was a decision I knew I would always make, being an endurance athlete, I had some history from highschool as a runner. However moving from the sport I had loved for the past 14years was never easy, and I tossed the idea around in my head for years.

The catalyst for the decision was my preferred event the 25km open water, the event I believed I had a real chance of success in, being dropped from the National Championships.

I think this was great for me, it pushed me immediately into the sport and made the decision that I couldn’t make for the past two years. I always wanted to be the best in the pool, the toughest trainer and the search for perfection, to be the best could have easily driven me to continue as a swimmer until my retirement from sport. Unfortunately I believe there are things you want to do, and there are things you were born to do. Swimming is something I wanted to do. I may have had success in later years, but Ironman Triathlon was what I was born to do.

In July 2006 I was selected to represent Australia. This was the culmination of my swimming career, my greatest achievement. In my first international team, the Oceania Championships in Cairns I competed in the 5km and 10km open water events winning bronze in both. The 10km race was the first I had ever done. Conditions were rough in the surf, I had never experienced anything like it. At the 8km mark I was 4th, feeling sorry for myself and suddenly came to the realisation that I was very alone. Unable to see the shore through the waves, unable to see any fellow competitors I realised this was not where I wanted to be. Representing my country and coming 4th. If I was going to swim this far, I was going to do my country proud, and win a medal. Over the next 1km I pulled in 3rd place (a margin of 150m) and continue to increase the gap between us to over 2mins. My last lap was the fastest of the 4.

Since this event, I found a love for distance events, real distance events. I competed in two 25km open water swimming races. My first was the greatest learning experience of my life, both as an endurance athlete and as a person. My favourite way of explaining what I went through that day is, "I was even slurring the words in my head to the songs I was singing." I was so exhausted, but finishing was an amazing feeling.

Unfortunately the second 25km didn’t end so happily. In a foolish move I decided to eat at an all you can eat Chinese restaurant for lunch, quantity over quality. The resulting gastro kept me up all night and sapped my energy. I was committed to starting and actually felt very good through the 10km mark, staying in contention. However by the 13km mark I was exhausted and had dropped to the back of the field. It was then I made the most difficult decision of my life, to pull out. I had to listen to my body and use logic rather than follow my heart, otherwise I would have continued to swim until I drowned or finished. And this would not have been beneficial in any way. I learnt that sometimes, toughness can be foolish, and there are times you really need to be able to distinguish between mental weakness and stupidity. There is a pain you can push through, and there is a pain you shouldn’t push through.

I am the first to admit my swimming career has been far from stellar. If I were to describe it with one word it would be, struggle. It was never easy, at any stage. Through my years I have met so many athletes, who say it just comes easy. Not that they don’t train hard and push themselves, but when they feel good and it all falls into place its an easy hurt. I never felt this, every time I raced, every time I trained it was a struggle between what my body told me I was capable of, and what my mind believed and told my body I was capable of. I guess you could say I was never really a natural swimmer, and just looking at my stroke will clearly show you that. But I had fun; I learnt a lot about myself and stretching the limits of my mental thresholds. In an ideal world I would have moved to open water swimming earlier, I was a breaststroker until 20. In an ideal world I would have made this move to Ironman Triathlon earlier. But the world is never ideal, and I have learn so much more through my swimming career that has made me a mature elite athlete. That is why I will qualify for Hawaii in just one year.