getting to the taupo start line

what a mission it was to get organised.  so many decisions to make.  i was flying out late monday so i had the weekend to get my shit together.  i had left the bike service pretty late this time and only being able to get to there on the weekend made it difficult.  on sunday sylvester got taken to the kitty prison for his incarceration.  cooper went to the doggie holiday camp on monday for his week of fun and mayhem. i was then left to pack and get the bike in its travel bag.  last training sessions were done.  attended the saturday 5.30am session at swim smooth and got in a pretty good 4k.  on sunday rode the bike for two hours as a last check.  still not happy with the new chain and cassette but nothing to do but sort it out in taupo. went for a 3k run on the road to test out the new hoka shoes.  i had used them on the treadmill and they felt great.  i was still going to take my kayanos and leave the decision for later.

made it to the airport and checked in for my air new zealand flight.  departed around five in the afternoon and arrived in auckland at 7am the next morning although the flight was a quick 6 hours.   this would play havoc with my sleep for a few days.  bike made it okay so that is cause for celebration.  luckily the hotel i was booked into was a five minute walk from the arrival area at airport and even more amazing was they let me check in straight away.  it was the novotel auckland  and very, very nice.  i was meeting up with tritravel first thing the next day so i had nothing to do but re-organise my gear and relax for the day.

up early and down to meet the tritravel crew and fellow competitors by 8.30am.  apparently quite a small group compared to previous years. loaded the bus with bikes and bags before starting the four hour drive to taupo. i sat at the back and started chatting to chris and glenda from the uk.  chris was the sherpa to glenda who had been to kona quite a few times and seemed to be retired but a full time triathlete.  they had been staying in noosa with family however glenda had injured her knee and it was likely it would only be swim and bike for her.

once in taupo things became hectic.  people staying at different locations so drop off took awhile.  the tour leaders - steve and martin (get it) kindly offered to drop my bike off at the bike shop before heading back to woolworths for a shopping opportunity which actually felt like a competition to see how much i could buy in under ten minutes.  back to my room at the beechtree which was perfect and really nice and located on the bike course.  wandered down to taupo central for something to eat.  i wasnt feeling all that great but i never do before an ironman.  i figured out awhile ago that while it might not feel like it the problem is just nerves and they will go away come race morning.  it just makes it hard to eat and feel positive in the days before.  off to bed early.
 

thursday and up early again and bus pick up for wet suit check and  a swim in lake taupo.  it was quite chilly and since arriving i realised that i should have bought a few more warmer clothes.   the swim was beautiful.  the lake is crystal clear as promised and while a bit fresh it did not take long to adjust.  i could have kept swimming but we had to head off to check in.  the locals so far had been amazing and continued to be extremely friendly and helpful where ever you went.   checked in and got my little race pack.  no athlete gift as they were all stuck on a wharf in china and would be mailed out to us.  i hope it is a decent back pack for a change.  after check in it was into the merchandise tent and dollars were spent.  very bad jeni. it was then a  drop off at the bike shop to pick up the bike and bag.  i rode the bike back to my room and as it turns out the chain was too long and so the guys shortened it and it felt perfect.  around 3 pm we were off again and we headed out to drive the bike course before going to the welcome dinner.  the bike course was more rolling up and down than i thought.  it was going to be an interesting ride.  the welcome dinner was pretty ordinary with very average food.  only disappointment over the whole event.  busy fucking day.  on my way to meet the bus for the road trip i bumped into tim and rae.  they were staying at the beechtree as well.  got some great tips and would catch up with them again before the race.  

friday and the day before the big day.  i found it hard only arriving by mid-day wednesday and the race being on a saturday.  it was a much shorter lead into race day than i normally have and you do spend alot of time doing stuff rather then resting up the legs.  if there was ever a next time i would somehow get there a day earlier at least.

i had to ride the bike.  it needed a test run and i needed to freshen up the legs. i headed out towards the motorplex which is part of the bike course early and it was chilly.  around 8 degrees.  it would be the same tomorrow with a maximum of 21 but more importantly light winds.  clothing choice decisions would have to be made.  the bike felt smooth but there was a creak or rattle coming from the left and from the handlebars.  it was quiet on the smooth road but there wasnt much of that.  the stories about the chip seal were true and it was going to be a rough ride.  it went away when i was aero or put pressure on the handlebars.  i think a cable had come loose from the foam it sits in and was rattling around.  i rode out about 10k and down a nice country road.  said hello to some friendly cows who thought i was there to feed them.  on my way back i decided to call into the bike shop and see if they could help.  the road around there was hot mix so they would never have heard the rattle when test riding it.  a cable tie around the front cables was the best they could do and if not i would just have to suck it up.

steve's wife was travelling with him and is a massage therapist so i had a booking.  i was hoping to at least get some relief on my shoulder/neck thing.  not a fan of doing this the day before a race as it can cause more problems than it prevents. back to my room and to finish putting together my bike and run bags before checking the bike in around 2 (this is my standard time and i like sticking with routine).  decision one i was going to ride in proper cycling gear with a long sleeve under my cycling jersey.  it was gear i had used a million times in the same forecast conditions.  it would just blow out my transition time but nothing new there.  i would be comfortable.  i decided to run in the new hokas.  they are very light, very soft and since i was going to be out there a long time i expected they would be the most comfortable.

once this was done i headed out for an early dinner.  felt like crap but again just the nerves. i had not been sleeping all that well so i was really hoping for a good nights rest.  no napping so i should be tired from all the running around.  the tritravel bus was picking me in the morning and a few others for the short trip to transition at 5.40 am for an 8 am start.  it was going to be a good day but i was not without my doubts and the feeling that i just could not be bothered doing it.  no unusual but just once i would love to be one of those people totally pumped and ready to fucking kill it.    

a bloody long race report

wow. a race report and status update at last.  i am just going to jump right back in. 

status update. training for Ironman New Zealand and currently about two weeks away from race day.  training has been average.  running sucks and there hasn’t been much of it but swimming has been excellent and biking okay.  i would think i am around 75% fitness wise and that will have to do.  crossing the finish line is the only goal and i will stop at nothing to make this happen.  currently pretty tired of just training, eat, sleep etc you know the fucking routine.  cooper doesn’t know who I am and the cat never gave a shit anyway.  

race report for bunbury.  it is no longer called the Olympic distance but the standard distance. who knew.   I did this race last year and loved the course.  Fresh, challenging and new.  

I drive down Saturday in my new car which is just awesome by the way.  Total fuel saver and my bike fits perfectly.  Felt like absolute crap and was meant to go for a 3 hour ride before hand but was just too tired and shitty.  drop cooper off at the dog holiday camp where he decides to urinate in the office.  bad cooper. that cost me a block of chocolate.  pack the car up and I am away.  

thought I had picked the best location for my overnight stay however the room turned out to have a really bad stinky odour that no amount of spray or open window could remove.  So still feeling like shit and feeling a little stressed I head out to pick up my race packet and grab some nandos for dinner.  Upon my return they relocate me to another room which is great but  really not what I needed.  Manage to lie down for a bit and then I have a shower and get everything organised as I will have to pack up the car in the morning before heading off to the race.  which is located five minutes away – bonus.  somehow I manage to get a reasonable night of sleep.

arrive on course with plenty of time to spare and get a perfect parking spot.  love a good parkign spot.  rack the bike and get organised.  usual porter potty visit and then a catch up with brett and floss.  Head over to the other racks and find pip setting up her bike.  then it is back over to the waiting area to get our wet suits on, great fun chatting more with everyone and listen to the race briefing.  which it seems I did not do very well. 

down to the water for a quick dip and pee in the wetsuit to warm things up.  touch base with pip again and as usual we are the last wave.  finally the race begins and I am at the back but not for very long.  with my new and assisted ability to not feel anxious at the start I swim through the pack.  I had a fucking great swim.  I hit all the buoys spot on. I maintained a decent pace.  I got the odd draft and no one got in my way.  I felt the swim was longer than 1500m and brett confirms he swam at least 1650.  So my time of 29.55 was bloody good.  consistent swim training has paid off.   but this is where the good fun ended and the shit day began.

as usual my transitions are just crap and I need to quit complaining and do something about it.  I had a bit of trouble getting the wetsuit off but not bad and I was heading out pretty quick when I get called back because no race belt.  Fuck.  I was pretty certain it said in the race brief email that you did not have to wear it on the bike.  and then I was fairly confident a race official was walking around transition saying you did not have to wear it.  but as it turns out you did and maybe I was thinking of the nz athlete guide and maybe the race official was saying we did have to wear it.  and just for good measure the race director did mention it in the race brief.  Rookie mistake and too many long course events for me.  I hate wearing them.  So back I go and grab it and head back to the mount line where a junior just about cleans me up racing out of his transition exit.  I say slow down buddy and then the mother has a go at me saying that the junior elites have right of way and we need to give them a clear path.  That is a new fucking rule I have never heard of.  I explain that we are all equal but she is adamant.  I get on my bike and now I am really no longer having fun.

heading out it is bloody windy and my legs have only partially come to the party.  I feel like I am at the very back of the field.  which is strange since I had a good swim and although we were the last wave I should not be this alone.  I don’t see anyone I know while on the bike.  in my age group I was fourth in the swim and then dropped to fifth on the bike.  I had one idiot guy who was drafting and then passing to only drop back again a few times.  This was amazingly annoying and disturbingly dangerous when he did it going through a roundabout.  I find my lack of speed on the bike very depressing and frustrating but I have no one to blame and the fatigue in my legs could be a factor but it still frustrates me.  all the feel good vibes from my previous weeks 180k in 6:20 fade. coming back felt good as the wind was with you and I made the most of it.  On the second lap I got to see just how few people were behind me and it did my head in.  started feeling very sorry for myself.

At this point I am debating whether I will even run or not.  I have gotten good at justifying quitting.  I start making plans as to how far I will run before I quit.  I get back to transition and my gear is all over the place.  fucks sake.  was this me when I grabbed my race belt or has my neighbour been a bit hasty - again.

I sit down to put my socks on and I take my fucking time.  No point rushing when I am going to quit. Once I am ready I walk out onto the run course.  I am now being a rebel.  After a few hundred metres I start to run although we really we should call it what it is.  A jog or a shuffle even.  I am fucking jogging.  

So I jog off and once I am out of sight I have to walk.  My head space is very bad.  One old guy sitting by his caravan tells me that I am still doing better than him and he has a point but I am still feeling sorry for myself.  I forget that when feeling shit at the start you can come good.  people running past make encouraging comments that just really fuck me off.   I run for the most part.  On one of my little walk moments a girl who is trying to be nice and encourage the triathlon spirit grabs my hand and says run with me.  we can do it.  we are running at the same pace. This pisses me off no end but I am very nice and explain to her that I am just having a bad day and need to be left alone.   She heads off and I start to have a little cry and hyperventilate moment when I think how embarrassed my dad (who is sitting on his cloud watching) would be at my lack of guts and determination.  So finally I get my shit together and start to jog at a decent pace.  I jog past the girl who said we could run together and leave her in my wake.  I don’t give any words of encouragement on my way past.  I know people mean well and sometimes I love the encouragement but mostly only when I am feeling good.  I cheer other people on but I tend not to when I can see that they are in the giant pain cave.  I love it when people tell me I look great when I feel like shit.  We are all different creatures when we are head fucked and in a bad place. 

I run across the finish line and pip is there to cheer me on.  It feels fantastic.  It was quite a lonely finish line last year but this year it had atmosphere and pip!  I grab my favourite drink which after being introduced to oak protein plus last year at this race I have added it to my standard recovery nutrition ever since.

I talk about the mental and physical journey I have been on.  A shit load can happen in three hours.  We grab a quick massage before moving on for presentations.   Pip has a great result coming second in her age group.  I am in the next age group up for old women and I think I managed to not come last.

So not exactly a fun day for me but it was still a great event.  I am loving being back doing these shorter races and I think my frustration just stems from not being able to be competitive.  my favourite bike leg is not as good as it once was and my running is just disgraceful.  There is no one to blame but me and getting the motivation back to train seriously has taken a very, very long time and a great deal of hard work.  But there is an end in sight and doing shorter races is going to help this along.

ironman new zealand is next and I will finish at any cost.  then the standard distance at mullaloo followed by the 70.3 at busselton.  after new zealand I am going to make running and transitions a focus. A real focus.  I have complained about my running for years but I have never really done anything about it.  Repeating the same shit over without making changes is insanity.

a trail run and a triathlon

two things to catch up on.  the qigong trail run and the bunbury classic triathlon. 

firstly qigong was held early because snakes and ladders was cancelled due to the heat and the national park being closed. i am still not doing enough or any run training.  i have zero motivation for it.  qigong is actually one of the easier trail runs.  it does have one massive hill which is a motherfucker to get up.  anyway i felt like shit and it was hot as hell and extremely dusty.  i should have been able to run more but it felt like i walked alot.  there wasnt a huge amount of downhill but over the next two days my legs were fucked. once i got moving i was okay but getting up and down was a nightmare.  worse than after any ironman.  i need to fucking run.

so then there was bunbury.  i was meant to train for this too.  well i have been swimming and it seems my swim times have improved.  mainly because i now get off to a much quicker start.  working in the city i cannot ride my bike early mornings so i am faced with getting on the trainer once a week and riding both saturday and sunday. and well the running is just not fucking happening. 

for a short event only two hours away it took alot to get organised. put some stuff together friday night then dropt cooper off at the doggie holiday camp saturday morning.  leaving by the front door i had coopers lead in one hand and trying to lock the door with the other.  well cooper took off and dragged me towards the stairs where i did a flying leap and a ninja roll onto the dead lawn on the verge while trying to make sure bad cooper didnt get away and onto the road. i survived but maybe i can blame my piss poor performance on some unknown ninja injury.

after cooper it was off to the hairdressers for a quick trim.  i think she may have been drunk from the night before after what she did to my fringe.  it was meant to be an improvement on my pathetic efforts.  quick drive down to bunbury and checked into the roach motel.  it has been renovated but i was still in the old section.  it was clean and had the basics so really no complaints.  except for the ferals drinking and playing music around the pool which was directly opposite me.  they were still going at 8 pm so i called reception and they assured me it would stop at 9.  it did and then i never heard a single sound from anyone all night.  

since i arrived around 3pm i thought i would take a quick drive to koombana bay and go for a swim and short run.  i have never tested out my blueseventy swim skin so this was my chance.  it was great and i can see the benefits if a swim is deemed non-wetsuit.  i am still a bit too fat for it but i can fix that.  swam up and down the bay and it was nice.  safe environment for open water swimming.  after that i changed and headed off for a run.  i knew my aunt helen was nearby so on my way back i stopped by and said hello.  and before i knew it my cousin tim called and we were all going to catch up after the race.  i picked up my race pack which consisted of a swim cap and race number whoo hoo !  back to the roach motel for a shower, quick dinner of pasta that i prepared at home  earlier and then i got my gear organised and everything else packed ready to go in the morning.

slept really well and was at transition at 5.45 am.  got a prime spot at the end of the rack and there was plenty of room anyway.  tim and rae rocked up but only rae was racing.  tim had the man flu and was only going to swim.  got organised, few trips to the porter potty and then wetsuit on and down to the beach.  water was 22 degrees and the wind was a little breezy.  it was all very civilised and off we went.  around the first buoy and then swimming into the sun.  pretty cruisy as it was still just my wave.  by the time we turned left to swim the longer section the male wave was coming through and as usual it was all push and shove.  the last turn around to come back was actually pretty rough and i swallowed at bit of the bay.  got a bit pissed off too as people kept getting in my way.

so transition wasnt my worst and while i thought my 30 minute swim time was okay transition seemed very empty.  still this is only my second triathlon in 2.5 years.  doing okay i think. onto the bike and a course that i was looking forward to.  headed away from the bay for a turn around.  this was against the wind.  then we were with the wind until we were exposed and i think for the majority of the ride it was then all cross winds. this has to be one of the best local bike courses.  better than any course in perth. it goes right along the coast and the view is excellent and when super windy it will be a challenge.  with closed roads i hope this race continues for years.  while i was fucking slow and my left leg and glute got painful i really enjoyed it.   

so then there is the run.  10k can be a very long way.  again this run course was excellent and so varied.  the only negative would be that it needs more marking as sometimes it wasnt very clear where you had to go and when you are at the back end there isnt alot of people to follow. there was more running than walking and there were many times that i thought about quitting.  i could feel the pain in my leg and glute. i have discovered that once you quit at anything then quitting becomes a very easy and constant option.  and that is the problem with my training.  missing sessions is easy now that it has become the new normal.  so i finally crossed the finish line which luckily was still there as well as tim and helen.  i said i would be done around 10.30am and i think it was 10.45am so i wasnt far off.

funnily enough since all races i have done have all resulted in receiving a medal at the end i was very surprised not to get one.  there was nudda.  but they did have choc milk in the recovery tent as well as banana milk - all with added protein.  packed up my gear, had a chat to helen before dropping her off and catching a bite to eat with tim and cara.  long and painful drive back to perth.  my left leg was very sore. got everything unpacked and washed etc.  cooper was at the holiday camp until the morning so i had some time to miss the hairy bugar. so very disappointed with my result but that is to be expected. maybe it will motivate me to train like i mean it.  great race and fabulous course.  i will be back next year.

stay puft and the wally run

i have entered the perth trail series a few times but i have never completed all five.  so this year, while it may cost me a little extra, i am only entering each race as they come up and i am only signing up for the short course.  which is smart considering my lack of running.

a week after busselton was the first race.  stay puft at yanchep.  it was relatively flat but close to 12k.  i surprised myself at this one.  i went okay until about the 9k mark when my legs really started to feel the pain from the half marathon the week before.  great course and i really did enjoy this one.

the next race was wallygrunta at the walyunga national park which just happens to be about 20 minutes from home. dont you just love the names.  i had finished this one before but it was the long course which almost killed me.  i think i was out there for over two hours and it was only 14k or so.  the short course is still around 10k.  so my bad i hadnt run since stay puft but i had been swimming and riding the road bike up the odd hill or two.  i didnt feel great and my legs didnt feel all that great once we got going either.

the start is all up hill.  unless you are a super star trail runner the trick is you walk the uphills but run the flats and the downhill. for most of the uphill i was chatting to this guy who was doing his first trail run and was a bit surprised at how hard it was.  i was feeling pretty bad so this took my mind of things.  trail running is different and it is fucking hard.  anything you assume will be the same as road running you need to forget.  you will be slower and you will hurt more.  but i love the challenge and i love being outdoors in nature.  the views are worth getting to the top of those hills and walyunga was no different.  

so what goes up must come down and your legs will feel the downhills the day after the run.  i know mine did and my toes a bit as they pushed up against my shoe.  but this made the run home easier and i was certainly feeling better at this stage.  so snakes and ladders is next and has the most elevation (whoohoo).  i havent done this one before but i am expecting to suffer.  i am getting an ultrasound on my dodgy left leg tomorrow and then back to the physio to see what is going on.  i am also going back to see budgie to check if the bike fit is causing the issue.  so stay tuned ....