a race report and the reality of ironman

since the kona FIASCO i have done some research and probably should have when i entered the lottery. my bad but i didnt and just thought it was drawn in april and obviously they would send me an email when i won. what really happens is that the lottery and legacy lottery are drawn at a very specific time and the list is published on the website.  it is up to you to go and have a look and then if your name is there you contact them.  i also found out more about the legacy program and even the lottery itself.  i dont think the process is transparent enough but it is big business so what are you going to do ?  and huge surprise - i didnt get a spot either.

i am at 8 weeks to go until ironman cairns and i am having good days and bad.  some days it is a mental battle and others a physical one.  this was the challenge in backing up from busselton in december to doing cairns six months later.  i had a good break and for the first few weeks i felt great.  i felt stronger and my fitness picked up quicker than it had in the past.  but over the last couple of weeks i havent felt great and my legs have felt terrible.  i find myself for the first time in ages just wanting to sleep in.  i have to go swim shortly and then a session on the trainer.  i am actually looking forward to it and the weekend training is fine.  maybe i really just dont want to go to work.  

so a few sundays ago i did the hillaries sprint triathlon.  this was the location of my very first triathlon and i had not raced at this course in a few years.  it can be very windy but i think this was the best conditions i had experienced ever.  especially on the bike.  the week was a recovery week and i had done my longest ride (90k) the day before so my legs were not too bad.  i had the most fun catching up with my tri mates and this was the main reason why i signed up.  i miss the people and the race day atmosphere.  and all my favourite people were there so it was great.  

without going into detail yet i have sourced a new coach and one of the main areas of focus will be my lack of confidence and the mental approach to triathlon.  in the swim i really wanted to throw caution to the wind and get in amongst it but i didnt.  i chickened out and started at the back and worked my way through the pack.  i did do this more aggressively than normal and got a bit physical when a few girls kept swimming across my line.  a 16.10 swim was the best swim time in quite awhile.  the legs had felt okay and not so much like a dead weight. i was in eighth place out of 28 girls in my age group.  this was the last time i raced 45-49.

a fairly quick transition (something else i can seriously improve upon) and onto the bike.  i decided right from the start that i would go as hard as i felt comfortable with so i could have fun but come up with a time that reflected my bike ability.  it is hard racing while you are training because you always feel like you have to make excuses for yourself.  and it really is hard work.  my time was 37.27 which was sixth in my age group. it is a three lap course and with each lap the wind coming back was stronger but nothing like it can be.

i felt okay going onto the run and the plan here was to take it easy and just come in under 30 minutes.   the first couple of kms didnt feel good but then i got into a steady rhythm and i felt like i could just keep running. i did the 5k in 28.23 and 14th in my age group.  this got me ninth place overall in my age group and a total time of 1.27.29.  between myself and the six girls above me in the placings the difference is only minutes.  so yes it would be nice to do it fresh but i have bigger fish to fry.  it is only three weeks until busselton 70.3. another training race where i will feel the need to make excuses.  i have a simple plan for that. under six hours and finish without injury.  almost forgot to mention that my time at hillaries was my quickest ever so i have either improved or the conditions on the day helped.  probably a bit of both and not bad on tired legs.

it is good friday tomorrow so let the four day training camp begin.

crushed dreams

today i received an email from the world triathlon corporation that was headed with 'congratulations you are going to kona'.  my heart felt like it was going to explode.  i had entered the lottery program and so what this appeared to be was my winning notification.  i read through the email and could not believe it.  i got some of the guys in the office to read it. i kept looking at it as i tried to detect if it was a scam email but it looked authentic.  i sent text messages to a few of my triathlon friends who were understandably just as excited as i was.  i also sent one to a friend who had actually won a legacy spot and knew more about these things than i did.  in my head i was trying to figure out how i was going to pay for it and how would i manage doing cairns as well as hawaii.  i told my boss i would need some time off in october.  about 90 minutes later when the initial shock had settled down i started to think and no matter how many times i looked at the email i still could not believe it.  so i went to my go to for all news triathlon and looked at the transitions website.  and sure enough my suspicions were confirmed.  wtc had sent the email to all lottery entrants in the asia pacific region.  apparently it was a data base error.  by then one of my tri buddies had also called to let me know. wtc finally managed to send out an apology email two hours after the fact and even then included a back handed slap in the face by saying it was only intended for those who had qualified through race performance. 

i understand that mistakes can happen but how do you fuck up and send the most anticipated email in the entire triathlon world to the wrong people.  the mistake i made was not understanding that the email wasnt correct but unless you have received one before you would never have known.  but what i did know was that it was too good to be true.  good things like this do not happen to people like me and this is what i kept coming back to and why i didnt post it on twitter or facebook.  luckily i had only told a few people.  i would imagine that some people might have got carried away.  it was amazing the thoughts that went through my head.  it is a tough course but you know that no matter what you would be out there giving it one hundred percent.         

the official lottery draw is yet to happen so who knows.  maybe i could get lucky.  maybe the world triathlon corporation will learn how to write a proper apology.