Right, so two days later I am back in Sydney and ready to write all about the latest chapter of my change from fat to some form of athlete. I have to put a disclaimer for this one...
I am writing this mostly for fun, but also for my future use when I do the next Ironman (of course there will be another one). This means there will be some analysis, lots of pointless commentary and also some complaints. I don't like excuses. There are none. When you do a race like this you have to be prepared for anything. But there are some issues which I think impacted my peak performance. Anyway, disclaimer over... either close the webpage now, or read on at your peril.
Training... there was lots. Compared to Cairns it was much better. I did twice as much swimming (about 80km), an extra 1,000km on the bike (about 3,500km) and only 2/3 of the running (about 800km). Not much more to say... things went well. Western Sydney 70.3 in November was good (5:09:41) and Husky Long Course in February was successful too (4:51:29). I couldn't have asked for more.
Drive to Melbourne - me and Adam drove down on Thursday night and Friday morning (stopping at the wonderful town of Gundagai for the night). We had a few beers with the locals and then made it the rest of the way on Friday. We checked in to the apartment (before the girls arrived on their flight) and headed to Ironman check in. The good news continued... I had my weigh in and it was my lowest weight as an adult... 92.1kg. Check in done we went for food and chilling out.
Saturday was good. We (Chantelle, Adam and I) went down to Frankston (where the swim was - about 40km south of St Kilda). We went for a little cycle to check the bikes were all ok and then had a practice swim on the course - the water was calm and all was looking good. The only worry was the wind which was expected to be a northerly on race day. Given the run was one way from south to north this would cause problems for everyone! I heard a lot of people suggesting they would like to be shielded from the wind by a bigger bloke like me... After the practice we went back to St Kilda and chilled out for the afternoon and evening. Gary joined me and Adam for my usual pre race dinner of chicken pasta bake. After dinner and some ice cream (thanks Gary) it was an early night for all in preparation for the morning's events.
RACE DAY
4.30am - the alarm goes off and we get ready. All the usual stuff and then we went and met Chantelle at the bus stop at just after 5. I had forgotten the pump (left it locked in the apartment) but we all found it funny knowing there would be the Shimano guys at transition. There were 10 buses and not many people... so off we went. Transition was easy - tyres pumped, bottles filled, bags dropped off and then into the wetsuit and ready for the swim. We headed to the beach and tried to relax before the race start. We joined Gary on the beach and then before we knew it off went the pros!
7.40am - race start... kind of. This year it was a rolling start. 6 athletes were released every few seconds to try and ease congestion for the bike leg after the swim. Chantelle, Gary, Adam and I all moved forward slowly and by about 8am we were off on the swim. I started badly as usual. We ran about the first 50m and then I started swimming and I panicked straight away. What an idiot. By about 200m I had managed to calm my breathing down and got into a bit of a rhythm. I started drafting off other people and I went along nicely until about 2km. Then my first issue of the day - cramp. I had woken at 2am with a bit of cramp in my right calf, but didn't think anything of it... until now. I kept swimming and just eased off with the kicking. It was ok, slow and steady but still moving forward. Then second issue - coming round one of the buoy turns I accidentally hit someone and they didn't take it well... I think he was trying to fight with me in the water, but I laughed it off and kept going - he wasn't going to ruin my race right now (bearing in mind I had already been hit, by accident I am sure, a few times). Anyway, at some point I could see the end of the swim and in an official time of 1:14:01 I was out of the water. Right there I could see Bex, Nic, Evie and Tilly - what a great sight after my least favourite leg of the race. Time was almost 12 minutes quicker than Cairns. Very happy at this point.
Transition 1 - nothing to report. Easy run up to the change tent and then into bike shoes and helmet and straight out to my lovely bike:-) 4:12 for transition. Quick enough, but of no real difference in the grand scheme of things!
Bike leg - off I went and happy as I could be. I was expecting fun - everyone said the course was flat and a great road surface. Overall opinion - not particularly flat and the road surface was fine, but nothing to write home about. Plus the wind had much more of an impact than any of us expected. The first out and back was 32.71kph on the way out and 37.51kph on the way back in. Average of 35.11kph. Very happy at this point. Section 3 - the wind had really picked up by now. The way out was at an average of 28.15kph - this compared favourably to those around me who all seemed to be really slowing down - I was working my way up through the field. Then the fourth section was wind behind again and my average was 34.17kph. Pretty happy with this, but with 30km to go my back gears decided to stop working. It was stuck in top gear! So I was working harder than I should have done, but the course was more downhill on the way back so it was not too bad. I managed to move down gears if I held the gears in place, but this was hard work on the hands. Anyway, I made it back and total ride time of 5:29:27 (average speed of 32.78kph). This was the slower end of what I was hoping for, but given the wind I was pretty happy really.
Transition 2 - this was 2:00. Bike goes to a volunteer "catcher" and then straight in for running shoes, sunnies, visor, race belt and fuel belt and off out again into the afternoon sun. Sun cream slapped on by another wonderful volunteer and on the run in a total time of 6:49:40. I could not have hoped for much more (maybe a quicker bike...) but all in all very happy at this point.
Run leg - things started so well. I knew the goal and so off I went. No news on anyone else so far, but I had seen Adam and Chantelle on the bike and they both seemed to be going well. Hopefully I couldn't see them on the run (being one way) but I had faith they were going well.
I split this run into three sections. Good, bad and ugly. Let's start with the good...
There was a short out and back on the boardwalk and then off on a bit of bush track until about 5km before the road running started. 28:28 for this section and all looking good. Next 10km was on the road and took me 1:02:39. Slightly slower, but still on target for a decent run. In this section I saw Bex and Nic at the side of the road with their awesome signs - great to see the cheer squad and this was a real pick me up in the heat (I understand it topped out at 31 degrees on the run...) Then I carried on and they drove past me... only for me to catch them when they got stuck in traffic. This section was immense and I loved the support and energy they gave me.
Bad... something then changed for me and this is where excuses are no good and I need to train harder and better next time. But I will explain what I mean. It was 31 degrees (but the same for Adam and Chantelle and they ran AMAZING times for the marathon). I had a sore throat developing throughout the week. No excuse, but I think I might not have felt 100%. Also, on the bike I think there was a point when I wanted to have a little nap. I have never felt this before, but I wonder if i should have known I wasn't feeling great when I wanted to nap on the bike. Interesting anyway. Too fast on the bike into the wind - not sure, but maybe I should have slowed it down more into the wind (although it felt fine at the time). Anyway, excuses are not for me. Or so I thought. At 15km you realise there are 27km to go. That is a lot when you feel awful. The next 5km were at 6:59/km - bad but liveable. The following 5km were at 8:28/km. Not good. Lots of walking and shuffling. Each km was painful and I was just waiting for Adam and Chantelle to come past. Crowd was trying to help, but hard to do when you are quite as miserable as I was. Plus the hills started. Who knew there were hills on the Ironman run course?! This was sold to me as flat... The next 5km was at 7:57/km. A toilet break gave me a little more confidence in myself... but not much.
This was a dark point. One of those moments I think some people must have had in an event - what the hell am I doing here?! How on earth am I going to get to the finish line? How long will 12km take if I keep feeling like this (I do maths in my head so I knew a LONG time).
At this point came the ugly. It was not pretty, but it was better and I sucked it up and something happened. I credit it mostly to Bex and our unborn baby (always a good source of motivation when feeling rubbish) and also to Adam. Unknown to him I had fallen apart. I decided I couldn't have him catch me before the finish. The motivation of seeing Bex and not seeing Adam worked to get me to pull myself together, at least a bit. My pace increased for the next 10km to 6:53/km. This may seem slow, but to me it was so fast. I started catching people again and I had something to give. All of a sudden 37km were done (and then 38, 39 and 40) - anyone can finish a 5km run right?! Forget the last 221km... only 5 left. I got to 40km and was watching the sunset over the bay at St Kilda. Lovely stuff. I try and enjoy myself even at these depths of rubbishness (this sounds like it should be a word).
The next 1km - massive pace increase. 6:03/km. Boom! What a pace. Oh... but I cramped and struggled. Then there was 1km to go. This was the bit I kind of regret from Cairns - I rushed it and didn't really soak up the atmosphere, which is amazing. I took my time to get down the finish chute (I was also looking for Bex and Nic). I was walking and high-fiving everyone:-) Then I saw Bex and Nic. I had to confirm where Adam was - if he had been close to me then I would have waited to cross the line with him, but I got told 15-20 mins was the gap, so off I went. I managed to run the last 20m and it was done! Another wonderful volunteer gave me my medal, wrapped a towel round me and sent me off to the recovery area. Time for the run was 4:51:23 giving a total time for the Ironman of 11:41:03. This was a PB of 1:14:40. Happy enough, but I have more to give.
Overall conclusions - happy with the overall performance. Over the coming weeks (before Mount Solitary and possibly TNF100) I will overanalyse my failure on the run, but for now I should accept that it was a great PB and I should be happy (and I am really).
This last bit is mostly a note to myself. My wife is amazing. It is so great to have the support of friends and family throughout the build up to a big event like this and having Adam and Chantelle (as well as Raki, Gary and pretty much the whole of NRG) supporting the build up makes things easier. My wife is amazing. There are so many other people - my family on the other side of the world who I know are spending a sleepless night refreshing the website to find out how I am going. My wife is amazing. Then there is the family in Australia. Nic, Evie and Tilly have supported me and Adam the whole way through - you are all awesome Darwins!
I think there is one more person... Bex is crazy. She married me knowing I had issues with these stupid events. She lives through everything that I do and she listens to me go on about this stuff the whole time. Then at 5 months pregnant she comes to Melbourne for 4 days to watch me do this event. She worries while I struggle through the run and then hugs me when I stink after nearly 12 hours of exercise. So... if she makes it this far through the blog - thanks Bex - you are the greatest supporter and wife I could ever have hoped for.
