IM New Zealand Race Report
New Zealand 2011 Ironman Report
The Journey
My journey with EN began as I crossed the finish line at Busselton in 2009 with an ambition to return the following year hoping for cooler weather (be careful what you wish for) and a better result. I missed registration for 2010 when the event sold out within hours of opening. The options were to wait two years for Busselton 2011 or 12 months for New Zealand Ironman, no brainer really. I spent the time doing back to back OS's followed by a 20 week Intermediate IM prep. Rich's advice was, “it's not recommended to have such a long period of training waiting for an A race”, but I really enjoyed this time and learnt a lot. Risk with this strategy is having to many eggs in one basket.
Week out from NZIM
I’m not an elite athlete so a week out needed to (1), rely on being well prepared and follow recommended EN check lists, (2), plan my race day and (3), execute the plan based on information from the EN wiki as well as advice gleaned from R&P along with of other EN members, particularly the “Professor”. Research and reading required.
Tuesday. For me the event commences as soon as you head for the airport and Patrick's message of "Be prepared for the unexpected, adapt, move on”, was on my mind.
I arrived in NZ and was advised the hire twin cab ute I had arranged, had been crushed in the Christchurch earthquake, very sad. No problem, I looked at other available options till I found one that worked.
Wednesday. Built the bike, checked out the lake and had the wetsuit dipped for Didymo then drove the bike course followed by coffee plus cake and relaxation. Afternoon got bored so it was out on the bike for easy paced ride on the course. Feeling good and excitement building, perfect weather.
Thursday. Early 2k swim in the lake, fantastic, loved it. Registered for the race, coffee plus cake and relaxed. Run in the afternoon in the hills, (nothing flat around the accommodation). Compulsory race briefing that night. Weather on Thursday was better then the day before.
Friday. Another lovely day in paradise. Packed the race bags, checked the bike, checked all nuts, last check of tyres and psi, cleaned and oiled the chain. Took all the gear and bike down for check in. Coffee plus cake, chilled out, relaxed, deep breathe, all that training and planning was about to be laid out on a swim, ride and run. Checked out weather forecast which indicated heavy rain and windy, (Chitty day ahead !). That night it was about following the nutrition plan and review race execution plan. Attempted an early night,,, wrong,,, to excited to sleep. Up at 1 am for early breakfast.
Saturday Race Day. Heavy rain commenced Friday night and had not stopped but no wind to speak of, that was to come later in the day. Didn’t care, was to excited, wanted to get on with it, had waited long enough. It was time !
The Swim. I took 93 minutes which is what I had expected. I couldn’t swim at all 4 years ago and need to work on this. I just needed to get this leg done and out the way. Transition included a 400m run (approx), finishing with 2 flights of steps up to the transition bags and tent.
Transition 1. Never assume the helpers know how to help. They are willing and enthusiastic but some times overly so. The chap I picked didn’t know my wet suit was to go back into the bike bag, that I needed stuff out of the bike bag and other stuff had to go back into it before he disappeared with it !
The Bike. The course is undulating with an elevation gain and loss of 1230m. Rained heavily throughout the rest of the day and this was particularly annoying on the bike, especially as I wear glasses that fogged up and my strategy was heavily based on information provided by my Garmin for watts, which was very difficult to see. No excuses here. I hadn’t thought of this occurring and didn’t have a plan to combat the problem, just had to make do. My biggest problem on the ride came when the power meter battery went flat and stopped working and I lost watts and cadence at just over 100km into the ride. Power meter may have been affected by heavy overnight rain, don’t know as I recently installed a new battery. I could have taken the battery out the night before and refitted it in the morning.
Back to R&P. Rich had been saying in one ear,
“Its all about the run, It’s all about the run, It’s all about the run, etc ”.
Patrick was in the other ear,
“adapt, make do, adapt, make do, etc”.
My revised bike plan, with out the Power Meter, became back off and ride easy, use km/hr and heart rate. Finished the bike in 6:50:00 hrs which was disappointing. I made several mental notes about what I needed to learn from the experience and take to Busselton in December 2011.
Transition 2. By the time I arrived in the transition from the bike to the run, the inside of the Transition Tent was under 2-3” of water and mud, Hmmm. So much for clean running socks and shoes.
The Run. Like the bike, the run leg is undulating with an elevation rise and fall of 230m.
At last, I’d made it to the run, the final leg. I was excited as I felt good but had to hold myself back as my garmin was telling me I was running at 0:05:20 min/km and to fast. I could still hear Rich in one ear and Patrick in the other, slow down, it’s a long way, its not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
I enjoyed the run, I was able to keep a steady pace, I was passing people the entire time. With 10km to go I felt really good and I didn’t want to finish with anything left. By this time the uphill undulation were becoming tedious but was able push on passing several people. My heart rate was up but I was thinking about the Medal around my neck. The last few kilometres were at the same pace as I’d started and then I finished. Job done ! Happy as a pig in Chit !
Next Day. Legs not happy and refusing to cooperate with the rest of the program. They point blank refused to move up and down any stairs.
Moments to remember.
- Being startled by a scuba diver underneath me as I passed the last turn around buoy before heading back to the start.
- The transition helper in T1, a real treasure.
- The course mechanics who seemed to enjoy splashing the cyclist as they drove past.
- Large blisters on backside cheeks from new ISM Adamo seat, still planning to marry it though, I’ll take a couple of bum cheek sores over numb nuts any day !
- The helper in an Aid Station who insisted I wear a plastic poncho. It seemed to take about 5 minutes to get on and when I ran off I noticed it was on backwards. Not a good look for the camera.
- Finishing the event and holding the medal knowing I’d taken 40 minutes off my Busselton time in a harder event with difficult conditions.
- Loved the journey, enjoyed the learning facilitated by EN, looking forward to Busselton Dec 2011.
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Comments
FYI- Heavy rain and a PowerTap rarely combine well for an Ironman. Changing the battery that morning might have helped, but chances are water would have gotten inside and killed it again anyway. In any case, you handled the situation and came up with a great Plan B. Good job!
Terry....enjoyed reading your report! congrats on executing and finishing a tough race. Cold and rain are certainly no fun on race day....in particular IM race day! I like your "can do" attitude and thinking on your feet when stuff didn't happen the way u planned! That is what IM racing the EN way is all about
Congrats on doing a great job...40 min PR is crazy good on a day like that.
Terry - the is the perfect definition of a superbly successful Ironman!! There is nothing more enjoyable than that feeling of power you get from keeping on that steady pace after a entire day of driving yourself forward while holding yourself back. Hope for heat at IM OZ. I'll let you know if I ever get down to race the Antipodes.
Nice work Terry! I saw some highlights of the race and the weather looked awful! Congrats
Nice. Funny about the backwards poncho.