Sunday 28 October 2012

Post Kona

I have finally arrived home after unsuccessfully trying to cancel my flight to "become" a permanent resident in Hawaii.  Our honeymoon in Waikiki was an excellent way to wind down after the race and rejuvenate the mind before coming back to the NZ race season.  It also gave me a little bit of time to realise that even though I had a disappointing race in Kona, it is not the end of the world, and ultimately those closest to you are so proud of you for just making it to the start line, regardless of your race result.

Race morning dawned warm and clear (like most mornings in Hawaii).  Anna and I were up at 4:20am for breakfast before heading down to body marking and transition.  As I usually do, I threw my Ipod on, and got on with the job of preparing for the race.

The swim went pretty much as I had expected.  Not being incredibly fast in the water I anticipated swimming around the 1hr10 mark.  I also anticipated the swim to be a bit of a washing machine, so was prepared for the watery chaos that ensued once we started.  I managed to get on to the feet of a couple of guys, and for the most part of the swim sat pretty comfortably behind them.

Once out of the water it was through a very busy transition, and then on to the real business of making up some ground on the bike.  Well, that was my plan - which didn't exactly pan out in reality the way it did in my head.

Once on the Queen K I got into a pretty good rhythm, and felt pretty strong.  Remembering everyone's warnings of making sure I was hydrated, I also began drinking.  A lot.  Maybe too much.
Approaching Hawi the wind had picked up into a pretty decent headwind, with plenty of gusts hitting us from the side - very much like some of my training rides back home!  At this point I began to feel a little ill, and was struggling to take on board any gels, but figured as long as I kept drinking I would be ok.
Coming back down from Hawi was still windy - although not the tail wind I was anticipating.  Just more gusty crosswinds.  Turning back on to the Queen K for the final 60km saw these crosswinds turn into a headwind.  Mentally, this was tough!!  I kept looking at my watch and saw my goal ride time slipping further and further out of my reach.  Still struggling with my nutrition, I kept knocking back the Ironman Perform that was on course.

Once I hit transition, I was pretty happy to hand my bike to a volunteer - actually I probably would have handed my bike to just about anyone at that point.  Through transition again, I almost made it out feeling good when I realised my race number belt (not needed in the cycle, but compulsary in the run) was still in my transition bag!!  A mad dash back to the change tent I managed to locate my bag and dig it out and then hit the run course.  Silly mistake as usually my bike/run transition is super quick.

Out on the run I stuck to Keegan's pacing plan and felt pretty good for the first 15km.  Almost too easy!  Closer to the 20km mark I began to feel pretty ill again, and from then on it was downhill (unfortunately not the course, just me!).  I had slowed considerably, started walking the aid stations, and had fantasies about being able to pass out (i.e. "look at that bit of lava...I bet it would feel awesome to just pass out there...on the lava...just passed out...").  It felt like the run was never going to end.  Pretty disappointing as I usually love running.

Running back into Kona and onto Ali'i Drive for the final 800m before the finish line was just incredible.  The noise and energy coming from the crowd is just amazing.  Even though I was pretty gutted running through the finish line and seeing the time I had raced, just finishing in Kona was pretty amazing.

Once through the finish, each athlete has a volunteer (or two) assigned to them to take them over to the post-race area.  As I found out, if you retch when drinking a cup of water, they will also take you straight to the medic tent.  An hour there on an IV and I was ready to ride my bike back to the condo for a shower.

Total race time was 10hrs31.

After catching up with Keegan, I think I can safely say I may have consumed a little too much (ok, a lot) of Ironman Perform on the day.  Important lesson to learn!

I have to say the volunteers out on that course were amazing.  They encouraged, yelled at, even threatened athletes - anything to keep them moving forward.  Their energy and enthusiasm - through all the heat of the day - was just incredible.
I have to say a big thank you to Roger for allowing me to bring my bike and running shoes on our honeymoon; as well as to our families for helping us get there.
Also to Bob's Bikes for the support and advice they have given me, and keeping my bike in excellent riding condition. 
Adidas Eyewear for my Evil Eye Pro's - these are by far the best glasses I have used racing.  Super lightweight and comfortable, with the best lens technology out there.
TopMark Nutrition for my gels, bars and recovery formula.  Fueling up for training and racing has never been tastier!
And Candice for letting me borrow her race wheels - I was kind of hoping they would magically make me as fast as her!

Thursday 11 October 2012

Just Over a Day to Go!

Relaxing on the baloncy of our condo and hearing the waves crashing 100m from us, it is hard to believe that in just over a day I will be standing on the start line of the Ironman World Championship.

 It is at this point when you can really sit back and review all the long hard miles you have put in training.  Every early morning, every sub-zero cycle, every windy run.  Those sessions in the wind and rain that you made yourself do when it would have been easier to give up.  Those long weeks when fatigue really started to set in and you would become ever so slightly irrational about every little thing.  Those lonely hours spent out riding and running when friends and family were socialising.  Every session you ever questioned and truly tested yourself.  They all count, as valuable miles in the bank - all to be cashed in on one big day.

Kona has been an amazing place for a taper.  It is warm, which suits me perfectly.  The water here is crystal clear, and you have miles and miles of coral reef, tropical fish and various other marine life to keep you entertained.  So far I have managed to sight both a turtle and a manta ray out swimming (sadly no dolphin - yet!).  The roads are smooth, and both the lava fields, and the coastal road up to Hawi are beautiful to ride on.  The heat and barreness of the lava field is quite awe-inspiring, and riding up the coast is really amazing.

Fit and lean athletes are everywhere - I actually pity anyone who has unknowingly come here for a quiet holiday.  I can imagine it would have started out as "wow, everyone in Kona is so fit and lean...all with really nice bikes..."  to "oh dear, we are stuck in a village of geeks who just talk about aerodynamics, calories and timing splits....". 
The locals are very friendly and so helpful.

The entire village has been overtaken by Ironman - signs and stalls everywhere, product samples, temporary aid stations on course - it really has a festival-type atmosphere.  This morning we got to view (I am sure Roger will regret not competing in) the undie run through town.  A nice sight at times...not so good at others!

A nervous tension seems to have settled on downtown Kona -although Kona room mate Anna and I have been unaffected by this and have wisely decided to do our last swim tomorrow just off the coast close to our condo instead of muscling our way through the (mostly anxious) hordes down at the pier.  Also living in the same condo complex as us is Miranda Carfrae - it was very exciting to meet her (and snag a quick photo op) - she really is one compact, lean ball of energy, and super friendly.

One thing I have really learnt here is not to ever stress in a taper.  I feel ready to race; anticipate when the hurt is going to set in, and trust that my muscles will just continue to do what they were trained for.  Keegan's coaching - and sessions chasing Candice - has definately left me feeling very well prepared!

Off for the athlete welcome dinner and race briefing tonight, then tomorrow is rack-the-bike day!!  Not long to go now!


Saturday 29 September 2012

The Kona Countdown is ON!!

With my wedding out the way, when people now ask me when the big day is, I can safely assume they are talking about racing in Kona (pre-wedding this caused a wee bit of confusion, followed by more confusion when I asked them to clarify WHICH big day...).
Energy levels and excitement levels are pretty high by now; the body is feeling good and ready to race.

The winter has seen many, many hours out cycling and running, with some pretty iconic sessions thrown in the mix.  Riding around the K2 course in torrential rain and gale force winds; big run session in the Waitakeres (in the wind and rain); hill repeat sessions (in the wind and rain); more running on our regular training loop (mostly in the wind and rain); more hill work (again, with the wind and rain)...and well, luckily the pool is indoors, otherwise that would have been mostly in the wind and rain as well...
One session Dave and I even got to see the Police Swat team in action, raiding a rural property on one of our regular training hills.  Made for some interesting viewing!

Many a session started out with Candice and I huddling around the heater in her house (usually while Candice is trying to dry her socks, in order to wear them outside in the rain) wondering why we repeatedly put ourselves through this.  There was much soul searching done in front of that heater!  But when you get closer to your race, feeling fitter and stronger than ever, it is easy to justify why you spent the whole winter out riding and running in freezing, wet conditions while everyone else you knew was hiding indoors.

Fellow triathletes have been super supportive, providing me with many hours of Ironman viewing pleasure in the form of past Kona races, and some pretty inspirational reading material.  Makes for some pretty good couch time (directly under the heat pump) after training.

My wedding provided a brief interlude into what was some pretty solid training.  I did entertain the idea of trying to fit in a quick session before the ceremony, but found out this day alone is actually up there with racing an Ironman (minus the lycra).  It was a beautiful day which just reminded me I am very lucky to have a husband who is so supportive of everything I do.

Two weeks to go for race day; and just days until we fly out.  The miles have all been done.  The time to test the body out is almost here!

Saturday 30 June 2012

The (cold) road to Kona...

So winter has finally hit!  Good for chilly evenings infront of a movie with the heatpump on full blast; not so good for heading out for long ride or run sessions with rain clouds looming and air so cold your face feels about ready to fall off.

The beginning of May saw me getting back into training with a few run miles under my belt in the form of the Rotorua Marathon.  I learnt a couple of valuable lessons here: 1).  Love the wind in training - it gives you physical strength and mental toughness; and 2). Coach Keegan's pacing plan is a lot better than my usual haphazard plan of "run fast until you can't".  Despite having a pretty good headwind to run into for the final 12km of the race I still managed to scrape in with a 2hr59 marathon time.  Fourth place overall, a podium finish in my age group, and a new PB saw a very happy runner!

A couple of easy days after this then it was back into the training routine.  Now anyone who knows me knows how much I hate the cold.  I just never seem to warm up in winter.  Even in summer, after bigger or harder races or sessions my body temperature seems to plummet.  It is not abnormal to see me after a half Ironman wandering around in a big puffy jacket, clutching the hottest coffee I can find while other athletes cool off in the ocean.  So winter and I never get on.
I have been turning up for ride sessions dressed like an eskimo.  I try to fob off my cycling buddies mockery by claiming I am doing a bit of heat acclimation for Kona; the reality is my countless layers are barely keeping me warm enough!!  Unfortunately my blue, chattering lips tend to give me away.  The down time on the couch directly under the heat pump afterward is priceless!

I always tend to struggle a little through winter as well as racing is pretty minimal aside from the odd marathon.  Racing always feels like my reward for training; I love it.  Not racing much tends to leave me feeling a little bored.  After the initial excitement of Kona wore off I took the time to really evaluate what I want out of this race.  In racing, as in training, I will feel like I have failed if I haven't given 110%.  So I have used the winter months to really try put myself in the hurt box when training; and developing a pretty good head space for it.  As Chris McCormack says - the pain in racing is inevitable.  You can either dread it or welcome it. 

So the countdown is on!  Just over three months to go, with a wedding in between before we hit the warm sunny shores of Hawaii!  The body and the mind are getting in to great race shape; I just hope that shape still fits into my wedding dress...

Monday 5 March 2012

(still almost) An Ironman...And on the road to Kona!!

How do you make a room full of grown triathletes cry?  Cancel their Ironman race.  This is exactly what happened at IMNZ this year.  The race directors had clearly made the right call.  Saturday saw the lake looking like the ocean approaching high tide, wind gusts up to 120km/h and a wind chill factor of about 4 degrees.  Not only would it have been unsafe to let us race, it would have been near impossible to just complete the course let alone race it.

Luckily Sunday dawned a better day and the amazing organisation behind IMNZ managed to pull together a 70.3 for us.  After mentally preparing for Ironman, I have to admit at first I really struggled to get my mind into the 70.3.  All of Saturday I sat around stressing that I wouldn't be able to lift my pace from just Ironman pace; my mind wasn't ready to face a shorter but harder race.  I was very much relying on the longer run distance to run through the field; I wasn't very confident that I would hang on to the faster cyclists on the bike.  Finally on Saturday afternoon I headed out for a short run, which usually clears my head a little.  I was frustrated, I was fighting the wind, I was blown all over the road... but my legs felt like a million dollars.  I got back to my accommodation, walked through the door and just said to Roger "It's all or nothing tomorrow.  I am just going to race until I either collapse or finish in the top two.  If I get anything out of tomorrow, it's going to be a Kona spot".

Sunday morning saw me heading down to transition to rack my bike again.  Seeing not much wind I took a gamble and threw on the Zipp disc wheel kindly supplied by Bob's Bikes for me.  I had been a little nervous that I would end up fighting cross winds too much with it on, but it looked promising that the wind would just be a headwind riding back.  Once this was done it was out of transition, had a bit of time to catch up with some good friends, Caroline and Mike, who had come down to watch, then it was into my wetsuit, a quick goodbye and into the lake for a bit of a warm up.

The swim was chaotic.  Imagine 1600 swimming around the same 2km course in choppy conditions, everyone with the same idea of going out fast.  It was like a washing machine of bodies.  I ended up swallowing so much water in the first 500m that I started to feel pretty sick.  It took me up until the turnaround buoys to feel better, and I could put on a decent pace.
Swim time was a whopping 36min!

A quick transition and I was on my bike.  I knew I had spent longer in the water than what I wanted, and I knew I would be chasing the age group leaders.  Thanks to the disc wheel and my all or nothing attitude I hit the bike course at a pretty good pace, and kept it up the whole ride.  I was a little disappointed by how many athletes were blatantly drafting or cycling in big packs.  Under WTC rules the race was draft illegal, and with Kona spots up for grabs it frustrated me to know people were intentionally saving energy on the bike.  I made a point of racing as ethically as I could, even slowing right down when large packs swallowed me up, which cost me a little bit of time but allowed me to drop out of the pack situation.
Got off the bike in 2hrs32.

I got off the bike feeling good and hit the run hard.  Roger yelled I was 5min behind the age group leader, so I knew I had to make up 1-1.2km or so to catch her.  The first 5km of the run are always the worst for me.  Once I have these out the way I always feel pretty comfortable.  By the time I hit the second lap I knew I was only 30sec behind second place.  Sure enough I caught Helen Kay just on Lake Terrace and could only pray she didn't have some awesome run split up her sleeve for the last lap.  Helen is a very good athlete and a phenomonal cyclist, I have no doubt she will be in Kona next year.  Luckily I managed to run away from her, finishing up with a run time of 1.28; 5th female overall (exluding pro's) and 2nd in my age group.  And more importantly, with a very much coveted Kona qualification!! 
Total finish time: 4hrs45.

The awards dinner on Sunday evening was a nice wind down and to catch up on the races of training partners Ange Walker and Candice Hammond.  Looking forward to some hot hot training sessions with Keegan and Candice as they prepare for racing in Thailand and I set my sights on Kona.  Bring on the heat!!

Despite not racing the full distance, the race organisers and volunteers did an amazing job in moving the race and still making everyone feel like the amazing Ironman athlete they are.  The support out there on the run course was pretty amazing too and kept spirits pretty high.  Everyone who was encouraging me (you know who you all are) - thanks heaps!!  Thanks too to Bob's Bikes for their continued support - anything and everything you need to know about cycling Bob is always happy to share. 
Big thank you to my family for supporting me regardless of how crazy they think I am, and an even bigger thank you to Roger, who gives me every form of support and encouragement you could imagine AND who is not upset that I am now moving our whole wedding to race in Hawaii....and that I will be in "race mode" for the first half of our honeymoon!

Saturday 25 February 2012

Almost an IRONMAN (again)...

After a couple of hit outs at Half Ironman, IMNZ is now fast approaching.  This is probably the first year I have actually been very, very serious about it.  So much so that the windy, rainy weather has seen me consistently out on my bike - whereas in past years a little bit of rain usually meant a sleep in with a vague thought of "I will ride longer tomorrow....".  This may have something to do with the fact I am more afraid of telling coach Keegan Williams I missed a session because of a little rain than I am of getting wet for 4hrs!

The start of the year saw me lining up at the Tauranga Half IM to race off some of the seasons eatings.  Obviously my Christmas diet of lots of yummy home baking agreed with me, as I romped home 2nd in my age group, and with the fastest run split of the day - 3min faster than Ironman legend Jo Lawn (ok, I know she probably lapped me on the swim and bike, but this is the one thing I will always have!!).  In all fairness, I love the run at Tauranga.  It's pretty easy to block out how much your legs are hurting when you have such an awesomely supportive crowd, and you are looking out on the beautiful ocean.

Four weeks later I hit the New Plymouth Half IM, where I finished up 4th overall, 2sec behind 3rd place getter Fiona Eagles.  Despite running hard to catch her, and making up the 6min she had on me off the bike, I just didn't get there!  Definately walked away with a very important lesson just before IMNZ - even though you are racing for hours, every second still counts.

A few big training weeks later I am finally in my taper.  There were a lot of tired, grumpy days in there, a few tears, but now the work is done I am pretty excited and looking forward to racing!!!  I have spent a few days at my parents doing easy sessions and enjoying the down time; and spent a bit of quality time with my amazingly supportive fiance who doesn't make too much of a big deal that I spend more time with my bike than with him!  I have even had some extra energy to throw into some much needed wedding planning :)  If you ever need something to occupy yourself in your taper so you don't go too crazy, just plan a wedding.  Honestly, it works!

So just under a week to go.  I have a little bit of work to keep me occupied but I do feel a little sorry for my clients.  I have had the time to get very inventive with their training sessions!  Bike is heading in to the awesome team at Bob's Bikes for one more once over, and then its off to Taupo on Wed!

This time next week I will be an Ironman hopefully with a new PB!