2007 Road to Australia's Ironman Mecca...the fact finding mission!

Days to Australian Ironman 2008 - 152

Today's Journal

Port Macquarie Half Ironman Race Report

It has been 34 days since the Gold Coast Half Ironman and there has been a lot of 'water under the bridge' and the motivation just hasn't been there!! Only over the last couple of days have I began to feel eager and keen to get back into the training. I am now looking forward to the weekend. Mark and I had discussed that I should just take this as a training race...I'm not sure whether that will be possible...you know that 'good old' competitive spirit...and its a long way to go for a training race....I am keen to give it as much as I've got and see what happens. I also believe I need to set myself a goal...at this stage I am looking at a time of under 5:15. If I don't have a goal, I feel the 'arch enemy' will get the better of me and then switch off during the race. I kinda stuck on the principle I'm now in these races to race not just finish.....The mojo is back and its all about refocussing on the BOMOAG....Niggles etc. have improved (with some assistance from..physio, massage, and pain killers....)

We left Brisbane at 3.00am on Saturday morning arriving at around 11.00am local time (remebering that NSW has daylight savings now) When we arrived went down the the transition precinct for a bit of a look around and then decided to take the video around the cycle course. Once we had done this it was time to be able to check into our accomodation. Great accomodation right next the transition!

At about 2.00pm went back over to transition to register: picked up my race pack, wrist band was attached, timing chip was checked things were coming together. Then went back to the motel and organised the bike (bike number attached...455, bit of lub on the gears, check the tyres, tried to get my cadence working again but didn't seem to have much luck) over to transtion to have it checked in. Before I racked the bike I called in at the bicycle mechanics to see if they could help out with the cadence issue....well it was worth it they got it working...woooohoooo. Took the bike through the official check with TA and then put the bike on the rack, the rack placements were all indiviually numbered which was great. There was plenty of room. Placed a plastic bag over the seat and handle bars which was a good call as there were a number of thunderstorms which came through throughout the afternoon. You could feel that Ironman atmosphere...I was beginning to really look forward to compete tomorrow.

Went back to the motel for an afternoon kip, then headed to the Westport Bowling Club for a pasta dinner at about 4.15pm. I was experimenting a little with eating dinner fairly early on the Saturday evening as to give the pasta a little more time to digest. Appeared to work quite well.

Then headed back to transition at 5.00pm for the race briefing. The briefing was very comprehsive and covered all aspects of the race:

• Morning registering procedures


• Swim start and safety


• Medical issues


• Bike leg procedures, rules and safety


• Volunteer and Police support


• Transition procedures


• Run leg issues


• Finishing

After the briefing met up with a friend and went for a short run to loosen up the legs. Then back to the motel and prepared my gear for the race in the morning. For this HIM as apposed to the GCHIM I would do some things a little different. Particularly on the run where I did not use a fuel belt and utilised the aid stations a little more in providing hydration, I still carried my own Hammer Gel. The other thing that I learnt from the GCHIM was to eat something a little earlier before T2. At GCHIM I had a portion of a Powerbar a little too close to the run and suffered stomach cramps throughout the first part of the run.

It was race day and we were up and over to transition at about 5.15am local time. Spent time setting up transition and then it was off for a stretch and put on the wet suit before race start.

At around 6.15am I entered the water for a bit of a warm up. They had published that the water temperature was approx. 23degrees. It felt more like 13degrees...thank goodness for wetsuits! The start was a little different to the ones I have been use to. It was a mass start with athletes seeded according to the time they thought they would do for the swim. After the national anthem and getting everybody on the correct side of the bouys at 6.30am we were away.

Swim: Going into the swim, I had a number of goals in mind; to stay relaxed, focus on stroke technique and tuck in behind swimmers in front of me. Initially it was all a bit full on, very difficult to find some clear water but after a couple hundred meters I got into a rthymn and focused on the goals I had set myself. At the turn it again became a little hectict but again after the turn people found their own water and it was back into a rthymn. The confidence was building as I was regularly passing blue cap who were athletes in the faster zone in front of me. The swim exit was in site and I was still feeling strong. Standing up on the shore I looked at the official clock and it was just a tick of 28minutes. I was wrapped!! This gave me a real boost of confidence going into the ride leg of the race. The official time for the swim was 0:28:36.

Cycle: Onto the bike feeling confident. Well that was until I went to mount my bike and in doing so knocked on of the rear bottle off my bike. Thanks to the spectator yelling out I wouldn't of known this happened. After going back for the bottle I discovered that the whole weld had snapped off the cage and therefore I was unable to carry it, so it was left in the gutter. I wasn't that concerned as I still had 2 other bottles and the aerobottle. Once this little hurdle had been overcome it was on with the job ahead. Having driven the course the previous day I knew what I was in for so therefore work on a strategy to conteract the undulating hills throughout the bike course. At about the 20minute mark of the cycle I got caught in the big ring going up a hill and found that the chain was slipping and not changing back down into the small chain ring. I ended up getting off the bike to change the chain back down to the small chain ring. Through the hills and down onto the flats. Once onto the flat part of the course it was onto the bars and it was there I would stay for quite a considerable time. Competing the first lap it was back out again through the hills and onto the flats. It is when I got onto the flats that I began to struggle with a knee niggle I had been struggling with leading up to this race. At this point I turned back the intensity, giving myself some time to recover. The official time for the bike leg was 2:47:07

Run: Now out onto the run. Again I struggled with the first 5-6km just to get into the rythmn. In fact it wasn't until about the 12km mark that I began to feel comfortable...if that was possible. The knee issue was causing me a little grief, however, I continued on working through the pain. The legs just didn't seem to have the strength in them leading into the 2nd half of the run. The official time for the run leg was 2:05:26

Total Time- 5:21:10

Overall I was very happy with the time and found it a very worthwhile experience. A great learning experience for the challenge ahead.