NZ Half Ironman Season Wrap

Wel l training has not been at the forefront of priorities over the past couple of months, since Kona I have been trying to catch up with the parts of my life that were neglected for the months building up first to Germany then Ironman Canada, then Kona.

Since Kona I have had a few things going on..

I have started a training group at my work, called Tuesday Triathlons where a group of about 10 of us do a sprint distance triathlon every Wednesday, just joking its every Tuesday, just a bit of fun for everyone, and a good chance to practice transitions and get used to that feeling coming off the bike and onto the run, they are also handicapped so there is always a good finish.

I have also been racing at the local Scorching Bay Triathlon Series, which has been really fun, racing in Olympic distance races has been great again, where you can push up the intensity without the thought of blowing up in the back of your mind.

So on that note, the idea of competing in back to back Half Ironmans occurred to me, and I though well I might as well do the Scorcher Olympic distance race the week before.  So with training volumes cut way back since Kona. I signed up for all 3 races.

Race  1 Olympic Distance Race Scorching Bay – 5^th December
Place 3^rd  Total 2:10:22  Swim 00:22:26 Bike 01:08:45 Run 00:39:11 (Including Transitions)

 This was another well organized fun event Daryl and Keri Bloomfield, but it was a bit of an omen 2 weeks of great wellington weather and Daryl puts out the Facebook message, make sure you bring your sunscreen it is going to be hot.  So of course it was the coldest wellington morning for 2 weeks and definitely the windiest, but again great event, I had a strong swim, a solid bike with and into the wind, and then a solid run, the bike and the run I was wearing reindeer antlers to try to get into the Christmas spirit.

Race 2 Taupo Half Ironman – 11^th December
Place 35^th Total 4:51:51 Swim 00:31:19 Bike 2:30:36 Run 1:44:12 (Excluding Transitions)

A half day at work on Friday and a mad dash to Taupo to get the bike racked and ready to go, a quick nights sleep and into race mode. The race started well with a pretty solid swim and I had managed to find some good feet on the first 800 metre leg of the swim, although I lost these as I started the leg home and was not swimming in a straight line, I had a few people drafting off me who must have been wondering there the hell I was going?  I got out of the swim and started the 6-700m run to the transition, (the same run as Ironman NZ)  I had a great transition, and got out on the bike feeling strong, I had a good bike, until at around 45kms I went to grab my second gel bottle and it was not there! This was not a good feeling, I am normally great with my nutrition and I think this is where I actually make up allot of time on my competitors, I pushed on and tried to get as much nutrition as I could taking on an extra electrolyte bottle and another gel from an aid station, but I was still about 350 cals and 400mg of sodium down on where I wanted to be.  I pushed home, into a strong head wind, there was alot, of drafting going on and it was disappointing that there were not more penalties given as there was the opportunity for the draft busters to make a statement. This allowed WEAK cyclists to stay in the game when they should have been left behind in the strong head wind.

Getting off the bike my legs felt good, a bit tired but good, 4kms into the run I didn’t feel the same way an old demon had comeback, CRAMP...  I used to get cramp alot but sorting out my nutrition, and it had disappeared, even in ironman races I no longer get cramp, so I was not happy when it started.  For the next 17kms I had a stop start run having to try to stop and wait for the cramp to stop, it was so bad that after the race my knee joints were sore from where my quads were cramping.

There seemed to be a constant stream of people passing me on the run, I went from 49^th on the swim to 16^th after the bike and then 35^th after the run.  A disappointing result but it was great to see my workmates who were racing all have great First Half Ironmans, Jon, Cheryl and Tanya Great Job!!

Lessons Learned!! Backup plan for loosing nutrition on the bike?  

 Race 3 Ironman Rotorua 18^th December
Place 9^th Total 4:34:15 Swim 00:28:17 Bike 2:32:46 Run 1:33:12  (including Transitions)

Again Half Day at work on Friday,  and a quick trip to pick up some Lube from the team at PACK AND PEDAL PORIRUA ,then raced up to register for the race, bike racking was on the morning so one less thing to worry about before bedtime.  Race morning rolled around and it was again the familiar routine of rolled oats with a banana before race start.

I had a great start to the swim and felt like I got away cleanly apart from a couple of whacks on the legs I was good, made it to the first buoy and had a great turn on the inside, completed the first lap, still felt strong and before I knew it I was running through transition, and grabbing my bike, (and my gels)  I changed my race top so I knew I would not loose my gels this week, but just in case I had taped 3 additional gels around my top bar.

I started the ride, wet road, no mater 100% speed down to Rotorua from Blue Lake, 80kms easy for 2 kms.  About 5 kms out of town I got passed by not 1 but 3 athletes all riding tightly, even though I was yelling at them to stop and calling them WEAK! They continued to ride like this for the next 30 kms of the ride, this really pissed me off as I didn’t see a motorbike for draft busting throughout the entire race even though Hooksey had said he would be issuing 5 min penalties for inside of 10M. I road my race, and although not feeling great on the bike, still road a solid 2:32:46 on a tough Rotorua bike course.

I got of the bike close to the top 10, had a good transition, made sure I had my gel bottle and started off on the run. The run course at Rotorua like the bike is much tougher than Taupo it really is a great run with about 60% trail and 40% road, because of my cramp the week before I ran conservatively but still managed to pull in a couple of the “DRAFTERS” from the ride, one of them was cramping, and I though that is Karma catching up with you!  I had a solid second half and taking it easy on the long downhill section to the turn around paid off in the end.

So the Ironman and Half Ironman season is all over for me pretty satisfying looking back with what I have achieved.

Top 60 at World long distance Champs in Germany,
1^st place 30-34 and 17^th Overall at Ironman Canada (Including Pros)  9:26:13
Kona Finish 10:09:56
Olympic Distance Race 2:10:22   (8 Min PB)
Taupo Half Ironman
Rotorua Half Ironman

Whats Next.

Off to do some more local fun races, then the next goal which is to race in the qualifying race for the Olympic Distance World Champs in Beijing China 2011