Ahh the joys of the post race
glow…DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and tiredness…
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| For tiredness....coffee..... |
As I sit here typing on day 3
post race I am happy to report that I no longer involuntarily whimper when
attempting to stand up and I can now much more easily slip in and out of my car…phew!
Once again, symptoms of being undertrained for the run.
So the inaugural Ironman
Western Australia 70.3. My third race of this distance and third in Busselton…but
the first time this event and course was in place in December.
Cruised down to Busso on the
Saturday morning after breakfast with the family and decided that I would go
directly to athlete registration and rack my bike. It was at this point the
first “difference” between last year and this became evident. The two areas
where about 800m apart…I had coincidentally parked in the middle and happily
rode my bike over to registration (testing it after the drive down) after which
I then rode back passed the car on my way to transition. Odd.
Once in transition I spotted
difference two…a rather large, looming bridge. Turned out that we were going to
have to run up and over this temporary structure on race morning after the swim
to get into transition and to our bikes. I recall walking over it thinking to
myself that someone is bound to slip on wet feet and slide down the bridge – not
sure if anyone did though but it was fairly steep.
Also turned out the lead the
way to difference 3…a 400m beach run after the swim…before getting to the road
and then the bridge…hmmmm….wasn’t sure who was dreaming up this course but such
is life I guess…we all had the same course to travel.
Race Day…3 am alarm…yuck. We
were staying about 6kms from the start and wanted to give ourselves enough time
to eat etc prior to leaving for the start. After a silent (ish) breakfast, watching
the athlete briefing video for the first time (whoops)…arrived at transition to
a hive of activity and nervous anticipation. Usual motions of setting up the
area, happy that the chap next to me must have pulled out so I had extra room
for my stuff. Once that was done it was time for the walk to the start….no
ordinary stroll but a 2km walk out to sea, along the jetty we would soon be
swimming back along to shore.
Once at the start things
moved fairly quickly. We were semi corralled into starting waves and walked
down a small boat ramp to about 2m about the water and then two by two took the
plunge. I hit the water and started swimming straight off. This spread start
meant that there was less pushing and shoving and was fairly pleasant. I did however
manage to find the ONE PERSON that felt I was swimming in their patch of ocean
and repeatedly traded blows with him…at one point I physically put my hand on
his side and pushed him away…he was swimming all over the shop and kept bashing
into me, driving me nuts…it was at this point that I decided that I would back
off a little and enjoy my swim as I had no expectations for the day. The water
temperature was awesome, there are move waves in my pool and it was so clear I could
see the individual strands of the seaweed down below. Cruised in to shore and
proceeded up the beach towards transition.
As I looked ahead of me I could
see that the beach was fairly soft and had been churned up by those before me
so I opted for the smooth hard packed sand by the spectator fencing…as I trundled
along I looked to my left at a lady running next to me and one second later she
was gone…face planted in the sand. Given that she had her wetsuit to her waist I
sure hope she didn’t get too much sand in her kit!
36:09 for the swim…not
terrible but not great but happy and chilled out.
On the bike and out of town
for the ride. There was an annoying squeak on my bike while I headed out to the
first hairpin…very annoying…looking around and down I noticed that somehow my
shoe was rubbing on the pedal crank creating this noise. Unclip, reclip (twice)
and problem solved…no way I could have maintained my sanity if that hadn’t fixed
it…tried getting areo but felt an odd pinch in my left hip. I am blaming the
fact that I am a “bit” heavier than when last I raced this distance and as such
areo is not yet an option until I can shrink my “lunch muscle”…so despite being
on my TT I rode upright for the vast majority of the ride. Not the most
comfortable but VERY happy to have maintained a 31kph average over the ride.
This is a great baseline and one that I am keen to work on improving.
2:55:44 for the ride…happy
despite not getting areo.
The run…sigh…I was a little
sore to begin with once I got off my bike, presumably from not getting areo on
the areo bike but nothing too dramatic. I had hoped to hold a 5:45 – 6min pace.
First 3 kms seemed to fly by and I averaged 5:41/km…happy days. Next 5kms were
getting tougher with a few cramp like twinges firing in the muscles around my
knees…averaged 6:12/km. Then I broke my own rule and walked between aid
stations…disaster…trying to convince myself that it was just a temporary walk
until I got my legs back and id soon be off again was just mental distractions…even
I knew that I was burnt…under trained for the run…one day I will learn that I REALLY
need to respect the run portion of an event!!!
Head down and resolve steeled
I ground out the remaining 12kms of the run to finish the run with a 2:23:08 ½ marathon
and my slowest (of three) 70.3 races – 6:00:49 (bloody 49secs).
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| Seen this medal biting thing at the Olympics... |
Despite the fact that I have
mentioned nearly 4,000 times that I was under trained I am happy to have
completed this race. It wasn’t perfectly executed, nor was it a splendid day
BUT it was a hard fought finish with the need to dig deep on occasion and keep
moving forward…it shows me that I do still have the capability and now I need
to focus and execute my plan on the Road to Florida.
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| Only joking.... ;p |
Thanks for reading.
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