I have had my best result at Ironman New Zealand! What more can you say... very pleased.
The day started at 4:50 so not too early...a reasonable sleep. Sam had been a pain for the last couple of days and I was really worried she was going to stay awake all night! Thankfully it was not too bad. Got about 5 hours sleep. Sam had just woken anyway so Iz was getting up... too.
I had a reasonable breakfast of muesli and tea... and got all the bottles and the bike special needs stuff together and off we went...
Left the house at 5:45. A little ops on the way. The guy behind us was not paying attention and hit us from behind. Bugger. Not too much damage though. A short delay and we were back on our way!
Thankfully there were no more dramas and I got the bike sorted and headed down to the swim start.
Got my wetsuit on and into the water by 6:50. Not as soon as I wanted but I was still quite relaxed. I swam out to the far right and found Liz and Maddog so decided that this was a good place to be. Had a look around to see where Tony was but could not see him. I figured he must have been right up close to that right start buoy.
Swim:
The Gun went a little early than I expected but got going OK. Funny thing about an IM, there really is not that much in the way of a rush off the start line than compared to other races. Of course it helped that the pros were not with us. I did put in a bit of an effort to start with and tried to find some feet to swim off. But I was hardly going for it! Got some but they were rather nasty! The guy was kicking all over the place and zigzagging all over too. For the next 10mins I was fighting to get away from this guy. Very frustrating! He seemed to keep covering me! I just could not get around him... Finally someone else comes up beside me and I jumped onto his feet. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful and actually went very quickly. The only thing was I did struggle with the drafting a quite a bit... it seemed that the guys I was drafting off really did now swim all that straight. With about a Km to go I decided to up the pace a bit and went my own way... I did pull away a bit and caught up a group. Just at the finish I caught Hamish (although I did not know it until the after race photo :)
Just under 58'. That's a best by about half a minute. Certainly a good way to start the day!
T1
My transitions are sometimes great and well sometimes a bit of a goon show! I ran quite steady up to the transition area and into the tent. Got help getting the wetsuit off but he could not pull it off my feet! He dragged me across the ground! Can you believe that? Anyway he stopped and I had to work it off each foot by hand. Crazy stuff. I had socks in my bike shoes and the socks were nicely folded to get on quicker. One of the helps unfolded them Doh! Put on a gillet, rolled up arm warmers and put some salt tablets into back pocket and took off for the bike. Got to the bike OK and out. Getting on the bike was a complete disaster! I knew that wearing shoes from transition was a risk. Both cleats got gummed up with mud and I had to clean them before I could click in. The problem is I did not find this out until after the first attempt at mounting my bike, so I nearly came off! Doh! (again). Oh well, no damage... yet. After that I felt that things might go my way!
Bike
Once on the bike and up to speed I unrolled arm warmers and started drinking and eating a bar. Feeling pretty good about the day. It's always fun going out of town for the first time a bot of a buzz. Very easy to get a bit too excited...
There was a bit of wind and rain about but really was not too bad... Once I got up to the race track upped the pace a bit and started to catch a few people... Did have a little ops at about 55Km/h when I just checked to make sure my bottle was not coming out... went over a small bump and the rear wheel flicked out a bit! That scared me, jeepers I really did not wanna come off at that speed... Got into a good group but it was growing fast. Getting really worried about being busted. I did a Tony trick and let myself drift off the back a bit... Spotted Cream Puff about half way out, just had enough time to say Hi! No chance for a quick Chat or something else.... Tony.
Spotted Tony heading back... looked like in the front group looking good. Another 3m plus to the turn, so he was at least 5m up the road. At the turn around, went around very gingerly... felt very slippery... I did not lean the bike at all. Very big group now. I must have been on the back of a 50 rider bunch. Did look very cool seeing them all lined up in front of me...
I made a bit of a blunder here though... I stayed just where I was happy that things were going along nicely, but as we started going up I was not paying enough attention to the front of the group. Dam it, someone about 10 riders up let a gap form and no one went 'round him. By the time I realised what had happened the gap was nearly 200m. Doh! (not again)... I rode to the front of this group and carried on but, by the time we got down through town and back up private road and onto Broadlands again there was not sign of anyone.. Oh well. Time to settle in and eat some more. I did put in a bit of an effort on the climbs to see if I could bring that group back, but not to be.
Start of the second lap
I rode the next 20Km on my own so that made about 30Km alone. Possibly a tactical error on my part here. Halfway out I finally got caught by another smaller group. I decided to sit in again and rest a bit...
Saw Tony again just before the turn around. A little sooner this time so he was going well. Maybe 2m30s this time I thought.
When we hit the bridge I decided to go again. I was looking at the watch thinking sub 5hours might be on the cards, so put in a bit of effort here. Two of us worked together quite well. Dropped him as we were coming up to the race track... 5 hrs ticked over as I was coming down Spa Road. Oh well it was close. Just under 5:03 so a good ride ! A personal best so all good and feeling great. Not even my back was very sore.
T2
Into transition no errors and got the socks and shoes on quick plus arm coolers rolled up. Hey I was hopeful that it might get warm :) The lady helping me unfolded my socks too, this slowed down me putting on my socks. Dam that was 0 for 2. Anyway it was a very good T2 for me.. Then off up the ramp and out for the run.
Run
Saw Lynley on the corner of the bridge doing race commentary. She said hi! Coming down the other side was a great lift. Running quite fast at the bottom. Felt pretty good and set a good pace. Hr was about 143 so was a tad higher than '04, but I could live with it. The emotions really run high as you go through town... so many people cheering and calling out you name (it helps it is on your race number) it almost feels like everyone knows you. Of course very easy to get carried away with this.
Heading out for the first lap...
I saw Tony at about the 8Km mark. He was feeling it from being sick most of the week. Still looked in good spirits. I was happy but feeling cautious about the second lap.
I had a great first lap and kept the pace constant. I was taking lots of water with some salt tablets and a GU every 30mins. Espresso Love ones with double caffeine... very nice.
I got caught just before half way by this pro woman, she was running really well. We stayed together for a few Kms but she then took off! Not for me...
The start of the second lap I still felt OK and carried on if at a slightly slower pace. The idea was at 9Km to go if there was still something there to up the pace then. That's at the top of airport hill.
When I finally got there, there was no upping the pace going on... The pace had dropped a bit and I was really just hanging on. The quads and groin region was rather tight!
The last 6Km was a struggle and I was getting past quite a bit. I was looking for E's on peoples' calves. I did not see any. I was playing mind games with myself. Get to the next aid station. Have a good drink of coke and some water on the legs then get going again. This got me through and I was able to keep running reasonably well. It was great to get to the waterfront. The closer you get the faster you go and I did start to wind it up a bit.
Brodie went past me just at the Supaloos. Bugger I thought I had him. Anyway I had a look and no one else was going to go past now.
Down the shoot and had another quick look. And another. Nope no one there... now enjoy it!
9:24 10 min quicker than '04. Very pleased.
