Wednesday 6 March 2013

Ironman NZ 2013

Ironman NZ was a dream come true this year - and that was just the weather!  I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was by the prospect of 1). Sunshine and 2). Heat!!!!!  These two factors alone had me very, very excited about race day.

Race day dawned promising to be a stunner of a day.  The lake was flat and glassy, things were looking good! 

The swim went well - aside from losing my transponder at some point.  I was out the water in under an hour (a first for me) and got to experience first hand the joys of a much emptier transition.  This is the first time I have ever had my very own volunteer (in fact, I had two....TWO!!) there to rip my wetsuit off me - usually I arrive in with the masses and resort to removing my own wetsuit.

Once I got over the excitement of my wetsuit removal, it was out on to the bike course.  After spending months chasing (read: gasping, panting and getting black spots in my vision) Candice up hills the bike course felt almost too easy.  Lap one went by quickly and comfortably, I rode on to lap two feeling very optimistic.  Until just before Broadlands I heard the dreaded combination of a motorbike and a blast on the whistle - apparently I had taken more than 20 seconds to pass through the draft zone of a guy I was passing.  I was gutted.  I hadn't even been aware that it had taken me slightly longer to pass; add this to the fact that I would rather commit a felony than draft during a race.  Those four minutes were some of the longest in my life.  Back on to the bike I felt on the back foot (I gave up counting the number of girls who had passed in those four minutes), but soon worked my way back up the field, and back toward my favourite part of the race - the marathon!

The first 20km of the marathon flew by.  I felt comfortable, and had managed to work my way up to first age grouper overall.  The support out on the run course was phenomonal.  I looked forward to the various spots where I knew my friends and family had stationed themselves.  By 30km my run began to unravel a little - I began to feel slightly ill and let my pace drop.  The last 7km my pace dropped even more and I felt like a first year uni student at the end of an O week filled with very cheap rum.  Not good!  With 1km to go, Kira Flanagan caught me, to get first age grouper in overall.  I tried to put up a bit of a fight, but with not much left in the tank I had to settle for second age grouper overall and just had my lucky stars to thank that she was an age group below me.
I still walked (well, stumbled) away as an age group winner, setting a new course record for the 30-34 age group in 9:56:29.  This put in me in 6th overall.

A huge thank you to the volunteers who were out on the course far longer than I was, you make this day possible for us.  Thank you to my sponsors - Adidas Eyewear and TopMark nutrition, and a massive thank you to Bob's Bikes who do so much for me.
Thanks also to Ben and Fitness Locker MultiSport Club for all the support and pre-race pep talks! And to coach Keegan Williams for teaching me how much further I could go.
Lastly, a massive thank you to my family, my in-laws and Roger.  The support, encouragement and belief in me that you provide is invaluable. 

I have come out of the race feeling good, and a little wiser.  I will be looking forward to my next challenge!