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

KONA - Rough Day out there!

So I guess in triathlon you have good days and bad days; when it comes to the longer races it really comes down to how you manage your day and the situations you find yourself in. Race day in Kona did not go to plan.  Unfortunate but I still managed to get through the day. I am proud of myself for getting through the day but still a bit disappointed. In saying that though, if you had asked me 12 months ago if I would be happy with a 10:09 at Kona I would have said I would be ecstatic; it is interesting how goals and expectations move the goal posts!

The day before I left New Zealand I got a lucky break; I had a bolt fail in my headset that meant that my whole bar setup came loose. This would have meant pretty much  ‘game over’ if it had happened on race day, so was happy to get this bit of luck and have the failure on a training ride, although it did mean that I had to call mum to come pick me up! (Thanks mum!)

The weeks between Ironman Canada and Kona, I had really been just trying to recover, while trying to keep some intensity in my training. Unfortunately a nagging hip injury meant that I only ran 40kms between the 2 races. I wondered if this would catch up with me on race day.

Anyway, with some approved leave and best wishes from my friends, family and co workers I headed off to Kona, the long way through Sydney.

Race week in Kona was amazing, I arrived in Kona on the Friday before race week, to complete a Pre-race camp organised by Life Sport Coaching.

The camp involved 4 seminars each run by one of the life sport coaches, then completing part of the course in each of the disciplines. This camp was well run and there were some pointers that I took out of the camp that I doubt I would have worked out on my own.

There were seminars on Nutrition, Swim, Bike and Run.

Then we had a bike session up to the turnaround at Haw’i, which was an eye opener!   In September I had made a facebook status update.

70kms of riding in gusty wellington wind afterwork today... Kona has nothing on the wellington wind... I hope I don't make La'amaomao the Hawaiian wind god Mad!!

Yep, Windy Wellington.  But getting up to Haw’i, this place was crazy. I think La’amomao was getting payback for my comments.  Gusts of wind coming off the volcano would blow you clear across the lane and almost into incoming traffic.  While most of the athletes were terrified, Dan (life sport coach) and I loved it, and were smiling at the turn around. This I thought would be perfect race day conditions, as most athletes would not stay aero in these conditions, where I like at ironman Canada would enjoy them. One of the age groupers on the camp had a new Trek with the integrated toolkit and a speedfill bottle attached, along with some bontanger 909 type wheels. Her bike was literally being picked up off the road and moved over about a meter before being put back down.

The next day we went for a morning group swim, practicing warm up drills and race start strategies. . It was a great swim session trying to hold on to some fast girls in our group. Although this perhaps didn’t show in my race results, the swim strategies were valuable and will be incorporated into my future race plans.

Later that day we went for a run up at the energy lab. It had been a cool day in Kailua Kona but the Lab was stinking hot and the Lifesport crew had set up a small drinks station. We just ran some repeats at ironman and half ironman pace, this was the first time that I had run in over a week because of my sore hips so I was glad to get through the session.

The next day Celine and I went Scuba Diving, it was awesome!! Manta rays at night, it was so much fun and a great distraction from what was to come during the week.

Race Week

I was staying on Ali’i drive which was great; I was glad though that I was not in a hotel or at the roadside as during the week there were just so many people thrashing themselves up and down the road. It was also great having some coaches nearby who I could ask any last minute questions.

Race day.

Race day dawned and you could tell it was going to be sunny, and that it was going to be hot! The day started with the alarm going off, and going to the bathroom and then a bowl of oatmeal and half a bagel. We then rolled down to the race start at about 5:15 to get body marked. One cool thing at Kona is that everyone gets body marked with stamps and not markers so everyone has these really cool looking, uniform numbers on their arms, (and white numbers after the race from sunburn everywhere but their numbers).

After I got ready and was in line for the bathroom, I noticed the NZ race organiser and she took a photo and wished me luck. She was so excited for me it was crazy.  The line I was in was right at the pro start line so I got a great view of the start, quickly went to the bathroom and tried to get to the start line.

The swim at Kona starts about 150m from shore, in deep water but before you get there you have negotiate a set of stairs that are about 2m wide. So there are 1800ish age groupers having to negotiate these stairs to get in the water between the pro start and the age group start this is the only way in as there is a timing mat that you have to cross.

I didn’t get in line early enough and ended up only getting in the water 10 mins before the swim start which meant that I didn’t quite get in the warm up that I had hoped for. I smashed out about 5*25 hard then tried to negotiate my way towards the front of the swim start. Because of the deep water start and limited buoyancy you needed to tread water to keep your head above the water; this resulted in constantly getting kicked in the calf, not great as I would need them for later in the day!

The countdowns started, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 90 seconds, 60 seconds.  At this point I tried to make some space by getting my legs up behind me and tried to encourage the others around me to do the same. This seemed to work until the gun went off. This was the most crazy swim start; without the buoyancy of a wetsuit when you get hit you definitely go under; I just kept my head down and kept swimming hard. I was trying to grab onto some feet to draft but was not very successful. I found some clear water when the athletes that were lined up on the left hand side of the ford explorer on the start line converged and it was like the start all over again.  I had people pulling on my shoulders, pulling me backwards and grabbing my ankles to pull themselves forward. I was like’ hey, don’t you know you should be avoiding contact’.  Just before the turn I managed to get into a rhythm then made the turn wide to home, I swam wide the whole swim probably swimming an extra 200-300m, not ideal.

Coming back to shore was a great feeling. I could hear the roar of the crowd about 800m from shore. I was guessing that the top age groupers were getting out of the water.  As I swam towards the stairs to exit the water, I was cut off by a swimmer and got a good elbow right in the chin; this had not been the best start to the day, but hey it was over and now it was onto the bike.

I had been trying to figure out all week how hard to push the bike. I had had a couple of discussions with athletes and coaches and everyone pretty much said to stay patient.  This was tough to do and although I didn’t smash the bike I still rode solid, ensuring that I was using a lot of water for cooling. My bike setup had 1 aero bottle, 2 bottles behind the seats and 1 bottle on the down tube.  Each aid station I would grab 1 bottle of perform (Powerbar drink) and up to 3 bottles of water to use for cooling between aid stations, most of the time I was emptied before I had left the aid stations.

On the way to Hawi’i there was not much wind and on the smooth pavement the bike was moving along nicely. There were a few people drafting but I only saw 2 penalties issued, even when drafting was occurring right under the officials’ noses. This was disappointing as it made me wonder what was happening up the road; the bike was going well but I was having trouble eating the same amount as I had during IM Canada. I guess it’s a hotter day, and your body is trying to complete 3 functions in your race; Digestion, Cooling, and moving forward.  It seems that the first thing that your body diverts energy from is the digestion function.

Anyway, there was a pretty strong wind on the way up the hill into Hawi’i. To be honest I was hoping the wind would be stronger, like the camp. I was passing people up the hill though, getting to the turnaround was great  knowing that there was a long decent but coming up to get my special needs bag a 7 year old had mine and although I was calling my number, he failed to hand it to me! I love volunteers but perhaps 7yrs old is a bit young!  I stopped counting at about 25 riders as they came past and went back for my bag. A little frustrated I grabbed my gel flasks, and pushed back to the downhill section; passing riders that I had already passed on my way to Hawi’i. At IM Canada, because there are slower people in the field it’s a lot easier to pass people. At Kona, most people are strong on the bike, so you do spike your heart rate passing each person, so having to do it again was frustrating. 

Anyway the Downhill section was great, wind blowing across the road and people out of aero position. I was hoping for worse wind but this was still one of my strongest sessions of the race.  For the most part the rest of the ride into town was a headwind; I was still passing people with the occasional age grouper still screaming past me. Heading through the lava fields, now I noticed that I was getting very sore in the undercarriage; I had worn away the skin where you really need skin in the place where my body weight rests on my seat when I am putting down power.   I tried to take my mind of it by reminding myself to enjoy the experience as 120,000 had attended qualifying races and I was here!

 On the way back to Kailua there were people lining the streets; whenever we passed a resort there was tons of cheering; it was a great feeling to be a part of this race.

Riding back into town I could hear the cheering; I jumped off my bike, and ran with my cycle shoes on towards transition running on the green carpet. The run is quite long with a loop of the pier, as I was running, the volunteers were telling me to slow down and that the corners were slippery, as I ran around the last corner it was wet and I slid over and cracked my hip on the concrete, this meant my transition was a little slower than I had hoped. Not quite the smooth and fast transitions that I had at IM Canada.

Heading out onto the run I was feeling ok; not super strong but ok. I was trying to keep my cadence high but could not get my legs going. I was trying to get going but the first 10kms I struggled .There was no cramp but my leg turnover was slow and I didn’t feel like I pushed too hard on the bike, I was trying to make it hurt but I just couldn't run fast!

Running along Ali’i drive the support was great; the aid stations were well placed but I was getting hot, and 

unlike other ironmans, NO ONE was walking.  I noticed a familiar face in front of me and passed the fourth place getter in my age group at ironman Canada. We had a bit of a chat and then I continued; on the way back to town I passed signs that Celine had written on the road, GO KIWI GO, GO TONY GO, GO 1627.

The day was getting hotter; I wore a cap for this reason as I was able to put ice in it at each aid station and put it back on.  Ice was going everywhere; I mean everywhere, down my top, down my pants; anywhere that I thought that it would help me cool down.

Now I started doing something that I was not doing at Ironman Canada, I started walking the aid stations. I was just trying to cool down; this meant though that I was drinking more, and I could feel my stomach growing. I had gone to the bathroom in T2 but now I was getting a little uncomfortable.  I was not drinking much water but a mixture of coke and perform, with some salt tabs. I passed Celine for the second time as I headed up the steep hill up to the Queen K and the run through the lava fields to the energy lab.

The energy lab turnaround is about 12kms from town so about 24kms of the marathon was still to come. I have heard reports that the Queen K was 44 degrees while I was out there! I don’t know how accurate that is but I can tell you that it was bloody hot!  I was not really slowing down but I was not running any faster. As I reached the energy lab I needed to go to the bathroom bad!  I found a portaloo, and it was not nice, I know this is too much information but it was like a waterfall! Not good!  I hurried out of the bathroom and hit the turnaround I noticed that my friend Jeremy had gained a lot of time on me and was only about 1km behind me; he would definitely catch me, he looked strong. As I reached the queen K again I tried to take a salt tab as it went to my stomach I felt it coming back up. I proceeded to power chuck all over the road. This really was not good; I felt better for about 10 minutes and I was still running the same speed as I had started.  Jeremy ran past me and said “run with me”. There was no chance of this happening.  I said “make sure you break 10 hours mate!”  as I had done the math and I figured the bathroom break and walking the aid stations had cost me too much time to make it myself. 

I had several goals the last of which was to finish, I was no having trouble keeping anything down coke and water were both making me sick, I would still take them but they would not stay down for long.

The nice thing about the run back to town was that you were running into the wind which ment that there was some respite from the heat, running up the last big hill there was a tour group with some germans with a loud hailer, as I ran past the first couple I said “up up up” and they all started chanting, it was pretty cool and I am sure there encouragement helped me up that last big hill before the downhill section, as I got to the last 1 km section, I pulled up the zip on my tri top, and tired to enjoy the last bit of the run, this truly had been a tough day my toughest in triathlon, but I really wanted to enjoy the last few moments. Running into the finish shoot I got a cheer from the Life Sport team, and then gave a bunch of high 5s to the kids lined up, Saw Celine, grabbed a NZ flag, and ran to the finish.  I was happy to be done!

Total                      10:09:56
Swim                     1:08:59
Bike                       5:10:48
Run                        3:41:46

So thanks to everyone for their support, friends and family have been great with facebook posts, emails, phone calls and txts, it has been great to hear from you all so thanks again.

Matt, thanks again for your wheels and training over the past few months.
Mum thanks for looking after me for the past few months.
Celine thanks for letting me “go for it”
NZ Police Council of Sport for the support you offered me.
NZ Police Management, thanks for the support.
LifeSport Thanks for helping me out at short notice for accommodation and information you provided.

Ironman Canada - The Perfect Storm

Well after spending a couple of hours in the medial tent after the race, and sleeping with pillows all around me to try to find a comfortable position to sleep in, I can truthfully say that I lived up to my pre race motto, “Make it HURT”
First of all I want to say Thank You to a bunch of people,
First Celine for putting up with my training, and basically all my triathlon sh*t, the sport is all consuming and to be honest doesn’t sometimes leave much time for “family life”, my mum for looking after me for the past couple of months and just letting me work and train. and to the rest of my family and Celine’s family and friends, your support ment the world to me!
*Ann Bondy - for getting up at 530 on Thursdays in NZ winter to swim with me.

*Matthew Berg - for loaning me gear and being my training punching bag out on the bike.

*Paul Harrison - for using me as his punching bag last year and showing me that I am faster than I think!

*Jeremy Hopwood – for inspiring me with his performance at CDA ironman.

*Susan – lending me training wheels for Vancouver’s potholed streets (hope they are still true!)

*KC and Dale- For great swim coaching and workouts, and helping me get under a 60 min swim.

*Tony Ting – for running with me at lunchtimes at work, you let me talk the whole run, this must help me V02 max or something! ;o)

And last to all staff at my work who have supported me whole heartedly, and for the card that I got before heading off to the worlds and Ironman Canada, it was great to know that everyone believed that I could have a great performance.

And JJ and Brian for helping me with leave to be able to pursue my dreams. Only one more to go now, really, honest, sorry..... Ironman World Championships Kona Hawaii

So Anyway Race Day.

Sunday morning started with the normal routine, for those of you not familiar with ironman, it involves waking up everyone in the house as your alarm and 4 backup alarm clocks go off, and then you tip toe to the kitchen as the other alarm clock that was your fifth backup alarm clock goes off. Then for the next half hour consuming food and praying that you will be able to go to the bathroom before the race start.

Race morning I was quite nervous which was different to Ironman New Zealand 18 months ago where I was very relaxed, as I made my way to the start and put on my wetsuit, I was meet by one of my age group team mates, who gave me a hug and told me to have a great day. This made me feel more at ease as I made my way to the start and watched the pros begin their day, noticing that 1 pro was taking off on the swim right from the start, no doubt Doe Boy from NZ I thought.

I started my swim warm up, and made my way nervously back to the Front Center of the swim start, I was shaking I was nervous, as I looked behind me there were 2900 other competitors, and people swim over you and not around you in triathlon, I had second thoughts about if this was the right place to start.

The race gun went off and I swam hard, so hard that after the first 60 seconds I was starting to feel gassed and I was still in a big pack with arms pulling down my legs and back, this was not the swim start I was after I pulled out of the pack to the left of the course, and sat out in the open not drafting, but on my own comfortable and able to get into a rhythm and let the doubts about the race disappear from my thoughts. Before I knew it I was at the far end of the swim course and about to round the second turn on the way back to shore. The wind was starting to pick up and there was a swell and a chop at the far end of the course, “Perfect I thought” as I breathed I could see that I was making progress past some swimmers who I thought probably were not enjoying the conditions like I was.

As I came to shore, I couldn’t see a race clock so was unsure of my swim time, but ran through transition. Thinking smooth transition not fast but smooth don’t forget anything, Gels check. Helmet Check. Sunglasses Check. Bike Shoes Check. Done, on my way out to the bike I noticed that the bike racks were still quite full. So I must have had a solid swim.

A few days before the race, on a ride on some of the bike section, I had meet a top 35-39 age grouper by the name of Scott Tremblay, I didn’t know who he was (which I feel pretty silly about now) but he talked to me about the bike strategy and how to successfully ride the course, as I am self coached I tend to take input from different sources and pool it together to make my own decisions, his strategy was risky but if you had a good day a great bike split was guaranteed.

So it started straight out of the blocks I was passing cyclists, my Heart rate monitor kept beeping as I was well over my 165 Max bike heart rate that I had set myself before the race. Every 60 seconds I would hear that annoying beep telling me that I should be slowing down, after the first 15 minutes of a slight up hill out of Penticton I reached the first turn off to Mcleans road,the first small hill of the race, this was the first time I sat up and let my heart rate fall.

I knew that I was moving up the field but I also knew that I was pushing hard, this was part of the strategy that Scott had talked about, so I continued to push and the competitors and towns zoomed by, first was Oliver, as I passed a female pro I said, (they get a 15 min head start) “looks like a bunch ride up ahead”, there were 30 – 40 age groupers 1-2 meters apart drafting on the way to Osoyoos.

When I reached Osoyoos, I sat up as this was the first real climb of the day Richtors Pass, just over 8kms, I sat up and thought about pulling up using my hamstrings as much as possible, and just keeping a steady 17-19kms per hour, I was still passing more people than were passing me and I noticed that there were some familiar faces around me. The Down hill out of Richtors was great but straight away we were into a head wind, the wind that had got up early in the day, had continued to get stronger and had really pushed us down to Osoyoos. But now was the time to pay as the second half of the course there would be a head wind, and it was building all the time.

http://www.ironman.ca/bike.html

As the bike continued I continued to feel strong, I still had no idea where I sat in the field and even on the out and back part of the course I still could not gauge exactly where I was ok I thought I knew my bike split if I could maintain my pace would be a good one, on the climb up to yellow lake, which is a 30km gradual climb of about 8-900 meters I notice that the faces that had been around me for the majority of the bike were starting to fade, I concentrated now on not spiking my heart rate and consuming as much energy as I could before the run, there was still a constant head wind and staying aero was a challenge with the wind buffeting the front deep dish wheel. As I reached the top of yellow lake the rain and then hail started and the wind increased, I was passing quite a few competitors on the downhill as they were all sitting up where I was staying in my aero bars, and pushing the biggest gear on the bike (53-11). As I came past the turn off back to Penticton, I saw Celine friends and family and the cheer that I got was great, it really lifted me when you race the everyone cheers but when you know the people that are cheering it really lifts you more this is what I needed, just after I passed my supporters, there my chain started to slip on the big gear I changed up to the next gear and noticed that the rear cassette was coming loose, I changed up a couple more gears now I had to keep a really high cadence to keep my speed, although it was now downhill into town the headwind ment that you still had to push to keep above 50kms per hour.

As I hit town I remembered what Jeremy had told me about coming into town, “Make sure you keep working as you can lose a lot of time through town” this is true as it is 8kms from the edge of town to transition so I kept pushing and I consumed the last of the gels that I had on the bike, 180kms and 19 gels and 2 power bars.

As I was getting close to town I started thinking about transition and the run course, smooth not fast don’t forget anything, I went to grab my Speedo as this becomes my watch for the run portion of the course, and as I handed off my bike looked at my bike split, 5:03 and though ‘oh my god what have I done.’ I headed into transition and grabbed my gear bag, and started to change, socks Done, shoes Done visor Done, race belt Done. I had not pee’d on the bike like I had planned, I just could not do it, plenty of other people managed to but I again had to head to the bathrooms in transition to pee.

I was hoping to go under 10 hours for the ironman, and 5:20 was my best end of the expected bike split, so 5:04 I knew that I could either have a good day or a bad day, I also noticed a race clock as I headed into transition and realised that I swam well and was having a good day.

As I headed out onto the run course I was a little shaky in my run style and started to get leg cramps, these are pretty normal after you come of the bike, I kept my pace and shortened my stride and took a couple of salt tabs and the Cramps were gone. As I passed the 3km mark of the run I caught another age grouper who I ran with until the 3rd placed pro woman came past us, I decided that I should try to stay with her, she was running about 4:20 kms which was faster than I had planed but I put my motto firmly in my mind and yep it was starting to hurt!

There was a battle forming in the woman’s pro race for 3rd to fifth, and I was in the middle of it, it was quite a nice distraction to have the woman pros B*tching to me about each other, one complaining “She was drafting on the bike”, and how she was just playing mind games, and the TV cameras coming past to complete interviews was pretty cool also, also we were getting spits to the top woman pros from the coaches of the pros so this started my curiosity into where I was actually placed in the race, as a age grouper caught our group, one of the pro woman asked, “are you guys the top age groupers”, I replied “ah no”, the other age grouper replied “we are fourth and fifth” I had assumed that I was in the top 100 but WTF, in the top 5 age groupers no way. As we headed to the run turn around the hills on the run course were starting to take a toll and I could feel the injuries in my quads from my bike crash 6 weeks ago, my pace was still good but it really was getting painful now, I noticed that some of the people I was passing now were male pros, this felt good and really gave me a boost, at the turn around I grabbed my special needs bag, a bike bottle with flat red bull, only 21kms to go...

In the 3 years I have been doing triathlon and especially after going to watch last year “Kona” qualification has always been in my thoughts, I knew at this stage that if I could hold it together for another 1:30- 1:45 that there was a chance that I could qualify. Before the race I thought I had a very slim chance of qualifying, as I would have to beat 229 of the 234 competitors in my age group to qualify, now I thought to myself, if I am in 5th place age grouper, how many of the others are in my age group, I new 4th was in the 35-39 age group. But what about the others?

http://www.runtri.com/2007/05/how-to-qualify-for-kona-road-to-ironman.html



As I ran back to town I was really starting to struggle to hold it together everything was starting to hurt hamstrings quads, calfs. I consumed the last of the gel bottles from my belt that were a mix of water and 5 gels, and discarded the belt to one of the aid station volunteers, “Merry Christmas” I said. It felt good to now be running without a belt bouncing up and down, I continued to consume gels, now from the aid stations, the caffeine was keeping me in the game, but I was starting to slow down, and age grouper passed me, I looked at his calf, he was not in my age group I tried to stay with him but he was flying, I was now running 4:40kms and he was run 4:20kms,

The support as I started the run back into town was great, I had forgotten to bring my tri top from NZ so I was wearing my race uniform from the worlds, in the end this worked to my advantage as the support I got from the Canadian crowd was Fantastic.

As I got closer to town I could hear the music playing at the finish, it was great, I felt pride and was happy that my day would soon be over, I let myself have my first look over my shoulder since the start of the run, and there was day light behind me no one for 400m, time to relax and enjoy. As I ran the last 2kms where you run past the finish then come back to finish I saw Celine’s father I could see that he was as excited as I was. I was soon in the finishing shoot, I shook my fist as I saw the clock and saw 9:26 a few high fives on the way to the Tape, a fist pump and 9:26:12 as I write this I still cannot believe it, I am still in shock with my time, how does a goal of 10 hours -10 hours 20 turn into sub 9:30.

I crossed the line feeling great, and then quickly crumpled, 2 “catchers” helped me to the medical tent where after lying down feeling sick and dizzy I was given a IV and after 2 hours was released.

I found Celine and she gave me the news “You are first in your age group” No Way I thought No Way!

                            Goal        Actual           Position Overall          Position   Age Group

Swim 3.4km         Sub60     58:56            208                            35

                                           T1 2:30

Bike 180km          5:25       5:03:21          29                              1

                                           T2 3:39

Run 42km             3:30       3:17:48          27                              1

Total                                   9:26:13

* 34 Power bar Gels, 2 power bars, 4 bananas, 1 large can of red bull

27th Overall /3000

6th Age Grouper

So I am all packed up sitting in Vancouver, I didn’t manage to get back to Vancouver in time to make my flight back to New Zealand, Celine had a bike Crash and broke her arm so has been unable to drive, I had to pull over and sleep otherwise I was going to sleep while driving. Sorry JJ, Brian, Sharron.



Thanks again for everyone for their support; this was for me the perfect race. #1 Age Group 30-34 Ironman Canada.

Antother Race report for kona will be comming

Cheers, and thanks for reading

Tony Buckingham

World Long Distance Championships Germany

Race Report: After a week of rain in Immenstadt South West Germany, Saturday dawned a foggy day for the 1/2 iron man German race, a shorter distance race and a preview for the pain that was to follow the next day. The temperature got up to about 25 degrees and I was hot standing on the hill out of Immenstadt cheering on the locals in a singlet and shorts and worried how I was going to cope the next day with 30 degrees forecast.

Sunday as forecast didn't disappoint with a still morning greating athletes as we braved the 16 degree water, ( A week of rain had taken it from 24 - 16) I found my self pushed forward to the front of the swim start. as the gun went off I pushed hard to try to ensure that I was not run over.. ! about 150m into the swim I eased off the gas and tried to regain my breath, the next 1550m to the first turn was good where I found some feet to swim off for around 750m. I was wide on the first turn and the second and found it hard to find feet to swim off on the return to shore, I was feeling quite good coming out of the water and was very happy to see 1:05 on the board, not a bad swim for 4000M when swimming is my weak point.



I had a terrible transition, had trouble getting my left leg out of my wetsuit and my calf then cramped.. great only 130kms on the bike to go... I managed to regain my composure and get everything packed away and grab my bike, and proceeded up to the main road, where there is a nice down hill before hitting one of the big hills for the first time.



this is the best feeling I have ever had in triathlon, as you approach and take the last left hander to the hill you can here the music and the chanting of the local fans, it is truly amazing they say that they get up to 30000 supporters along the race route, they are charnting UP UP UP, as you hit the steepest part of the hill around 15% and they are lined up 1-2 meters either side of you was just simply amazing. and the legs that I didn't think I had after the swim were found and I was off on to the down hill section before some of the more technical sections through the villages.



The rest of the bike ride was a blur, a few things stand out, the cobblestone section riding through oberstaufen and the 18% section in the first big loop, and of course coming up the other 2 big climbs for the second time at around 90 and 105kms with allot less gas in the tank.



I also remember how hot I was getting ever aid station 1 bottle of water would be designated to go into my helmet. it was only 10-11 am and probably already in the mid 20s.



It was a great bike course and to be honest took some of the money out of the sport, ment that if you didn't have a 5k bike you were not at such a disadvantage for once the motor was the most important thing!



about 100kms into the bike I started to develop some cramps in my quads, I quickly downed some salt tabs and a couple of gels and slowed down to try to let my body recover, I remember thinking oh my god, I still have to cycle another 30kms with 2 big big climbs including the 5 km climb that ends in 18% and then run 30 kms.



A few things happened on the bike that cost me a few minutes, a team mate had an issue with there bike, and I stoped as they were coming the opposite way to lend a hand, the other was my chain came off down one of the faster down hill sections, as I was going 80kph and it was looking like it would end up in my wheel I had to stop to put it back on, I also have to learn how to pee when I bike and run, I know this sounds gross, but I stopped once on the run and the bike to pee and each time it was 2mins, plus getting going again, this lost me time and probably a top 10 Finnish in my age group.
Coming back into town again I could hear the roar of the crowd as I headed in, and was happy though when I was not directed to the hill but to the stadium where transition and the finish was located.

the run was broken up into 30 10km laps, with a lap of the track at the stadium a 3km loop through town then a section beside the river. The run went to plan, I knew with my injuries from my bike crash that I could not fully stride out so I concentrated on staying forward and trying to keep a good cadence.. The run was getting hotter and hotter, I was melting, I was taking gels and trying to keep taking my salt tablets at every aid station, I could feel the salt starting to build up every time I squeezed a sponge or tipped water over my head the taste of salt was apparent.

There was something that I thought while I was running through town as I saw one of the 35 New Zealanders running, I would not like to be wearing black today!
Every time as you came through the stadium the support was great, the crowd was chanting, truly amazing! As I got to the last lap, I stated to take it all in this was probably the hardest race I have ever done, and I had done it, I had come through my crash 2 weeks ago and had managed to make it to the finish line, it was a great feeling, and I just missed out on my goal which was to be first Canadian, (which I was) but to also beat all the NZers home, I think one beat me.