Ironman New Zealand 2011 - The Aftermath

 In the days immediately afterwards I ached. The first night I ached so much I couldn't face standing up long enough to have a shower.  I slept really badly since every movement in bed hurt and woke me up. After a couple of days the aching stopped and I started feeling much better but then simply found that I got tired really easily.

But even though I ached afterwards, and everything was hurting, it was a good ache and the hurt was good too.  Because it meant I was an ironman.  I had set a goal and, with the support of St Pete and friends and family around me, had achieved it with a smile on my face.





Even though I ached and hurt the next day, it was good to know I wasn't alone.  On Sunday it was very easy to tell the ironman athletes around Taupo - they were the ones walking very slowly around town!  We headed to DeBrett's Thermal Pools and had a soak, which was wonderful and, again, found it easy to spot fellow ironman athletes, either by their tentative steps or their grey IM athlete bracelet that was still on their wrist (as it was on mine!).

On Sunday night we had a great evening celebrating our achievements at the prizegiving dinner.  It was wonderful to celebrate with Jacky and Curly, and commiserate with Charmayne.  Jacky had been worried that she wouldn't make the midnight cutoff but showed her real spirit by getting in with 14 minutes to spare.  Curly, who had been training under Dave as well, had a great day and was really happy with his 12 hrs 32 min finish.  Meanwhile Charmayne, my friend from Auckland, found the weather hard going and pulled out halfway through the bike leg.  (Down but not out, she has unfinished business and will be back in 2012 - fantastic!)

One of the highlights of the evening was getting to meet some of the pro athletes.  Cameron Brown had won his 10th IMNZ title, keeping Terenzo Bozzone at bay for another year. Sam Warriner had inspired everyone with her gutsy win over world champ Mirinda Carfrae and defending NZ champion Jo Lawn after the latter two got punctures.  Even more impressive was the fact that it was Sam's first attempt at the ironman distance and it was her first competition after undergoing surgery 14 weeks prior to remedy a heart problem.

We all got a chance to say hello to the four NZ pros thanks to the Christchurch earthquake.  During the presentations the Christchurch athletes were all called onto the stage and a slideshow was shown of the devastation in Christchurch.  For a couple of the guys standing up on stage with me it was the first time they had seen some of the photos and it was obviously tough for them to watch it.  It was a nice touch, though, to have that acknowledgement.  In addition IMNZ announced the start of a trust fund for Christchurch athletes training for ironman and then Cameron, Terenzo, Sam and Jo were brought onto stage with us - probably the only time we'll share the stage with them!  They were given a  bucket each and sent out around the room to do a collection for Christchurch.

It was a very slow trip around the room for them all as we all took the opportunity to have photos taken and get autographs in exchange for a donation into the bucket.

Terenzo Bozzone and me.

All in all, a great way to finish the weekend.

Since getting back from Taupo, the past three weeks has been all about recovery and reflection.  Training has been almost non-existant which has been an odd experience.  After 11 months of training, on average, 6 days per week it does feel odd to just switch off.  On the upside, however, it has been good to give some time back to Pete - he so deserves it!  I have also recognised that it is key to completely refresh mentally and physically before I get back into it again for next year.

So while part of me feels a little guilty for being quite slothful, the other part knows that I need to take the time out.

I've also been able to share the story with friends and family, and that's been fun.  So many people have been inspired by my achievement and a lot of my motivation had to do with showing how the ordinary can achieve the extraordinary.

When I look back on it, my most enduring memory (besides the joy of running down the finish chute!) will be the weather, and the conditions that were endured by Pete, Dave, the volunteers and all the other spectators on the day.  While we competitors were at least swimming/biking/running and therefore in a position to be able to stay warm, those around us were out there all day in the rain and they were unfaltering in their enthusiasm and encouragement for us all.  It was truly humbling and the most incredible atmosphere to experience.

Pete was, as always, my hero.  Not only has he taken care of the household and me these past 11 months, he willingly put my training schedule ahead of our social calendar and then, on the day, stood out in the rain for over 15 hours while I made my dreams come true.  No one deserves the title of Saint like he does.

Coach Dave has been a great coach, mentor and friend, and I will always thank Andi for putting me onto him and convincing me that I should probably get a coach for this ironman lark.  Dave saw the hidden potential in me and remained positive and enthusiastic even when I was doubting my own abilities.

Last, but definitely not least, the volunteers were absolute heroes on the day.  In the transition areas they welcomed us like stars, it was one big party in there.  Out on the bike they held out drinks and food, offered us encouragement and applied bands to our arms with the precision of a medieval jouster.  On the run they stood out on the stations until the last runner went past, offering food and drink and, when the call was made by the medical director, kindly but firmly made sure we were all wearing our plastic ponchos.  I know we didn't like it at the time but we know it was for our own good!

At the prizegiving dinner we were shown the tribute to the volunteers and I include it here - it is such an inspiration:

All in all it was a great day out. Yes, it was the hardest thing I've ever done, but at no time did I consider quitting and at no time did I question my sanity for doing this.  Even during the second lap of the run, when I was doing more walking than running, I was still thinking "this is a great way to spend the day".

I've been well and truly bitten by the ironman bug.

Ironman New Zealand 2011 - Race Report

I am an Ironman.

I did it.

Far out.

Part of me always knew I could do it. Otherwise why would I have entered in the first place? I had done the training and Coach Dave was confident that I was prepared. I was ready to go play in the ironman sandpit.

The day started at 4.00am. The great thing about the previous day's meltdown was that all the tension that had obviously been building up inside me had finally been released.  I had gone to bed, emotionally exhausted, at 7.30pm and had slept through virtually uninterrupted until the alarm clock went off.

I therefore woke up feeling pretty fresh. There were still nerves, but they were focused nerves - game face was on and I was mentally ready for the day. Porridge for breakfast, neck taped up to protect the wetsuit chafing and we were ready to head down to the transition area just before 5.00am.

It was bucketing down outside. The forecast was for rain, light winds and a temperature reaching 20 degrees (C). So far the forecast was spot on. It had been raining all night and didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. So I was going to get wet - well that was going to happen in the swim anyway! The biggest problem would be the cold but I figured I had survived a half ironman in colder temperatures and managed fine, so should be able to cope with whatever Taupo decided to throw at us.

We got to the tent for body marking and also dropped off my special needs bags. These bags are made available to you half way through the bike and run legs and you can use them to put in any emergency stuff you might need while on the course (as you can't pick up anything from supporters on the sidelines). In the run bag was my rain jacket, a spare pair of socks, compeed blister plasters and some spare food. The bike bag had a short sleeved polypropylene top, plasters, spare food and an extra bike tube and CO2 canister. I had spare gear on the bike to cope with two punctures but was feeling particularly paranoid about the race tyres as I had already had two punctures on the previous three times I had taken them out training!




It was still quite early and so there weren't many people around waiting for their body marking, which was great. I got that done, dropped off the special needs bags and then headed over to the transition area where the bikes were all set up. First of all I had one of the Avanti mechanics pump up the tyres (110 psi) - the service was available so may as well make the most of it! Then I put the bento box and food on, loaded the water into the aero bottle and put the bottle of electrolyte drink in the bottle cage and then set the helmet so that it covered the bento box, hopefully to minimize the rain getting into all my food (i.e making my Em's power cookie and Powerbar gel blasts soggy!).

I then had a quiet chuckle over all the bikes set up in transition with plastic bags over them. They had been set up like that the previous day and the bag would have to come off before the race started. Hello, it's raining people, your bikes are going to get soaked while you're swimming and, last time I looked, they weren't made of sugar. A plastic bag on the bike overnight isn't going to make any difference to it! I guess they had some logic for it but it seemed pretty pointless.

It was about 5.30am by this stage and the rain was still coming down. There was nothing left to do then but head back to the tent at the finish line and keep warm and dryish for the next 45 mins or so. By that stage people were pouring in for their body marking and there was a hive of activity and nerves as everyone stayed under the canvas for as long as possible.

I was still feeling good and at about 6.10am decided to start putting the wetsuit on. That done we walked down the hill to the swim start area, pausing enroute at the transition area so I could do a final check of the bike.

We got to the swim start at about 6.30am and by 6.40am I was ready to get into the water. A quick goodbye to Pete and I joined the throng of fellow competitors passing over the timing mat to "check in" before entering the water, just as the gun went off for the elite start.

The water temperature was great. Really comfortable compared to the south island temperatures I had been training in. It was, however, still dark and raining. So much for sighting off the hills - even though it was getting lighter, the rain was completely obscuring not only the hills but also the buoys marking out the course. The only thing we could see in front of us were the green start buoys and so the generally agreed approach became "follow the group in front"! As it turned out, once we got going, for the first half of the leg you could see one buoy ahead but not much more.

The umbrellas say it all

Amongst the crowds Jacky managed to find me in the water and we managed a floating hug (those wetsuits definitely provide good buoyancy!) and a reminder to each other to "just keep swimming". She then decided to move up to a space she had spotted while I settled in not far behind.

The swim was a rectangular out and back course in a clockwise direction. My original plan was to start wide on the left hand side and gradually swim towards the right so as to stay out of the throng but, with the conditions, I changed the plan and decided to start on the inside so I could more easily see the buoys, and towards the back, to keep out of the masses.

In my mind I had three strategies for the swim:
1. Start slow
2. Chunk it down and focus on ticking off one buoy at a time
3. Channel Nemo "Just keep swimming..."

And it worked.

The cannon went off and suddenly we were away. I started out slow and looked only for the first buoy. We got to that one and then ticked off another, then another, then another. All the way I had people swimming with me and that really helped also. I never got that feeling of being left behind and of not making any progress, which had been my mental battle. Before long I could see the turn buoy at the far end and I was going around it and up to the second turn buoy for the return leg.

It was an amazing feeling coming out of the water, still with people around me and, apparently, lots of people behind! I had nailed the swim and felt fantastic. As I ran under the timing gate I saw Pete going nuts and high-fived him with a big grin.

A further 10m on I suddenly heard "TONI HODGE - YOU ARE A LEGEND!". It was Coach Dave and I think he was almost as excited as I was to have done it. My hands were still stuck in my wetsuit sleeves but I turned and gave him a big thumbs up through the neoprene as I went past.

Woohoo - stoked to have nailed the swim!

It was then a 400m run/walk along the road and up the hill to the transition area. When I reached transition I heard my name called and one of the volunteers was holding out my transition bag ready for me. Very cool - our numbers were on the bags but the volunteers had gone through and written our first names on the bags as well - a great touch.

Into the changing tent and immediately one of the volunteers came over to give me a hand. My wetsuit was pulled off, feet dried, number belt on, socks and bike shoes put on and I was almost ready to go. Sunglasses were next and I decided to take another minute to change the lenses. It was still pouring with rain and with no indication of a let up I figured it would be better to have the yellow lenses in rather than the dark tinted ones. I have Oakley Jawbones and they are a breeze to change over. A bite out of an Em's Power Cookie and I was good to go.

I ran out to the bike, put my helmet on and then jogged out to the bike start line and onto the bike.

I was feeling really good and this would be my favourite leg. My strategies for this leg would be:
1. Keep heart rate low (average 135)
2. Keep cadence high (85-95 rpm)
3. Stay upright.

(I added the last one due to the conditions - it was clearly going to be a case of surviving the bike rather going all out and getting a great time.)

The rain, however, had other ideas. It was raining so hard that I couldn't read the display on the bike computer. I therefore ended up going by "feel" and didn't focus too much on the stats. The other major problem was my sunglasses. Despite the lenses being vented there was so much rain they kept fogging up and the amount of water on the lenses impacted on visibility. Within the first 5km I stopped and took them off, thinking it had to be easier to see without them. However when I got going again I instead had rain hitting my unprotected eyeballs - an equally uncomfortable situation.

I ended up putting the sunglasses back on and getting used to having limited visibility throughout the bike leg. It was the lessor of two evils.

The bike leg is an out and back undulating to flat course north to Reporoa, completed twice. Before I started on the ironman journey I used to love biking, as long as it didn't involve climbing. Now the hills presented no problems and I even passed people while climbing... Amazing! I also passed people throughout the leg, which was great fun.

(How cool is it to go past a guy with a disc wheel?!!!)

Afterwards we checked my bike computer stats and I had an average heart rate of 143 which was a bit higher than Coach Dave had wanted - ah well, I always knew I'd have problems pegging it back on that leg, and it probably wasn't too bad given I was going by feel.

The first lap of the bike went really well, on schedule, and feeling great. It was still bucketing down but not cold so I headed out on the second lap without picking up my special needs bag. As expected the wind made its presence felt on the second lap, but it didn't cause too many problems, especially when compared to the persistent rain that was making my cookie and gummy gels soggy!

The aid stations on the bike were really well managed. Volunteers would stand holding out a range of supplies - water bottles, electrolyte bottles, bananas and gels were all on offer and all you had to do was slow down slightly and call out what you wanted. The appropriate person would then get ready to run alongside if necessary to hand you what you wanted. The bananas proved to be a welcome change from gels and I got quite adept at peeling a banana with my teeth and grabbing the bulk of the fruit while chucking away the skin before the end of the "drop zone" (the allocated area on either side of the aid station where you were allowed to discard any rubbish). I also got thanked by the volunteers a couple of times for my clear calling, so it was good to know I was doing something right!

Stay upright...stay upright

The second lap was slower than the first lap, probably due to a few factors:
1. The wind.
2. My back started aching so there was a bit of coasting so I could stretch it out.
3. The need to pee! Apparently the way to do this is to stand up on your pedals and just go. Well I tried that and it is way more difficult than it sounds! After several attempts, and several instances of coasting to a virtual standstill without having performed I ended up stopping the bike and crouching in some long grass.
4. One knee started playing up. I started getting a twinge behind one knee so inevitably lost a bit of power on the final 45km back into Taupo. I was worried that it would impact my run but thankfully the pain stopped when I got off the bike. It was obviously a bike-specific problem and likely due to the frequency of the hills that I hadn't mimicked in training.

It was a reasonably conservative arrival back into town and T2. The roads were treacherously wet and there were some tight turns in the final kilometre, and I was determined that I wouldn't give the crowds a sliding spectacle! I got in safely and handed the bike over to the waiting volunteers who took it away and racked it for me.

Again the volunteers holding our transition bags out were dancing around and cheering us on and I felt like a rock star coming into a big (wet) party. And the big wet was right. In the transition tent the ground was sodden and drying my feet to put on my running shoes became a futile exercise. As soon as I stood up my feet would sink into an inch of water and by the time I left transition my feet were soaked. Yippee.

During the bike I had worn just my Tri shorts and top and, thankfully, didn't feel cold at all. Once I got into transition, though, I figured it would probably get cold once it got dark and so I decided to throw on a long sleeved polypropylene top for the run. My other job in transition was to sort out a severe case of chafing that had occurred on my leg. Just below my Tri shorts my leg had rubbed on something on the bike stem and, in the wet, had chafed quite badly. There were plenty of medical personnel wandering around transition and one of them was quickly on the job, putting a towel on it to dry the area and then putting on a burn dressing to keep it covered.

While I was getting sorted the medic told me I had over 8 hours to do the run, which just required a pace of 5km/hr. No problem, I thought, I can walk that if I need to.

And so I set out on the run leg.

My plan for this was simple:
1. Walk each aid station.
2. Finish (before midnight).

The run is a 2 lap course out of town along the waterfront so, essentially 4 x 10km segments.

The first lap went pretty much to plan. There were a couple of reasonable hills to get up and so I did walk up a portion of those, but that didn't overly concern me. I knew I had time and the only time pressure I was interested in by that stage was finishing before midnight.

During the run I started to feel like a rock star. The IMNZ organizers had provided special race bibs for the Christchurch athletes following the earthquake. The bibs were black and red striped (Canterbury colours) and had on them "Christchurch is my home". On the run, then, people could easily see where I was from and so I heard massive amounts of encouragement for my name and for Christchurch, which provided a real boost.

2nd lap and it's really starting to hurt.

As I came into town for the end of the first lap things started to really hurt and I was running out of gas. As I headed out on my second lap I saw Pete with the camera and managed to keep running but it was becoming a real struggle.

At about the 23km mark I started walking. Over the next 15km I had a few attempts a running again but just didn't have the energy and/or strong enough desire to do it. I knew I had time to finish and so I focused on maintaining forward progress and eating and drinking something at every aid station. I alternated between water, coke and Horleys to drink and biscuits and chips to eat as a way of trying to maintain some variety.

It started getting dark and the only constant of the day remained constant...the rain.  About halfway out on the second lap, then, the call was made by the medical officials that we all had to wear plastic rain ponchos.  It was for our own safety although, inevitably, most of us weren't happy about it!  I managed to get through one aid station without putting one on, convincing the volunteer that I was warm enough with my polypro top.  It was true (and virtually no one else was wearing polypros), and he believed me, albeit reluctantly.  I was unable to convince the girl at the next aid station, though, and she very kindly insisted that I had to not only put my head through it but my arms through the sleeves as well.  Ah well, it was worth a try!  

On the final leg back into town my thoughts started turning towards the finish line.  It seemed that every muscle and joint in my body was hurting at this time and even the soles of my feet were aching with every step I took.  It was agony, but I knew that I couldn't walk down the finish chute.  I had to be running.  Giving myself a bit of a pep talk, then, I started the ironman shuffle with about 6km to go.

After a kilometre I had reached the second to last aid station and I took a gel there and a gulp of water and kept on my steady, slow run progress.  By this stage everyone around me was also walking and so I started to go past a few people.  At the last aid station I took another gel and was starting to come to the conclusion that it was actually slightly less painful on my feet to be running/shuffling than walking and, with 2.5km to go I knew I could run the rest of the way.

Along the waterfront I went and kids were starting to get excited so I got the odd high five out of them as I went past.  At the end of the waterfront you do a right hand turn and run up Tongariro St, away from the lake.  On that corner one of the local radio stations had set up a stage and they were having a huge party there encouraging the athletes along.  It was great to run/shuffle past them and they got a high five as well as I went past.

Up Tongariro St and there was less than a kilometre to go.  Halfway up I saw Pete going nuts behind the barricades.  I high fived him as I went past and about 10m further up Coach Dave was there and he got high fived too, as did heaps of spectators that were all cheering me along for the last stretch up the road.  It was then a left hand turn off the road and onto the reserve and all I could think about was "don't slip on the grass - it's really wet, there might not be a lot of grip."  Thankfully my feet stayed firm and I completed the left hand turn safely.

All of a sudden the finish chute was in front of me and I was on the carpet.  Lights were everywhere and the noise of the crowds and music playing were incredible.  In that instant all of the pain I had been feeling completely disappeared and I started running down the finish chute as fresh as a daisy.  I even managed a bit of a leap for joy.  As I got to the last few metres I high fived the crowds on the right hand side of the finish chute, completely forgetting that Pete (and Coach Dave) were in the ironmates stand on the opposite side - will never live that one down!).

Before I knew it I was running through the finish tape to the sounds of Mike Reilly calling ...

TONI HODGE - YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

SOO happy...and tired!

Coach Dave, St Pete and me

Ironman New Zealand 2011 - The Prologue

Sh*t!

Tuesday night of the earthquake and we had just gone to bed.  No, it wasn't an aftershock.  I had just closed my eyes and shifted my mind away from the earthquake and onto ironman when I suddenly realised I had a minor problem.

My wetsuit.

I didn't have it.

It was in at The Frontrunner having its minor nicks glued in preparation for ironman.  The Frontrunner is in the CBD which was now in a pile of rubble and in complete lockdown.  I had no idea whether or not the store was still standing or whether my wetsuit was in one piece.  Either way it didn't matter.  There was no way the CBD was going to be open again before we were due to head north to Taupo in a week's time.  I was going to have to get hold of a new wetsuit.

Fortunately that was indeed a relatively minor problem.  My bike had been serviced the day before and I had, thankfully, picked it up that evening (Monday).  If I had left it one more day then it would also have been stuck in the CBD and I would have had a much bigger problem to contend with.

There was no question, though, about going to Taupo.  We had sustained no damage to the house, we weren't injured and all our family and friends were accounted for.

It wasn't all plain sailing, however.

We did lose water for a couple of days and with the damage sustained to the city's infrastructure, we were all asked to limit our water and electricity use and so that meant no showers, no flushing of toilets, no laundry etc.  All those day to day things you take for granted suddenly became a real luxury.  Add to that the requisite aftershocks and by mid-week we were starting to feel pretty drained, physically and emotionally.

Because we didn't know how long the water situation would go on for, and because I needed to ensure I kept getting good rest over the coming days we decided to bring forward our departure date and managed to book in for a couple of nights in Kaikoura.  I had looked at accommodation options in Picton and Blenheim but the exodus from Christchurch after the earthquake meant that motels were in short supply and so we were glad to find a room at Kaikoura Waterfront Apartments. 

View from our apartment

It was a great spot, right across from the ocean and we were able to catch up on laundry and generally just chill.

 On Sunday morning we took the opportunity to head out on a Whale Watch tour - one of those things that, as a relative "local" you never tend to do.  It was a fantastic morning out on the sea and the company runs a slick operation for the tourists.

We saw three whales during our tour as well as a seal and several different birds and the weather was perfect for being at one with the wildlife.

 During the afternoon we checked out the seal colony - and they were looking as chilled out as I was becoming.  Fantastic.

Yes, you may take my photo...

By Monday morning we had caught up with the laundry and had achieved a couple of nights' good sleep and were on our way to Taupo.

First stop was Picton where we caught the early afternoon ferry to Wellington and it was an overnight stop in Wellington before continuing on Tuesday, getting into Taupo early afternoon.

Just before we got to Taupo we had a very important stop to make.  The Prime Minister had declared that there would be a nationwide call for 2 minutes of silence in remembrance of the Christchurch earthquake at 12.51pm on Tuesday, exactly a week after it hit.  We were just a few kilometres out of Taupo at the time but stopped the car and stood roadside, paused in thought for our shattered community.

After we unpacked the car I remembered the roll of white electrical tape we had with us and thought of a great use for it:

Thoughts are with home even though we were half a country away.

Wednesday dawned and I had a very important job to do.  A wetsuit was needed!  Down to the ironman sports expo and straight to the 2XU stand where I had established the preferred model to replace my wetsuit languishing amongst rubble in Christchurch.  Half an hour later and we were walking out with a 2XU V1. 

It was also time to take the bike out for a light spin so a 45min ride was completed and I used that ride to scope out the run course.  Everything was feeling good, the bike was running well and I thought I was pretty calm and relaxed.

What I did start dealing with, however, were migraine-type headaches.  I can fall victim to migraines if I don't drink enough and get a bit dehydrated but in this instance I was slugging back Powerade so I couldn't believe that was the problem.  Another possibility was the climate - it was noticeably warmer in Taupo than I had been used to and I wondered if the heat/humidity were getting to me a little.

The most likely explanation, however, would soon reveal itself.

In line for registration

In the meantime I had to register, and did this on Thursday.  At registration we had to sign our lives away and get weighed.

We would get weighed before and then straight after the finish, something that, I believe, is unique to the NZ ironman event.  It was a bit disconcerting to find that, apparently, I had put on 5kg since leaving Christchurch a week earlier.  On seeing that I very quickly resolved not to dwell on it - there were so many possible explanations and it really wasn't worth worrying about.  My weight fluctuates hugely at the best of times and my attitude had been that I was prepared to complete ironman no matter what weight my body decided to sit at (as it obviously has a mind of its own!).

We got back to the motel and checked out the registration bag.  We had been given three marked transition bags, labelled for the swim, bike and run legs.  Also, the freebie for competitors was an ironman branded wheel bag.  A great bag for your aero wheels - pity my Fast Forward aero wheels had come with a free bag already!
 

A bonus in the registration packs, though, was a special race number for the Christchurch athletes.  Instead of the pink or blue background (for women and men respectively) we had a red and black striped background (Canterbury's sporting colours) and the message "Christchurch is my Home".  It was a really nice touch and there was no question about wearing it on race day.

That afternoon we also headed out to Reporoa to check out the bike course and then I had the job of sorting out the transition bags, ready for handing in with the bike the following morning.

Gear ready for the transition bags - hopefully I haven't forgotten anything!

In the meantime Coach Dave had been in text contact.  He had just arrived in Taupo and suggested we meet up for a brief swim on Friday morning.  It wasn't scheduled but any additonal excuse to take the new wetsuit out was a good one.

Before that, though, there was a very important function to get to - the carbo party.  This was the first opportunity for athletes to get together and do a bit of carbo loading and it was also the first opportunity for me to meet Iron Jack (Jacky) in person.  I've mentioned Jacky in previous posts, but I had met her via Facebook last year when she posted a link to her website on the IMNZ facebook group.  I followed her progress with training and we realised that we had a lot in common - first ironman, not your typical lean, mean, fighting machine, out to prove an average person can achieve extraordinary things.

Iron Jack and I meet!

It was so good, then, to finally meet Jacky and we had a great time catching up and sharing experiences.

Friday morning and on the real countdown to IM!  We headed down to the yacht club and met up with Dave and Curly for a quick swim.  While we were getting ready I mentioned the headaches I had been getting all week.  "Hmm", said Dave, "it's probably tension".  Duh, I thought, why didn't I think of that?

Final swim, Friday morning, with Dave - the calm before the storm.

Well I probably didn't want to think of that as I was so busy being "calm" about it all.  That was all about to end, however, as we went out for our swim and my brain decided it had had enough of being calm about all of this and proceded to have a meltdown.

Great.  Here I am swimming to the assigned buoy.  Stop to look for the others and find they've disappeared.  So I head to a couple more buoys and then start swimming back and, as I do, it all becomes too much and before you know it I'm bawling my eyes out and my goggles are filling with water.

Unbelievable.

I know I can do the distance, I've done it before, so why am I freaking out?   Well I guess it was just a release for all the tension that had been building up all week but that was no comfort at the time.  I got to shore and tried to pull myself together.  St Pete was standing on shore trying to figure out what was going on but I wasn't in any fit state to talk to anyone right away.  I gave myself a good talking to and decided I needed to finish the swim on a positive note so, much to Pete's confusion, turned around and headed out again for 100m.

Calm and happy.  Calm and happy.

You can swim, and it feels fine.  You can do this.

I got back to shore and walked up to the car.  "What's going on, are you OK?"  Pete asked.  "NO" I blubbed....

And that set the tone for the rest of the day.  I was a complete wreck and felt sick.  A good long soak in the motel's hot pool was called for and by lunchtime I was about as ready as I'd ever be to go and check in the bike and transition bags.  That done I tried to chill out again in our room for the afternoon while St Pete tried to maintain a calm and happy atmosphere while providing happy treats such as pikelets and chocolate...

By early Friday evening I was emotionally shattered but with the help of advice from Jacky (think like Nemo: "just keep swimming") and a pep talk from Coach Dave, I was ready for a decent sleep.

7.30pm arrived and I was indeed off in the land of ironman dreams...

Never a Dull Moment

Last Tuesday morning started out like many others. It was a typical day and I had just a short swim to do at the pool - my final pool session before Ironman.

Irene, a colleague at work, was on her first day back after a 4 week break on annual leave. On welcoming her back I noted how relaxed and tanned she was looking - she had obviously had a great holiday. "Relaxed?", she said, "I'm so relaxed I'm almost comatose". With my typical touch of irony, and knowing how interesting the work environment can become, I couldn't help but remark, "we'll see how long that lasts!"

Little did I know how prophetic that remark would be as, less than 4 hours later, Christchurch would be struck by an earthquake of 6.3 magnitude, destroying any chance of anyone maintaining any sense of calm.

I was swimming at the pool when, without warning, I heard a rumble underwater and the water turned into a swell around me. Immediately I stood up and here was the 50m pool rocking around,throwing water over its edges while I and the other swimmers tried to maintain our balance. I had only one thought and that was whether the pool was going to stay in one piece or would it start breaking up around me.

Thankfully it held and the shaking stopped. At that point I had no idea of the earthquake's severity but the pool complex had lost power and so the lifeguards immediately ordered us out of the pool and out of the complex. We had time only to pick up our bags and then head out. Shaken up, in wet togs, and drizzly weather, I ended up on the scooter, raincoat on over a towel wrapped around my waist. In any other circumstances it would have looked pretty funny.

Things didn't seem too serious at that point though. Aftershocks had caused the pool to be closed down on a number of occasions over the past few months and we had no reason to believe this was any different. As I rode home, though, a few hints of what had happened became apparent.

There was a crack on a corner of the road. Water had started coming up out of some of the drains. A couple of brick fences had fallen over, although I couldn't be positive that they hadn't fallen over earlier. As I got closer to home, riding around Hagley Park, the traffic had started getting heavier and was almost gridlocked.

Finally, as I rode past Riccarton Road, I glanced up the road and saw a pile of bricks across the road from a fallen building and an ambulance parked, lights flashing. I wasn't to know at the time but the building had collapsed and completely crushed a car and its trailer, killing the driver.

I got home and was met by a neighbor who quickly informed me that "this was bigger than September". It was with some trepidation, then, that I went inside.

Thankfully, things weren't as bad as I was expecting. There was a fair bit of stuff that had fallen on the floor but amazingly enough no breakages. Over the coming day, however, we were to find that this earthquake would make the September earthquake seem like a minor tremor.

As I write this, a week later, 147 are confirmed dead and 200 are still listed as missing. Most of the city's iconic heritage stone and brick buildings have been reduced to rubble. A number of hill suburbs have been evacuated due to slips or the risk of slips. Eastern suburbs that got hit by liquefaction in the September earthquake have been hit again, and more severely. Many of the city's sports facilities have suffered major damage. Roads and underground services have been severely damaged. A third of the buildings in the CBD have been red stickered meaning they are unsafe and must be demolished. Two supermarkets have confirmed that the damage is such that they won't be reopening, meaning the loss of 240 jobs.

Out of such adversity, however, we have also seen the most incredible display of human courage, spirit and kindness. The community has pulled together to shovel silt, provide shelter for those made homeless, and ensure everyone is fed, watered and listened to. The wider community have come to the city's aid and that wider community extends globally. This tragic disaster has touched the world and while it is going to take Christchurch a long time to recover, it will pull through and I have no doubt will be stronger for it.

So where does that leave me with ironman? I'll update you with that on my next blog.

Kia kaha Christchurch.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Getting Closer

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Tapering has been the goal and Coach Dave promised that this meant it would get easier. As always, I have learnt not to take his comments literally...

The volume did come down. No more 4, 5, 6 hour bike rides. No more long runs or long swims. However if something is taken out you can be sure it will be replaced by something else. In my case the volume was replaced by intensity.

So I've had a couple of weeks of sprint sessions. Things like 200m sprints ... x10.  Then there's been bricks (bike/run combinations), for instance bike 10 minutes then run 10 minutes ... x3.

For someone who doesn't do fast (this is why I'm doing Ironman and not sprint triathlons), I have at least been able to show a turn of speed on foot, albeit for short bursts. To put it in perspective, though, my standard run pace is around 6min 30sec per kilometre. I managed to pick this up to a pace of 4min 30sec for a 200m sprint. Over a marathon distance that 4:30 pace would translate to 3 hours 10 minutes.

But get this, the 2010 Ironman World Champion, Mirinda Carfrae, ran her marathon in Kona in 2 hours 53 minutes...! So even if I sprinted as fast as I could I still wouldn't be able to keep up with her - and I was stuffed after 200m.

Anyway, enough of my abundance of slow twitch muscles.

Tomorrow the bike goes in for its pre race service and compulsory ironman check. Race wheels are on and looking fab!

The lounge is looking like a triathlon shop as spare gear to take to Taupo is slowly finding its way downstairs - spare tubes, CO2 canisters, swim goggles, drink bottle, helmet, bike lock, bento box etc etc etc.

My remedial swimming lesson also wasn't so bad. A very minor change to my stroke had Coach Dave happy as a clam however I did have to reaffirm last night that 13 days out is too late for him to think I can change my running form. He had seen me running for the first time yesterday and realized that I run like a boxer (tight upper body, arms held high rather than low and relaxed). It's something I've been aware of my entire running career but have never managed to fix - one of my unique quirks!

Yesterday was also my last significant open water swim. And even at this late stage it provided a new experience in my ironman journey. The experience of a 1m swell. There was dragon boat racing on at Lake Pegasus and so we headed out to Corsair Bay for my 45min swim. Corsair Bay is usually sheltered and calm and for this reason the favoured Saturday morning swim venue of the Canterbury Tri Club. Yesterday, however there was a southerly coming right into the shore and so calm made way for 2-3 foot high waves, making it a real challenge to swim in. I was getting tossed around and several gobsful of salt water were swallowed.

I'd have to say it was good to have the Canterbury Tri Club in the water as well - they were reporting that the juniors were feeling a bit jittery out there and I don't blame them. I don't think I would have been particularly happy about being out there on my own. I probably didn't do much more than about 1200m in the 45min but I did it and can be sure that no matter what Lake Taupo throws at me I can handle it!

Finally, last night my riding buddies got together last night for a BBQ to wish Curly and I good luck for Ironman. I hadn't seen some of them for a few months, as my recent training has been all about solo rides, so it was great to catch up and their support has been amazing. Curly has also been under Coach Dave's guidance and put the whole event into perspective when I asked him how he was feeling as our training winds down.

"Ironman?", he said, "it's just a long training day".

So true.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The word according to St Pete

11 months ago Toni aka Irongirl101 and I had a conversation about the possibility of Toni doing Ironman in 2011. Now that discussion is about to become reality.
As you will have read from the numerous blogs written there has had a few speed bumps ( be it weather conditions, tiredness or the amount of time allocated to training) and even a wedding didn't get in the way of the Ironman journey.

Along the way the lounge got turned into a training zone with the bike on the wind trainer over the winter months, and while the wind trainer has been put away even today there is a bike in the lounge.. What the....

Over the 11 month lead up, I have become Team manager, chief motivator, door kicker outer (during the winter months when a long ride is required), run coach, head of laundry and head of cleaning, also head chef ( yes I make Gordon Ramsay look like a sissy) and in charge of bike rescue, when on the odd time the a helmet change has been required or a puncture has occurred and the spare tube is the incorrect size (thanks Scotty Brown). All this would be cool if I had staff. (doh I don't).

So with only 12 days to go, Toni is now in the tapering stage of training, only a 3 hour bike ride today, and the coming days includes more rest days but some short sharp sessions, Included in this will be some nice run sprints, which I am looking forward to and Toni isn't so much.. okay Toni hates sprinting!!!

On the 5th of March I will drive Toni to the start and support during the day, all going well 14 to 14.5 hours after the start, Toni will be an IRONMAN.

For the next few weeks after the event, not a lot of training will take place as Toni takes a well earned rest and takes over all the household duties (bet Toni is looking forward to that) and also makes Gordon Ramsay look like a sissy, meanwhile I will begin the buildup to the Christchurch Marathon.

But in early April the journey starts again and Irongirl201 will be the focus. Taupo 2012 is only 377 days away.







- Posted using BlogPress from Pete's iPad

The Remedial Swimmer

Last week Coach Dave had a (not so) brilliant idea.

I was catching up with him and fellow Iron Virgin, Curly, to go over our race day strategies.  During the course of the discussion Dave and Curly noted how we hadn't had a technique session for a few months (basically since summer started) and so Dave suggested we have a light technique session at the pool on Saturday afternoon as a tune up to make sure we were all on track with our stroke.

So it was set, and I was quite looking forward to it.  Afterall I felt that in the last month my swim had really come together and I was now calm and relaxed in the water, and my open water swims were no longer the mental battle they once were.  I was interested, though, to see how I was looking in the water and so on Saturday morning I got St Pete to take a couple of short videos of me swimming at Lake Pegasus.  There are a couple of bridges going to a small island on the lake so Pete was able to stand on the bridges and get some good footage of me approaching, going underneath the bridge and heading away the other side.

At the pool I guess I optimistically expected to get some positive reinforcement from the coach that I was on the right track and things were looking good to knock off the swim in Lake Taupo.  But it didn't quite pan out that way.

Turns out my arm was straightening out in front just a fraction too much and my 3/4 catch up had almost reverted to a 1/2 catch up and so I spent several lengths swimming and having my arm held up by a stick from the side of the pool as Dave tried to prevent me from stroking too soon.

When I wasn't laughing (and drowning!) from fighting this stupid stick I was suggesting to Dave that 3 weeks out from the event is maybe a little too late to be trying to fix my swim stroke....  I know he meant well and they are only minor adjustments, but at this late stage (and with the swim being my achilles heel) it was starting to feel pretty major.

All is not lost, though.  I have a one-on-one session with Coach Dave on Thursday.  (I've dubbed it my remedial swim lesson!)

Hopefully between the two of us we can crack this nut in a simple way for me to remember on race day.