Ironman Cairns - The Off Season

So, Ironman Cairns is done and dusted, what now?  

Now is time to give back to my greatest supporter and fan club leader.  St Pete.  He spent 17 hours manning the phone last Sunday, providing Facebook updates for all my fb friends and it was the most amazing experience to have him read out everyone's messages of support while I was struggling at the 34km mark.  

But that wasn't the end of it.  

All year St Pete has cooked for me, cleaned and run with me.  And he's also put up with my tired, cranky times, when the last thing I've wanted to do is head out yet again for another training session, or when I've come back from a session that hasn't gone to plan.

Ironman is an imposing mistress in your home life and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that anyone who tries to take this on is going to fail miserably if they don't have the wholehearted support of their family.

And the support hasn't stopped there. At a time when we were supposed to be celebrating the end of the season at IM New Zealand, Pete was the one giving me the go-ahead to sign up for my make up race in Cairns, thereby extending my season and his support role for another three months.

So now it's his time.  For the next few weekends there will be no alarm clocks.  Activities will be his choice and we will enjoy some "us" time, fun time.

And we'll make the most of it as well.  

Because soon enough Coach Dave will be tapping the Skype button and suggesting that I might like to start training again.  Ironman #4 in Taupo is not that far away, and I have new goals to reach for!

Ironman Cairns - Race Report

What a friggin' day.

But I finished Ironman Cairns, officially Ironman #3, and am therefore a very content camper.

The race plan, however, got shredded up and thrown in the sea when I got out of the water and saw my time.  2 hrs 17 mins !!!!!!!  OK, there is more to that story, which I will come back to.
The day started out fine - the weather was a real pearler.  Clear skies, no wind and it promised to be hot - bugger!  After several days of rain, Cairns had turned it on big time.

We had the usual pre-race routine.  Alarm went off at 4.00am and I was up feeling fresh and ready to go.  A light breakfast and then it was down to T1 to check on the bike and pump up the tyres.  Then wetsuit on and off to the start area where the ironman athletes were corralled before being allowed into the water.

The swim started really well, I was happy and calm and had my breathing sorted out nicely, and then about 300m in got my goggles kicked off my face.  No problem, I emptied them out and carried on, but I would end up being plagued be continual leakages all the way round the course, inevitably slowing me up as I periodically stopped to empty them out and try to find a decent seal.

In hindsight I think I made a major blunder by putting sunscreen lotion on my face before the start. I'm pretty sure that's what caused my goggles to leak.

Doh.

I checked my time at the end of the first lap, though, and it was 51mins.  Considering the problem with the goggles, I was OK with that and on track for a swim time of 1hr 40min. 
I head out on the second lap then and that's where the fun started.  At about that time the tide started to go out.  I hadn't realised it at the time but I did notice the flotsam that I was starting to swim through heading out on the second loop.  Luckily it consisted of tree branches and not any of the local wildlife!   And so the 860m outward leg was OK but I kept being pushed off course and then the 830m back we were swimming against the tide.  It seemed to take forever to get back into shore and I was still getting pushed off course by the current as well.

I got out of the water, had swollen sore eyes from all the salt water, was feeling mildly sick as well from the salt water and then looked at my watch.

2 hrs 17 min.

What?  OK, so I wasn't dreaming that it was taking forever to get back in but 51 minutes PLUS an extra 35mins to get around that second lap and only 3mins inside the cutoff!  It would be fair to say I was mildly annoyed with myself/ironman/everything.  To add insult to injury the Garmin recorded a swim of 4.3km - 500m further than the course should have been.  I know I kept ending up being wide on the course but I can't imagine I swam that much extra distance to stay on track.

However one of the great secrets to success in ironman is that you must have the ability to roll with the punches.  Don't let adversity get to you, adapt to the situation and you'll make it to the end.  And so I did.  And at that point I threw away the race plan and it simply became a case of getting to the finish.

With the swim behind me I didn't consider the idea of trying to make up time on the bike but, even so, did try and do a solid effort.  However it was hard.  My neck, shoulders and arms were stuffed from the swim and I guess I would have been behind on nutrition and overall energy.  And it got hot - it got to 28 degrees and there was no wind.  In fact it was borderline too hot for the aero helmet and I struggled to keep cool enough. 

I was also chugged down the gels, bananas and electrolyte - I had 10 gels, 4 bananas, 3 bottles of electrolyte and 3 bottles of water. 

The first 90km on the bike was a bit of a grovel but I did improve in the second half and I think I came home strong, managing to maintain a pretty even pace throughout the whole course.  However it was still slower than I would have liked (6:52) - I guess a combination of the heat and additional swim time plus, the course is marginally hillier than Taupo.  The rollers are deceiving and would have slowed me up no doubt.  While Taupo has around 1900m of climbing concentrated at one end of the two lap course, the Cairns course totalled over 2000m of climbing, across a larger number of smaller undulations.

Despite the challenges of the course though, it was absolutely stunning.  The coastal highway up to Port Douglas had been closed down for the event and so we had the road to ourselves, and it was fantastic.  Gorgeous views along the coastline and through the rainforest more than made up for any discomfort being experienced. 

Even so, I was feeling pretty tanked by the time I got to the run and set off with a combo run walk - which lasted about a kilometre!  I kept trying different strategies to get running again (i.e. run to the next aid station; run 2 road cones, walk 1 etc) but my brain wasn't having any of it.  So power walking it was the outcome with some jogging interspersed for the first 10km.  At about that point a bloke who was walking as well teamed up with me and we power walked the next 21km.  He was setting a good pace - I think we managed an 8min km at one point, all the while having a great natter about Ironman.  Thankfully he was happy to talk while I focused on keeping up! 

That got us onto the esplanade where we had 2 1/2 loops to go.  At that point St Pete found us - he had come down to the far end of the Esplanade and proceeded to run ahead and stop in the dark to take photos.  It was hilarious to leave him behind and then suddenly he would pop up out of nowhere to say Hi again.  So much energy - and far more than I had at that time!

About half way through the first loop I was starting to struggle so I told Stephen, my walking companion, to go on.  We were at 14 hours at that point, and had about 10km to go, and he thought he might have a crack at 15 hours while I didn't think I had it in me.  My gut was starting to rebel at the electrolytes I was having at each aid station and for about a kilometre I had to slow my walk right down as I was feeling really close to getting light headed.  It was a real low point and I knew I needed to do something different to get to the finish.  At the next aid station then I changed tactics and went onto coke and lollies and that started to make a difference.

The last 8km loop, then, I was sore but feeling much stronger and overtook 3 blokes on the final 4km back to the finish.  Of course I managed to run the last 500m and had a total blast at the finish chute.  By the time I got to the chute the VIPs were lining the route to provide a cheering guard of honour and it was the most amazing experience to high five all these people cheering me to the finish.

Finish time 16hrs 10min. On the surface you could say it was disappointing, but given the start to the day I am over the moon to have finished.  An ironman finish is a finish, and more than anything, it teaches you something new every time. 

This time around I've learnt:

1. That my swim demons have been kicked into touch.  If you read my blogs from the start of my ironman journey you would have read about my first lake swim with Coach Dave.  In the past two years my swimming confidence has improved out of sight.  Despite the conditions, the threatening nausea, stinging eyes, leaking goggles and the experience of getting nowhere fast on Sunday, there were no panic attacks, no hyperventilating and no meltdown.  I just kept emptying my goggles, re-sighting, putting my head down and swimming until finally I was within touching distance of the exit steps.  A huge milestone.

2. Not to put sunscreen on my face before swimming.  I'm pretty sure this is what is what caused my goggles to leak, as when I tried to push them a bit more firmly on they would slide around rather than the more familiar sucking motion onto my face.  Doh would be an understatement, but an important lesson to be learnt.

3. That there is a lot of walking at the tail end of ironman, and there are an amazing number of great stories to hear if you slow down enough to listen to them.  I spent an unforgettable 21km walking with Stephen and listening to his tales of ironman and sharing in his absolute love of the sport (next year he becomes a "legend" at Port Macquarie and this year he not only did Port Mac but also Melbourne and Cairns, in the space of 12 weeks.  The latter two completed because they were inaugural events).  In my eyes he is already a legend.

4. My mental toughness got me through the tough bits and I was adaptable enough to accept throwing away the race plan and then changing the nutrition strategy when it had clearly stopped working.  In the latter half of the marathon, coke and lollies rule!

Recovery post-ironman has also been noticeably better than my maiden effort in 2011.  I have the usual chafing but, in terms of muscle soreness and tiredness, there has been much less suffering.  I guess that also reflects the improved condition my body is in - bonus!

And in the wise words of Coach Dave: 

The irongirl legend continues!

Ironman Cairns - Nothing to do but Rest

Well, it's all done. Bike racked, bags checked in, weighed and practice swim ticked off. There is nothing left to do now except rest and wait for the morning to come.

Yesterday, after getting registered and getting the requisite souvenirs from the ironman store, we went out and drove the bike and run courses. Various reports had raved about how scenic the bike course is and they weren't wrong. The road surface is smooth and you are on a four lane highway out of Cairns before it narrows to two lanes along the coastline up to Port Douglas. Along the coast there are a few rollers and one semi-decent climb, that we will do twice, but the highest part of the course is 58m so it should be just enough to keep things interesting rather than a slog.



Pretty impressive is the fact that the highway is being closed down for the race, so it's looking like it will be a really nice ride.



Once we get to Port Douglas we turn around and retrace our tracks back towards Cairns, do another turnaround and head back to Port Douglas for a second time before heading back South to T2, located about 10km north of Cairns.

Out of T2 we run a loop out to Yorkeys Knob before heading back to Cairns.



Once we get past the airport we will be on the Esplanade in Cairns and we will head towards the finish line. Once we get to the finish line, though, there will be about 16km still to run so there are two more laps to do of the Esplanade and hopefully during those last stages of the race there will be LOTS of crowd support!

The run is flat and looks really scenic as well, except for the middle section between Yorkeys Knob and the Esplanade where we will be running along the highway with only cane fields and resident snakes for company.

The snakes can stay away!

Last night was the Welcome Dinner and race briefing. The USM team did a great job with the evening, with complimentary cans of soft drinks and dishes served at the tables rather than the buffet bun fight we are accustomed to in Taupo.



The dessert, tropical trifle with coconut custard and passion fruit sounded to die for but it hadn't been served by the time the race briefing was over and so I mustered all my resolve and suggested to St Pete that we leave before temptation got put in front of me. Coach Dave would have been so proud ... and I'll make up for it on Monday night!

During the speeches we heard from Macca that he wouldn't be going to the Olympic Games and while it would have been really disappointing for him, I can't help but be excited about the three-way race that is now lining up for Kona this year - Crowie, Macca and Lance. Should be epic.



This morning was the one and only official practice swim we could do on the course. Because of the possibility of crocs (yes, really!) our entry into the water was closely supervised. Before we were allowed in a couple of boats and about four jet skis spent a couple of minutes doing donuts around the course - evidently to scare away any wildlife ... Crocs much prefer still water you see. We were then counted in, in groups, and counted out again and the numbers in the water at any one time were restricted.



The water temperature was really good but the visibility was nil. It was like swimming in green murk and you literally couldn't see your hands in front of you. A couple of times I got knocked while swimming but instinctively realised that it was another swimmer rather something with big jaws. Whew!

The rest of the morning was then taken up with racking the bike and dropping the bags off at each transition area. By lunchtime all of that had been ticked off and I am now happily reclined on the couch and going nowhere anytime soon.



Tomorrow the adventure begins in earnest and I am feeling relaxed, calm and ready. A big change from last year! Whatever happens out on the course I will adapt and deal with it and I am ready to do the best that I can and enjoy the atmosphere that is Ironman.

There's nothing quite like it!

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Ironman Cairns - Arrival

There's something special about boarding a plane and realizing that every second person on that flight is a fellow Ironman athlete. Even if they weren't wearing their ironman-branded gear, ironman finisher's shirt or lugging around their ironman backpack, you would spot them a mile off. Lean, chiseled looks and shaved legs (well that's particularly obvious on the guys!).

I neither look lean, nor chiseled, but I was sporting my ironman gear and St Pete did have his ironman backpack handy so we were part of "the club", and I did share one final trait with them all. We were all relaxed (outwardly, anyway), and in no hurry. There was a certain calm around, even as half the flight congregated around the oversize luggage area waiting for the seemingly never-ending supply of bike bags and boxes to be extracted from the innards of the plane.

We had had a relaxing flight. I had discovered the major benefit of having short legs - they were the perfect length for resting across St Pete in our double seat configuration on the plane. No swollen ankles for me on this flight!



Then as we arrived into the baggage claim area we were greeted by a balloon arch welcoming all the ironman athletes to Cairns. A nice touch.



We made it to our hotel and after unpacking went out to explore the immediate area. In true tropical fashion the weather is muggy with intermittent rain. Thankfully it isn't too hot and if it rains on Sunday, that will simply be a bonus and help to cool the body down a little.

So, best thing about our accommodation is its proximity to the start/finish area. We've got a one bedroom apartment with cooking facilities so we can self cater as we need. The only downside so far is the promised and eagerly anticipated spa...it's cold! I guess in far north Queensland they figure a hot spa wouldn't get much use but I do wonder what the point is of having a spa at the same temperature as the swimming pool...ah well.

This afternoon then we have explored our immediate surrounds, done a light 15min run along the Esplanade and hired a car so that tomorrow we can go up to Port Douglas and check out the bike course, T2 and Yorkey's Knob area where the run will be.

The bike has been assembled and tomorrow morning I'll take it out for a spin and make sure all is working as it should.



So far so good for this Irongirl.




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Ironman Cairns - Getting Ready

The days are suddenly rushing by and I am staring down the barrel of my second (third) ironman.  And it's getting exciting!

Three months ago I was dealing with the disappointment of not being able to complete Ironman New Zealand.  Fast forward to today and St Pete and I are now looking forward to heading up to Cairns so that I can put the 2012 season to bed once and for all.

And it has been a long season.  But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Over the last couple of weeks it seemed the extended training was starting to get the better of me.  I was tired, cranky, and the world seemed to be conspiring to make life far more difficult than it needed to be...

• The chamois in my tri shorts fell to bits and so I felt compelled to point out the design flaw to the manufacturer, while believing I was going to have to resort to my old shorts for race day.  
• My bike shop decided they wouldn't have time to service my bike because they had a sale on.  
• And then my aero bottle mount fell to bits on my last ride, the day before I was due to pack the bike ready for the trip

However the stars are aligning and all is calm and good with the world again.  St Pete once again came to my rescue and was my even keel during my short-lived but rough ride... 

• 2XU happily replaced the shorts (and surprise, surprise, the new shorts have a redesigned chamois!)
• Big ups to Clarence St Cyclery who immediately relented and arranged to service my bike after I emailed them expressing my disappointment in their priorities.  
• And they also had replacement aero bottle mounts in stock, so that final problem turned out to be a non-event also.

And I had a great final bike ride on Sunday morning.  I was unusually apprehensive about it as the race wheels were on from the service and I had somehow convinced myself that the tyres would get shredded riding through the CBD to get to Centennial Park.

Yes, just a wee bit of pre-race paranoia going on...

However 5 minutes into the ride I had forgotten all my concerns and was instead enjoying the hum of the wheels.  They just feel fast and they sound like they are cutting through the air with no effort at all.  Even the sound of a gear change is amazing.  A satisfying, no-nonsense clunk as they shift up and you just know you're operating on a different level to the training wheels.

I guess you have to experience them to understand what I'm talking about...

Needless to say, the tyres survived.  And of course if the logical me had been in charge I would have known they would - I've never gotten a puncture riding through the CBD or in Centennial Park, unlike out at Kurnell. 

So all is good.  I'm feeling fit.  I'm feeling rested.  I'm feeling confident.  I don't know what the day will bring but whatever happens I'll deal with it and I'll do the best that I am capable of.

I'm ready to channel Nemo and Just Keep Swimming, and then Embrace the Suck on the run.  Inbetween the two, I'll just be having an all-out good time on the bike.

We fly to Cairns on Thursday morning.  Before then, it's going to be full on, but exciting as well! The next two nights will be spent packing the rest of our gear and ticking off the final two light training sessions - swim tonight and 15min run tomorrow morning.  On top of that is the food - most important!  Because we are travelling domestically, we can take some pre-prepared food with us instead of having to buy everything up there.  So for that I'll be whipping up a dish of lasagne (Thursday night's dinner), a couple of batches of pikelets (pre-race day snacky carbo-loading food) and a bacon and egg pie (race day sustenance for St Pete).

And somewhere amongst all that will be rest, rest and more rest.

Look out Cairns, we're coming.   :)

Sydney Half Marathon - Last Big Training Day Before the Taper

On the 6th of June 2004 I ran my first half marathon.

It was a dead flat course, in Christchurch, and at the time it was the hardest thing I had ever done.  I wasn't a runner and I remember well how much everything was hurting by the time I got to the finish line.  The official photo backs that up - I was a picture of pain and misery and I was experiencing the biggest challenge I had ever faced. But I did it and got a net time of 2:13:15.

Despite the difficulty and challenge, over the next 8 years, and with over a dozen half marathons under my belt, I never managed to crack that time.  I came close, with a couple of 2:17s and 2:18s, but more commonly I would come in anywhere between 2:20-2:30.

That was, until today.

Today was the running of the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon. At only 14 days before my A race, entering was a bit of a question mark, however Coach Dave was confident I could use it as a training day and still have time to recover.

So it was a to be a training day for me and a blowout of the cobwebs for St Pete.  The plan was to go at IM pace, take it easy and make sure I got nutrition and lead up right so I could finish feeling as fresh as possible.  Quietly I was targeting around 2:20 as a goal finish time.  St Pete, meanwhile, was going to take a break from plodding alongside me and go at his own pace for a change and meet me back at the finish.

Yesterday's pre-race rest day went well, albeit including a bit more activity than would normally be undertaken.  I had got home late-ish on Friday night so decided to flag the swim planned for that evening and do it Saturday morning instead.  I had an easy 30 minute spin on the wind trainer scheduled for Saturday so the schedule became light swim in the morning then bike in the afternoon.

The swim ended up turning into a 1km time trial and I was pretty happy with my time of 24:28.  Considering I was supposed to be taking it easy I was pleased to do a negative split and hard last 50m. We did virtually nothing during the rest of the day - went into town and pick up registration packs but that was it.  Did my light spin on the bike at around 4pm and then we had a light dinner (soup and roll) and it was lights out by 10pm.

This morning, then, the alarm went off at 4.45am - I had had a good sleep and we got up and I had mashed banana on toast for breakfast and we headed into town around 6.00am for a 6.45am start.  The weather was good - chilly but not too cold, and no wind.  We found the NRG club tent and dumped our bags and then headed down to the start.

There were wave starts so our group didn't get away until just after 7.00am, so there was a bit of waiting around, but it didn't worry me at all.  Finally we got going and the first 2km was downhill, so that was good for me - a chance to take it easy and allow the body to warm up properly (much better than an uphill start!).

My first km split was 6:06 which I was happy with - given the typical crush at the start which forces you to go good and slow.  The second km split came up  at 5:48 and I was thinking "that's a bit too fast". However I was feeling strong and I knew we had this downhill stretch and then a flat stretch before the first climb so I figured I'd stick with that pace if I could and make the most of the downhill/flat terrain.

That sort of pace continued for the next couple of kilometres and then we started getting some undulating stuff.  I was OK with it, though, continued running all the climbs and picking up water and Gatorade at every drink station.  I checked my time at the 10km mark and it was 1:01 which was stunning for me.  I realised I could do around 2:10 at that pace but did temper that with the thought that the wheels could fall off and so didn't get excited, just kept focusing on maintaining steady progress.  I didn't have any aches or pains but I knew my heart rate was relatively high so it was a real unknown as to whether I could maintain it for the second half.

At the 13km mark there was a Gu aid station so I picked up a Gu there and at that point the uphills were more frequent than the down as we started heading back to the start.  I had stopped tracking the kilometre splits by then, instead going by feel.  On the flats I was running strong, changing to a shorter stride for the climbs and then using the descents for a bit of recovery before picking up the pace again.

At around 17km we were back up by the start line and had one more loop away from the park to do, down into the Botanic gardens and back up again and this was starting to get hard.  There is one little steep climb there and so I told myself I could walk it, seeing as this was just a training run and I wasn't out to kill the legs.  However in the end I only ended up walking about 20m of it (less than a quarter of the climb) which didn't worry me.

I did my final time check at the 20km mark and the Garmin was saying 2:04 and I knew at that point that I was on for a PB.  Not sure how, but I managed to pick up the pace for the last 1100m (went from 6:36 pace at 20km to 6:21 for the final kilometre).  I crossed the line, stopped my watch, looked down, saw 2:11 and burst into tears (with happiness)!!!

Such a woman :)

Nothinz - a runner's best friend post-race

So, post-race, feeling great, considering.  A little bit of tiredness, but could have definitely carried on running.  We came back to Milsons Point, walked down to the pool and had a long soak in the spa.   I've got no major stiffness and feeling easily in the best shape after any half marathon I've done in the past, and especially after my maiden half marathon all those years ago!

All in all, with 14 days to go, I'm feeling in the best shape I've ever been.  No matter what, June 3rd is going to be a long day - even if it goes brilliantly I'll still be out there for 13-odd hours.  And anything can happen to put a dampener on things.  But with St Pete's never-ending support and Coach Dave's expert guidance I'm feeling ready to have a great day, no matter what Ironman decides to throw at me.

Today's events have been summed up quite aptly by St Pete (who, incidentally, had a fab day as well, smoking his race in 1:56:56):

I came, I saw, I kicked its arse

And I plan on doing that in a fortnight as well.

Why Do I Do This Year After Year?

Last Sunday my friend Bel became an Ironman.

In response to my congratulations, and while still hobbling around with stiff and sore legs, she said:

Thanks Toni! I appreciate all the rides we were able to do together. I don't know how you do this year after year.

Bel and I weren't able to ride together as much as I would have liked - bit of a bugger when you are training for two different ironman events and your training plans don't mesh that well.  But on Sunday, with a full ironman experience (and a pseudo-second one as well!) to draw on, I was mentally with Bel every step of the way and could feel her pain as St Pete and I followed her splits coming through on www.ironmanlive.com while she managed an amazing sub-13 hour finish in Ironman Australia.

But how do I do this year after year? Or more importantly, why do I do this year after year?

Bel thinks she is one of those "one and done" Ironmen.  She's ticked it off her bucket list and will now get back to her "normal" life knowing that she has achieved an amazing goal.

She might be right.

Or she might be wrong.

Once the aches and pains have worn off, once the fatigue has disappeared, will she start thinking about the race some more?  Thinking about what she could have done differently on the day?  How she might train differently in order to do a better time next time?

This is what ironman tends to do to you, and this is what it did with me.  It plays with your mind and keeps presenting you with all of these tantalising "what if" scenarios.   It creeps into your subconscious like a virus and before you know it you have full-blown 'flu and you're pressing the "payment" button on that 2013 entry.

Ironman is so big and so complex, that it's almost impossible to have a perfect day.  Most people think of it as a three-discipline sport (swim/bike/run).  Once you get into it, though, you realise that it is actually a six-discipline sport.  Yep - SIX disciplines to master in order to have the perfect day, the holy grail of ironman:

• swim
• bike
• run
• nutrition (if you don't get your food intake right on the day you will suffer big time or, worse, record a DNF)
• rest (rest and recovery are vital in allowing your body to build and repair after big sessions - yes, those weekend naps ARE a legitimate part of the training programme!)
• mind  (in training and on the day your mental preparation is key in getting you through the hard bits - and there will be hard bits.  As Macca once tweeted, you need to embrace the suck.).

So, in some respects, the challenge of mastering the entire sport is what brings me back time after time.  There is a huge sense of satisfaction to be gained from challenging myself and testing my limits.   There are good times and there are bad times and they are all just new ways of learning about your strengths and weaknesses.

And then there are the health benefits.  While people spend squillions of dollars on every diet book under the sun I've spent my adult life rebelling and then coming to terms with what works and what doesn't work in relation to my weight control.  At my worst I weighed 108kg.  I was eating what I wanted and exercising only on a limited basis - the odd mountain bike ride here or there and some dog obedience training were my excuses for an active life.  I finally got my act together and dropped 37kg with the help of Weight Watchers and, while it was just another weight loss program built on commercial interests, I did learn two important things: (1) I had to incorporate exercise back into my life permanently, and (2) that diets don't work - a diet is simply a temporary change to your eating habits.  If you are going to make a permanent change you must change your eating (and exercise) habits forever.

The discovery of ironman, then, has provided me with the perfect balance for my permanently healthy lifestyle.  It comprises three sports, so you never get bored with only training for one of them (and less likely to get injured through overtraining, too).  I adore one sport which also happens to be the biggest component (the bike), I'm OK with swimming (it's definitely something I've become more comfortable with over the last couple of years) and I have a love/hate relationship with running.  The volume of exercise is such that I can eat relatively normally and enjoy the treats without guilt when I've done a decent workout and still maintain a weight that I am usually happy with (man, that could be a whole other blog entry!).  OK, I'm not stick-thin, but I'm more of your front row prop rather than wing, so think solid rather than delicate!  But while I'm not a tiny athlete, I am strong and I can chug away for hours, like a solid, dependable diesel engine!  

I therefore seem to have a natural predisposition for going long and ironman ticks all the boxes and then some.  This sport has become a part of mine (and St Pete's) lives and I wouldn't have it any other way.

If Bel doesn't return to Ironman then I have absolutely no doubt that she will find many other challenging and rewarding goals to aim for.  In the meantime, I am so happy for her and pleased to have played a part, albeit a very, very, small one, in helping her reach her goal.

And that's what life is all about.