Seven months ago Mike Reilly had called out my name in the Ironman New Zealand Loyalty Lottery Draw, giving me the amazing opportunity to race in Kona, at the Ironman World Championships.
This was a dream come true, and around 4 years earlier than originally planned. As a regular age-grouper with no particular athletic talent, apart from a passion for cycling and the ability to tough it out for hours on end, I had been working towards a Kona legacy lottery slot. That, however, was now out the window (you are ineligible for the legacy lottery if you have raced Kona before) and I couldn't be happier.
Or more scared.
The training through winter had been tough - especially the swimming. Normally my focused training finishes in June with Ironman Cairns and I haven't tended to do much swimming over the winter months. I couldn't get away with that this year though. Outdoor pools in Sydney are heated for winter training but, with my reduced body fat for insulation, long sets had me suffering big time in the relative cold. Those challenges and the length of my extended training season overall this year had me more than a little nervy by the time I reached taper and at times questioning my ability to get the job done in respectable fashion.
The nerves vanished, however, as soon as we touched down in Kona.
I was in a happy place mentally and it was almost as if I had arrived where I belonged. Coach Dave saw us at the airport, took one look at me and pronounced me ready. And I knew he was right. I had one goal and that was to finish. No time expectations. No placing expectations.
I was simply going to get out there, experience the race of a lifetime in the birthplace of ironman and get the job done.
The evening before race day, walking along Ali'i Drive, I commented to Coach Dave that there must surely be something wrong. I had no real pre-race nerves, no butterflies in my stomach or other typical nervous symptoms. Instead I felt calm, confident (even still a little excited) and ready to go. I just hoped that this wasn't me being too blasé and over confident as that was surely a recipe for disaster. Nerves are a natural and common feeling leading into the start and show that you are giving the race the respect it deserves. Dave reminded me, though, that I had been meticulous and thorough in my planning and had checked everything off since we had arrived in Kona. From his perspective, then, I was in the best place possible and as a coach he couldn't be happier about my preparation.
With those wise words then there was nothing left to do but get a good night's sleep and be ready for a long, tough day.
Saturday, 11 October 2014.
Race Day.
The alarm went off at 4.00am and St Pete started getting my scrambled eggs cooked while I got ready. Breakfast done we strolled down to the pier and met up with Coach Dave and dad at dad's hotel. Downtown Kona had meanwhile transformed into a hive of activity and people were everywhere. Somewhere we had to find body marking and drop off my special foods bags. These would be taken to midway points on the bike and run and we could put any food or drink we might want to have at those points. In my bike special foods I had put three chiller packs in with a bottle of my sports drink and a container with a couple of wrapped cheese and cracker combos - some extra fat and savoury taste to contrast the sweet foods I had already loaded on the bike. In the run special foods bag I had just put a couple of date bars in, in the unlikely event I was hanging out for some real food. Really unlikely but best to be prepared!
Amongst the throngs of people we tried to figure out where to go and this part of the day ended up being the only aspect that could be faulted in the ironman organizational machine. For first time Kona athletes there was no clear signage, maps or instruction provided showing where to go. Somehow we managed to find ourselves at the wrong end of the body marking then weighing process. I got directions to find the right spot to go to but in the process completely missed passing or seeing the vans taking in the special food bags.
I therefore went through body marking (it seems we can't be trusted to apply our own race numbers to our arms properly, unlike at IM New Zealand and IM Cairns, and so must stand in lengthy queues on race morning to first get our race number tattoo and then queue again to have it applied), weigh in and finally went through to the transition area to sort out the bike. Prior to going through to transition I had said my farewells to St Pete and Dad as at race briefing we were told we couldn't then go back out. It turned out that wasn't the case but I wasn't to know that at the time. Tyres pumped up, Garmin 810 locked in and drinks loaded I headed out to the athletes' coralling area, still with my special foods bags and no idea where to drop them off.
After asking a number of volunteers and getting no useful response I finally found someone who was able to tell me that those bags were actually supposed to be handed in at the trucks situated prior to body marking.
Sigh.
Thankfully Coach Dave was with me - he had been able to come in by virtue of the media pass he held and so took my bags off me, said his goodbyes and disappeared back to the parking lot to drop them off.
That whole exercise, then, was pretty shambolic and had the potential to be unnecessarily stressful. I wasn't too fazed by it all though - still in my happy place and just after Dave left the starting cannon went off, indicating the start of the pro men's field. That signalled time for me to get my swim skin on and hand in my final gear bag. A quick dip in the water and I was ready.
The race this year was started in four waves - the pro men went off first at 6.30 am, followed by the pro women, age group men and lastly the age group women would start at 7.00am. We age group women were held on the pier to let the age group men all get out to the start line and then once they started we were able to get in and swim the 100m or so to the start.
It was an amazing feeling to be floating in the water waiting for the starting cannon. Here I was at the world champs, about to have the day of my life.
Boom.
And we were off. 600 or so women - the largest ever women's field and the highest percentage ever at Kona. I started stroking, nice and easily, looking to get into a steady rhythm early on and find someone's feet to draft off. Typically the start of an ironman swim is a bit of a bash fest and I have sometimes had to focus on not hyperventilating or getting too physically stressed at the outset. No problems this time around. While there were plenty of girls around me I didn't have anyone trying to swim over the top of me and didn't have to defend my position in the water. I was feeling pretty calm and relaxed then and was able to get into a steady pace straight away.
There was a fair bit of swell out there and so things were a bit lumpy and we got thrown around a bit. I managed to stay in close proximity to feet virtually all the way out to the Body Glove boat, which marked the turnaround point, and also managed to entertain myself with fish gazing as we went along - always a welcome distraction!
I went around the turnaround point with a couple of other girls and we started heading back to the pier together. I ended up in the middle and we formed a single line working our way back to shore. The girl I was following was going a little bit slower than I was able to do and every so often I'd be hitting her foot with my hand (and every so often the girl behind me would hit my feet also). But I was feeling comfortable and decided it was more important to conserve my energy for the bike and run, and so elected to let her drag me back to the shore. I did try a couple of times to go wide and see if I would be better to go past. However both times I ended up back on her feet as there was no one else in close proximity I could find to latch onto (probably left that run a bit too late!).
I came out of the water feeling really good - hadn't expended much energy at all and was still feeling good and fresh for the bike. The time was 1:49:48, about 10 minutes slower than I had anticipated, however the after-race consensus seems to be that swim times were generally slower as a result of the swell.
Ultimately though I was out of the water and so a happy camper!
I headed through the showers, grabbed my bag and ran into the changing tent. There one of the amazing volunteers helped me out of my swim skin but in the process also pulled off my timing chip. Because it had been safety-pinned (as recommended so we didn't risk losing it in the water) I lost about a minute while she struggled to slide it back up over my foot - but that's OK, this wasn't about getting an awesome time!
Bike shoes and sunglasses on, I ran out of the tent, got sunscreen slathered all over me by more awesome volunteers and then did the long run around the outside of the pier to where Black Beauty was waiting for me in the racks.
Helmet on and we were away, ready to face whatever the lava fields and Madame Pele had in store for us.
Before we reached the lava fields on the Queen K Highway though, there were a couple of shortish loops through town. The first one headed to the north of town, up to the Queen K and then back down Palani Rd, a reasonably short but sharp hill which had been declared a no passing zone. At the bottom was a 90 degree corner (called "hot corner") where we headed south along the Kuakini Highway, a gradual but consistent 3km climb back up to the Queen K again. At that intersection we did a U-turn and came back down Kuakini to hot corner, this time taking a right and heading up Palani Rd.
Coming down Kuakini was fantastic - an exhilarating downhill and I made the most of it. Big chainring, this is what I live for! As I came up to hot corner I knew to drop down quickly into the little chainring and bottom gear for an easy spin up Palani. Rounding the corner I looked up and saw St Pete on the island in the middle, looking out for me with camera at the ready. There was a big crowd there as well and an announcer calling our names through so the atmosphere was fantastic. I gave Pete (and the crowd) a happy fist pump and proceeded to spin my way up Palani.
At the top of Palani we turned left onto the Queen K and this is where the real work would begin.
The first stretch went really well. I was in a good rhythm, good cadence and heart rate well under control. It was warm but nothing I couldn't cope with and the winds hadn't arrived.
To get through the bike I had one plan to focus on. Nutrition, Hydration, Body Temperature. At every aid station I maintained the same routine: grab bottle of iced water. Top up water on bike then tip the rest of the bottle all over me, making sure I drenched my helmet, head, neck, shoulders and front. If bananas were on offer then I would pick one up also and have that. At 15min intervals my Garmin would beep and that was my cue to have a date bar or some dehydrated banana. And in between all that I would sip on my electrolyte bottle and more water.
That would be the routine for 180km.
At the 48km mark the wind started. And started big time. Madame Pele made her presence known and it was like she had saved her best for us! We started getting headwinds that also gusted into side winds and people were hanging onto their handlebars for dear life. At about this time we started to see the leading male pros coming back from Hawi and they would have been enjoying the tailwind that we were now battling to get through.
From the 48km mark through to Hawi (at around 100km) it was a case of keeping the bike upright and just hanging in there. All through this I managed to stay down on my aero bars. Others around me were up on their handlebars/top of their drops but I figured I was better to stay low and out of the wind as much as possible and I think it paid off for me in the long run. Staying down, although freaky at times, also made me a little bit more stable as it lowered my centre of gravity if I got blown around. All those hours of TT riding was paying off as I feel almost as confident controlling the bike on the aeros as I do on top of the drops.
After 4 hours of riding I finally completed the ride north and arrived in Hawi for the turnaround. Unbelievably the headwind had added the best part of an hour to my bike split so far - surely I would benefit from some tailwind to go with the initial descent back to the Queen K...
Unfortunately it was not to be.
I had been warned about the tendency of the wind to turn and turn it did.
I stopped at the special needs station at Hawi and picked up my cheese snacks and swapped over my electrolyte bottle. Scoffing one of the cheese snacks I put the other in my back pocket to have later and carried on, looking forward to getting some speed up on the downhill back to Kawaihai.
This section was another blast, like the stretch on Kuakini Highway at the beginning, but faster, longer and more fun! It also kept me on my toes as I was still being caught by crosswinds which, at 60kmph, can throw you across the road pretty quickly if you don't have your wits about you. I was in my big chainring, largest gear, trying to gain as much time as possible but balance that against staying upright. At times I'd have to freewheel and stand on the pedals but just hover millimeters off the seat so that my centre of gravity stayed down by the pedals but my body was still in as aero position as possible.
At Kawaihai we turned right back onto the Queen K and the long stretch through the lava fields back to Kona. Along here the crosswinds continued to play havoc and it also seemed as though the wind had indeed turned and was still predominantly against me rather than with me.
There was nothing else to do, then, but keep my head down, keep my cadence high and stay on top of my nutrition, body temperature and hydration.
At one point I saw a road sign saying "Kona 31". Great, I thought, just over an hour to go. The next second I was cursing - of course it was 31 miles, so closer to 50km and 2 hours of riding!
All through that time my mind was fully entertained. If I wasn't thinking about food and water I would be assessing my progress, running a physical stocktake in my mind and occasionally checking out the scenery. In between those times I also had another distraction in the form of the song "Freaks" by Timmy Trumpet + Savage running on repeat inside my head. We had been using it as our wake up alarm song each morning since our arrival in Kona and so now, on the bike, when my mind started getting quiet, the base and the tweeters would make those speakers go to war...
I can think of worse things to have playing in my head while going to war on the Queen K!
7 hours and 21 minutes after leaving T1 I rolled into T2. This was a good hour longer than I had anticipated, however given I had seen one girl lying on the side of the road with her bike in the ditch and had subsequently heard other reports of people getting blown off their bikes, I was well happy to have made it back in one piece and had only one thing on my mind.
The bike was later described by those with long term Kona experience as being the toughest for wind in many, many years. But all I was thinking about now was heading out for a little run.
I was feeling good and despite the extended time out there wasn't overly tired. I had remained conservative on the bike, remained patient and didn't let the slow time get me down. After all this was still Kona and I was on the final leg of completing this amazing event!
After changing shoes, changing headwear and putting on my race number and the Garmin 910 I jogged out to start the run course, high fiving St Pete and dad along the way.
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| Dad gets a high-five as I start the run |
The run headed up to hot corner then took a right turn along Kuakini Highway before dropping back down to Ali'i Drive. From there we would head south along Ali'i Drive for approx 8km before turning back and retracing our steps to hot corner. At hot corner it would be a right hand turn up Palani Road and then left onto the Queen K. Out on the Queen K we would run north towards the airport but turn left just short of the airport and head into the Energy Lab where we would head down towards the ocean and then hang a right to the far end turnaround point. At the turnaround point we would retrace our steps back up to the Queen K, right onto Palani, down the hill, left at hot corner before dropping back down to Ali'i Drive. At Ali'i Drive we would turn right for the final 1km glory stretch to the finish chute and permanent glory!
My plan for this leg was all about running from aid station to aid station, staying cool and not aggravating my stomach. At this point solid food was out and I would be aiming to take in liquids only. To stay cool the plan was to put ice inside my cap at each aid station and I had also received a tip about putting ice in the two back pockets of my Tri suit - this location keeps your kidneys cool, which also helps with keeping my thermoregulation under control.
I started out nice and slow, as per the plan, and simply focused on trying to get into a good rhythm and make it to the first aid station (they were stationed every mile along the course). I wasn't feeling too bad, however having a climb to do to get to hot corner is never my favorite thing to do in the first kilometre of a run! In hindsight it also took me a little while to get my core body temperature down, which couldn't and didn't happen until I had passed the first aid station and loaded up with ice.
At around the 5km mark though I started to come right. I was making steady progress, not feeling too hot and running around 7min per kilometre. I was happy with that pace and thought if I could stay around there for the duration I'd be doing really well.
The only thing giving me a bit of grief since the start of the run were my quads. They were giving me some sharp feedback with every step but I was used to worse (thinking back to their extreme complaints in my first marathon) so I was able to pretty much ignore that discomfort.
Finally we were heading up Palani Rd towards the Queen K and while I walked up (yes, most people did and for me it was a "coach-sanctioned" walk!) I put my mind towards the next section of the run. The Queen K would be pretty lonely as not many spectators get out there, it was getting dark but this was the business end of the day and I was going to do this.
Not that it was getting any easier!
My legs were still complaining and so as I reached the halfway mark I gave myself a little pep talk. Checking my progress I had taken about 2 hours 40 minutes to do 21km and if I could maintain the goal of only walking the aid stations then I could PB the marathon. I couldn't remember completing an ironman marathon in under 6 hours and here I was on target for a split time of 5 hours something.
So much for not having any time expectations, but at this point it was the motivation I needed.
The other internal conversation I was having was about backing myself. Come on, I was thinking, the faster you run, the quicker this is over and done with. I knew I had it in me to maintain a higher intensity and so I had a go at picking up the pace with the only goal of keeping it up only until the next aid station.
By this time it was pitch black out there. The aid stations were like brightly lit beacons in the distance and you could just make out the white line on the side of the road and the glow sticks of the runners around me. The orange road cones were pretty much invisible until you were about a metre away from them and so it became a task in itself to trust your footstep in the dark and look out for road cones and other runners.
At each aid station I would walk and put another batch of ice in my cap and in my pockets then take in a sip of water, electrolyte, cola and/or the warm chicken broth that came out after it got dark. And at some aid stations I took a sip of all four drink options! As it got dark I wondered if I still needed the ice and so elected not to refill the cap. That, however turned out to be not such a good idea and by the time I got to the next aid station I was hanging out for more ice.
I didn't make that mistake again!
There was one exception made to the no food rule when I came across an aid station in the energy lab which was serving cups of grapes. They looked great and I took a cup only to inadvertently tip them all out on the ground 10m later while refilling my cap with ice. Totally gutted, I turned to look back at the aid station with thoughts of going back for more, but decided against it - the turnaround was not far ahead and I could get some on my way back.
And I did.
And they were a great pick me up to start the journey back to the finish. It's the simple things that count!
The turnaround in the energy lab was a real highlight. I was in good spirits and still maintaining a good pace in between aid stations. At 30km, rather than "hit the wall" as can be common at that point my mindset was "OK, just another 12km to go, we can do this". My quads were still complaining but they hadn't got any worse and, in fact by this stage, it was less painful if I ran a little bit faster and the worst part was actually starting to run again after walking the aid station!
Heading up the last hill to the turn onto Palani and I was still feeling good - I might not have been running fast but I was feeling strong and totally focused on finishing. The turn onto Palani was one of the best feelings, although it didn't last long! It was literally all downhill from here and only around 2km to go. However running down was really sore on the quads. But I kept my mind on the finish and didn't let up. Turning into hot corner and then coming down to Ali'i Drive the crowds were back again and you could feel their energy. I was almost home and as I turned onto Ali'i I was able to imagine what the race winners were feeling.
That last kilometre, the glory run, was very cool and I didn't slow down. As I reached the start of the finish chute I started looking for St Pete and dad as they were going to have the NZ and silver fern flags for me to run in with. The crowds were so thick, though, it was difficult to make anyone out and I remember thinking that I hoped I would find them before I reached the finish ramp - I wasn't about to stop to look for them!
About 50m from the end I saw it.
Dad was holding the silver fern flag out in the finish chute and St Pete was standing next to him. He had the NZ flag but I didn't see it. Instead I grabbed the silver fern flag, held it behind me with both hands in the air and did the most joyful and energetic 50m run to the finish as Mike Reilly called me over the line.
Ironman World Championships in Kona - DONE!
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