A Reflection from the Book of St Pete: 2014 Edition

Well 2014 has started and, as Irongirl is still away in New Zealand, it's about time I added a new chapter to the ever growing blog collection.

Who can remember the very first ½ ironman that Toni entered a few years ago, where the only aim was to finish?  Oh how times have changed.

But before I compare ½ ironman races, let's have a look back at the results of 2013, and where better to start than with me :)

I competed in a number of short distance runs ranging from 5 to 14km events.  One particular event that I ran with our friend Mel, an experience that Mel may remember for a long time to come (enough said).

I also did two half marathons.  The first was with Irongirl in May which we ran together the whole way and for the first time Toni broke the magical 120 minute barrier.

Then in October we both lined up for the second half marathon of the year and, as you would have read in previous blogs, Toni showed again her improved running ability and I set a new PB of 105 minutes.

Interceded with these events I also found the time to compete in two full marathons where I set a PB in the first of the year and stayed within 10 minutes of that PB on the second.  So overall a pleasing 2013…

But there’s more.

Let's summarise Irongirl's exploits over 2013 (just the major ones):

Sydney City to Surf (14km fun run): PB   Check

Sydney Half Marathon: PB                        Check

Blackmores Marathon: PB                         Check

Ironman New Zealand (the A race): PB     Check

Ironman Cairns (the B race): PB                Check*

*This wasn’t supposed to happen as the A race at IMNZ was the focus and IM Cairns was just to complete the distance towards the 12 races needed to get a Kona slot. (yeah right) :)

Not a bad year’s work!!

But now we come to 2014 and as you would have read in Toni’s previous blog, I gave the green light for Tauranga.  As the year progressed from time to time I mentioned that I thought a sub 6 hour race in Tauranga was possible.  However Irongirl brushed this off and just wanted to do a good race. ##

But let's look back a few years to that ½ ironman race in Lake Hood, just out of Ashburton, where Toni’s only focus was to finish inside the 7 hour cutoff, and finish she did, which led on to full Ironman and the rest is history.

The Tauranga half ironman was a different focus, not only to finish, but go out and give it a good crack. Toni and I even had the odd discussion about a top 11 finish, which would have meant qualification for the NZ age group team for the world long course champs in China later in the year.

So as you already know, the target of 6 hours was achieved and 11th place in Toni’s age division means potential NZ team qualification.  Although it wasn't an option for this year, it's nice to know what’s achievable and, who knows, Irongirl may turn up at the Tauranga race again with the aim of qualifying in the not too distant future.  :) 

In the meantime I am at day 21 of the www.slowtwitch.com 100 runs in 100 days challenge, currently sitting just outside the top 30 (not that I’m competitive or anything) and Toni is content in the knowledge that another chapter in the ever growing Irongirl legend has been completed.

½ Ironman PB and sub 6 hours:​​​      Check/Check

Top 11 placing in age group and Tauranga ½:   ​Check

Overall a pretty awesome start to 2014.

So the 2014 event calendar for Team Irongirl is pretty much set: a couple of fun runs, a ½ marathon, a marathon, and just a couple of Ironman events.  And that’s just Toni’s schedule...

It’s going to be a great year.  Why?

Because St Pete said so…

The end or just a new beginning.

## Have to say it, “I may have been proven right!!!”

Port of Tauranga Half - Race Report

The Port of Tauranga Half has a great history.  It is the longest running half iron distance triathlon in New Zealand, this year celebrating its 25th anniversary.  It was first run on 2 January 1990, its founder inspired by competing in Ironman Hawaii, and has become one of the country's iconic events in the annual triathlon calendar taking over the holiday town of Mt Maunganui every summer.  (The souvenir program provides a great history of the event and is well worth a read.)

And that on its own was a pretty good reason to enter.  The entry came about, however, after a challenge was made by two of my iron pals, Mel and Jacky.  They suggested I come over and do it with them.  But believe it or not I did hesitate.  While it's always good to slot in a half iron distance into the season in the build up to Ironman New Zealand, it would require an additional trip to New Zealand and not just a straightforward flight into Auckland.  There were the additional logistics of bringing the bike over and then driving to Mt Maunganui, around 3 hours out of Auckland.  In other words it would be on a scale, logistically similar to travelling to Ironman NZ but for "just a training day".

Most importantly, however, was the fact that it was down for 4 January which was St Pete's birthday.

On that basis alone I was prepared to flag it, however St Pete thought about it for a few minutes and before I knew it was messaging the two instigators back: "If you both enter then Toni can too". Woohoo, green flag given!

And so that's how Mel and I came to be standing waist deep in Pilot Bay at 6.15am yesterday searching out the turn buoys amongst the moored yachts.  (An operation a few weeks ago had caused Jacky's withdrawal but she would be found on the sidelines cheering everyone on.)

Mel and I at race briefing

The conditions were almost perfect.  The water wasn't glass-like as it had been the morning before and there was a light drizzle in the air, but that also meant that there was no rising sun to swim into (so no sunstrike on the water) and the temperatures would be a couple of degrees lower also.  The most difficult thing was finding those buoys amongst the boats.  And this wasn't like Ironmans New Zealand or Cairns - no buoys every 100m or so along the course!  There was one buoy at each corner and we needed to know the course well enough to navigate our way around the smaller 700m loop first, out onto the beach and back into the water again for the longer 1300m loop.  I figured, though, if I couldn't see the buoys immediately I simply needed to follow everyone else - afterall I was under no illusions that I'd be out in front!

My race plan for the day was to pretty much go by feel.  Coach Dave and I had tossed around a couple of ideas but his ultimate feeling was that I should just see how it goes and play it by ear.  I had some new nutrition to try out and so the primary aim also was to come through the run avoiding any gut issues.  To that end I planned to try out a scenario of eliminating gels from the bike leg and switching to them only once I started running.  On the bike leg I would take a supply of home made date and ginger bars and supplement that with electrolytes in the drink bottle and a banana from the two aid stations.  

The plan for the swim was to simply take it steady, try to follow feet where I could and come out of the water fresh enough to put in a good solid bike leg.  The aim for the bike was a sub-3 hour bike split.  Anything aside of that would be go by feel and see how it pans out.  The run was always going to be a tricky proposition.  My ultimate aim for ironman is to succeed in putting together a run leg where I actually run the whole darn distance except for walking through the aid stations.  To date I haven't managed that yet!  The other scenario was to try the plan from my last half marathon where I picked up the pace slightly every 5km.  After doing a practise run around the gravel and undulating base track of the Mount, which we do twice in the race, I wasn't sure that this was going to be a goer, but kept it in the back of my mind as a possible strategy to go for.

Anyway, I was feeling good about the day and ready to get going, and after giving Mel a good luck hug, we both found some space in the water and waited for the start gun.  I would see her again after the finish.

The swim started and we started making our way down the course and between the boats.  The swim itself was pretty comfortable although it was pretty offputting to come out of the water on the first loop and see 20 minutes showing on the race clock.  As I got back in the water for the second loop I couldn't help but be demoralised briefly when I calculated a 60 minute finishing time for the swim, based on the second loop being basically twice the distance of the first.  What I didn't do is actually look at the Garmin strapped to my wrist.

Duh.

Partway into the second loop I remembered that the clock would have started from when the pros went (around 6 minutes ahead of the female age groupers) and therefore needed to be ignored.  Common sense had returned and while I wasn't sure how much time to deduct from the clock I put it out of my mind and focused instead on getting to the finish of the swim.

Out of the water, into T1 and onto the bike.  As always, this is my favorite part of the race - now the day can begin!  The bike course is essentially flat and there was only the lightest of breeze so I was confident I could put in a good performance.  While there are half a dozen U-turns and a similar number of corners to negotiate, it's generally a great opportunity to hunker down on the aero bars and put in a solid time trial ride.

I wasn't able to watch my speed so pretty much went by feel.  I was passing plenty of people which was a good sign and the only other pace indicator I had was the Garmin which gave me an alert every 5km.  Maintaining a speed of 30km/hr or better would result in 5km being completed in under 10 minutes, so that was what I kept an eye on.

I also used the 5km alerts as a reminder to have a date bar.  Great strategy except for one small problem.  After eating a couple of them I realised that the 9 bars I had in my pockets would only last the first half of the bike leg at that rate.  That's OK, I thought, I'll just spread them out a little bit and it'll be good to have them predominantely in the first half of the bike leg so that my gut will have had time to digest them before I start running.

There is one aid station on the bike course and we pass that twice and so the plan was to pick up a banana and water on the first pass (about 17km in) and then replace the bottle of electrolyte, top up the water and grab another banana on the second pass (at around 62km).  This sort of went to plan except there were no bananas available the first time around and the second time around was a bit of a comedy show.

As we approached the aid station I threw out the empty electrolyte bottle and called out for banana, electrolyte and water.  The first thing I got handed was a banana.  Tried to put it in a pocket to grab later but couldn't do it quickly so stuck it between my teeth.  One second later I get handed the water bottle.  Bugger, can't put it anywhere (this bottle gets used to top up the bladder in the bike and then gets tossed aside) and I still have to pick up the electrolyte - don't have enough hands!  So I hand back the water bottle to the next volunteer, grab the electrolyte bottle from another volunteer, put it in the cage and finally pick up another water bottle from the final volunteer.  Top up the bladder in the bike, toss the bottle away and finally extract the banana from between my teeth and peel it so I can actually eat it!  Whew - a shorter aid station than I'm used to in ironman certainly made life more entertaining for the onlookers, I'm sure.  And not quite sure how I managed to stay upright - I ended up rolling through VERY slowly, and still clipped in.  For a millisecond I thought it would be easier to stop but I only had one hand on the bars and the other picking up and giving back stuff to volunteers so stopping wasn't an option.  Yikes!

Towards the end of the bike I knew I had pushed hard and was confident that I would have come in ahead of my 3 hour goal.  It was a happy irongirl who therefore rolled into T2.  As I changed into my running shoes a girl was next to me doing the same thing.  "Just a little run to do now" I said to her.

If only it were ever that simple!

I headed out of T2 and while the legs were feeling like lumps of concrete just kept saying to myself "running is always faster than walking".  I decided in those first couple of kilometres, then, just to keep running, no matter how slowly I was going.  It would be better than walking and I could reassess once I had hit 5km.  At each aid station I walked through and for the first of the two laps I had a gel at a couple of the aid stations and electrolyte at the others.  At one aid station I saw a supply of bananas and because I had failed to have one on the bike decided to try one on the run.  Almost immediately I got a minor reaction in my gut and that was enough to tell me just to stay away from the solid food full stop.

After around 5km I was starting to feel as though I was in a pretty good rhythm.  My pace was sitting around marathon pace which I was happy with and it felt like my heart rate was pretty comfortable.  I had managed to maintain a run all the way around the Mount track where others were walking and so I made a conscious decision not to pick up the pace on the road section.  While I knew I could probably pick it up a bit I was concerned that it might result in me blowing up and walking sections of the Mount track and this could result in a slower overall time.  So I stuck with the conservative strategy and just picked off the kilometres with walks through the aid stations only.

On the second lap I went to take the 3rd of the 4 gels I had with me and, like the banana before, got a minor but immediate reaction to it.  That was enough for me to decide enough with the gels and for the the remainder of the run I just took electrolyte drink at each aid station.

As I approached the Mount track for the final time I saw Mel's friend Elise just past the aid station.  As I walked through it Elise asked if I had seen Mel on course, which I hadn't.  It had been difficult to look out for her on the bike but I had expected we'd cross paths on the run.  Elise was worried as she had seen Mel on the bike but hadn't seen her running.  I had to keep going, though, but it was a worry to know that she might have pulled out.

The final time around the Mount was tough but good - most people around me by that stage were walking up the climbs and I was still running and getting past them.  About 3/4 of the way around the track for the last time the Garmin beeped at me to give me the 19km split.  2km to go and the total time was reading 5 hours 48 minutes.  In a repeat of the Ironman Cairns scenario I was calculating the time remaining.  Could I do a couple of 6 minute kilometres and get to the finish inside 6 hours?

It was a long shot but I decided I had nothing to lose and I may as well give it a shot.  If I had been conservative before this was the time to seek payback and see what I had.  What made it a bit tougher was the first of those final kilometres was still on the undulating unsealed track but I still picked up the pace where I could and very soon I was back out on the road and it was a flat run to the finish line.  Around 1km out was the final aid station and I grabbed a cup of water there and tossed it over my head without stopping (yep, didn't walk through that one!), pinned my ears back and focused on getting to the finish line.

I managed to pass a couple of people in that final stretch and I remember thinking "if anyone sprints past me now, good on them".  I don't think I had much more in me and was pretty elated to cross the finish line, pressing the stop button on the Garmin and seeing 6:00:00.  Officially I stopped the clock at 5:59:58 - talk about cutting it pretty close but that final kilometre was completed in 5 minutes 36 seconds; my fastest split for the whole distance!

Start slow and finish strong - one of Coach Dave's mantras and one I managed to follow :)

After the finish I finally found Mel and was gutted for her - after her second puncture of the day she was forced to pull out having completed around 53km on the bike leg. So disappointing for her but I know she'll be fired up to do another half distance event in the near future.

In the meantime, I savoured my reward of hot chips, gobsmacked that I had achieved 11th place in my age group and a theoretical place in the New Zealand team for the long distance world champs.  

Who would have thought this irongirl would be capable of something like that....
(St Pete certainly thought I was but it was beyond my wildest dreams!)

Port of Tauranga Half: Thelma and Louise do a Road Trip

It's the first day of 2014 and tomorrow is the beginning of a girls' weekend.

Most typical girls' weekends would involve large quantities of wine, chocolates, pedicures, manicures and facials.  Maybe a soppy movie or two, a show, shopping or other fun night out.  Exercise of any sort is a big no-no, unless it involves letting your hair down on the dance floor, and the only marathon these girls would contemplate is one involving vast numbers of shops or several hours of movies.

But this is my blog and this Irongirl doesn't do your typical girls' weekend.

No, my kind of girls' weekend involves Black Beauty, a fellow irongirl as crazy as myself and far more luggage than most airlines think is really necessary.

And that is the plan for this weekend, which is why I find myself back in New Zealand and ready for a road trip to Mt Maunganui tomorrow, with fellow crazy chick and awesome buddy Mel.  

On Saturday we complete the Port of Tauranga Half.

And then we bring out the chocolates and movie!

Sydney to the Gong Ride Part III: The Ride Home

So, the fundraising had happened, the ride had been done and the costume worn.  Sarah, St Pete, Emily and I were happily lounging around the finish line in Wollongong enjoying the festivities.

But I knew it wasn't over.

My colleagues at work were eagerly awaiting the news of my return ride home and a promise was a promise.

While the entertainment in the park was really enjoyable and the weather picture perfect, I knew I shouldn't hang around too long otherwise I'd get too comfortable, the body would start realising it was tired, and I'd never get going again.  I had a monster climb to negotiate back up to Waterfall and then find my way back across Sydney proper to the Harbour Bridge and home.  And as the minutes passed the temperature was also rising.  Gale force southerlies had been predicted for the afternoon and while this meant a tail wind heading home it also meant hot winds.

An hour after rolling over the finish line, then, I was starting the Garmin again and saying goodbye to St Pete, Sarah and Emily.  They were all making their way back to the train and taking the civilised route home.

I wouldn't be.

Instead I started retracing my route north and slowly warming the legs up again.  I was in no rush.  I had all afternoon to do this - it was just a case of ticking over the kilometres.  The temperature by this stage had topped 30 degrees.  And it would stay between 30-38 degrees for the next 3 hours.  And I was still in a velvet bee costume.

Hmm, who's idea was this again?  Oh, that's right, mine….

As I was heading north there were still streams of cyclists heading towards the finish.  You could tell the heat was getting to them, as well as the distance.  Hills were being walked but the spirits were still high and this Queen Bee got plenty of smiles and cheers as she rode in the opposite direction.  At Thirroul I was definitely feeling the heat, though, and as I approached I saw a mirage in the distance.

Opposite me was the most welcome sight I had ever seen - a Juice Junkie sign.

Bergie's Fish Cafe in Thirroul was roadside and its associated juice bar, Juice Junkie opened in September this year and it's ice cold juice menu looked amazing.  Especially in 32 degrees!!!  It didn't take much self-talk to decide to stop for a break and have a watermelon concoction.

Rehydrated and with a core body temperature a couple of degrees lower I set off again, ready to take on the climb up to Waterfall.  And what a climb.  The first section, up to Stanwell Tops took me to the intersection where the cops had previously helped reattach my wings.  They were still there and it was a great excuse to stop for a couple of minutes and check the traffic management situation.  Heading right would have taken me back through the national park the way we had come down.  However the road was still closed for cyclists coming the other way and so I had no choice but to go left…a much shorter and sharper trip up to the highway…

Off I went then, and started the long grind to the top.  Part way up I spotted this great view of where I had come from and so had to take a photo for the blog….  No, it had nothing to do with needing to find a reason to stop for a couple of minutes…

Did I mention it was hot?

Anyway, I carried onwards and upwards - slowly - and shared greetings with the half dozen or so guys also making their way back.  And yes, I'm saying guys in the masculine sense.  There was a distinct lack of female company along the route and I was getting some "hard core" comments from the blokes.  But come on girls, where were you all?!!!

Finally I made it up to Pacific Highway and found myself up on the highway.  Unfortunately by the time I got there I ran into a couple of problems, the main one being my now empty drink bottle.

No, there was no leak in it - in the heat I had drunk it dry.

Yes - on the way down to Wollongong I had drunk around 3/4 of the bottle (plus the cup of coffee at Loftus Oval) over the full distance.  However the new bottle I had started out with in Wollongong was drained completely and I hadn't even completed 30km.

And by this stage the wind had got up.  This was good and bad.  Good as I was able to put my head down and make a beeline for Waterfall, the first opportunity to stop and replenish fluids.  Bad because it was a hot, dry, (did I mention hot?) wind.

To add to the challenging situation the hot, dry, wind, also decided to a strong, hot, dry, wind.  As a result, the inevitable happened and the wings took to the air and headed off down a bank.  For a split second I thought about trying to retrieve them but at the same time realised I had no way of putting them back on by myself (bit of a design flaw there….) and even less chance of carrying them the remaining 60km home.  At that point I was also far more focused on getting some more cold drink into me than trying to rescue a pair of flyaway wings.  So I put them behind me, put it down to experience (next time, leave the wings with St Pete and ride without them), put my head down and made a beeline for Waterfall.

Waterfall is a suburb on the outskirts of Sydney, known mainly as an access point for the Royal National Park and host to a stop on the train line to Wollongong.  With the exception of the train station there's nothing there (visible from the highway running through it), except a fish and chip shop - Legendary Fish & Chips.  And that's where I stopped next.

This day deserves a Coke

The plan was to buy an ice cold drink there and maybe a Powerade or similar to refill the bottle with.  As I pulled up on the side of the road and got off my bike there was another cyclist already sitting outside at one of the tables having a drink.  After expressing his amazement of me riding back to Sydney in a bee costume he said "take your water bottle inside - they're doing free water refills".

Bonus!

In I went, water bottle in hand and grabbed a 600ml bottle of coke from the fridge to buy.  Sure enough, the guy at the counter not only filled my bottle with water but topped it up with shaved ice as well.  It was such a great thing for them to do - if you are ever passing through Waterfall, make sure you give these guys some love and stop in for some fish and chips at Legendary Fish & Chips.  You can't miss them, they're right opposite the train station on the main highway.

The temperature wasn't getting any cooler and so after I'd downed the coke I jumped on the bike and carried on north along the Princes Highway towards Sydney.  Waterfall is the highest point in the Royal National Park and so it was essentially a downhill run from here to the northern border of the Park and the outskirts of suburban Sydney proper.  I say essentially as it was along this stretch that I had my first argument with the Garmin Edge, which decided I needed to leave the highway and take a left turn for no apparent reason.  I did well at ignoring its entreaties for a while - after all I had a decent bike lane to sit in and I knew I was heading in the right direction.  It finally caught me at a weak moment, though, and I foolishly decided that maybe it knew a route that I didn't know and, after all, why buy the thing if I couldn't trust it's obviously superior route-finding abilities.

Ha, how stupid was I?  One kilometre after taking said left turn I ended up in a dead end street requiring a retracing of route back to the Princes Highway and a vow to stay true to my gut forever more…

Before long I was out of the Park and heading through Gymea, Miranda, Taren Point and over the bridge to Sans Souci.  The temperatures were still incredibly hot and by this time I was dreaming of ice cream and I was sure there was a mobile ice cream van at the car park at Ramsgate Beach.

Unlike the Garmin Edge, my gut didn't lie and I rolled into that carpark determined to sit down for five minutes and devour a soft serve cone.  Which I did.  In the howling wind.  And 38 degrees.  It tasted REALLY great!

Ice cream time!

 The next section of this epic ride was also going to be the most difficult - navigationally.  I now had to find my way across Sydney and navigate my way through the heaviest traffic and this is where I had to put my trust in the Garmin.  This part of the ride is the reason why I take the train to Miranda when I'm riding in the southern suburbs as riding through the centre of the city just isn't bike-friendly when you're on your own.  

Previous hesitations aside I set off and let myself be guided.  Slowly and surely I made my way north and things seemed to be going OK with views of the Sydney Tower providing a reassuring point to "sight" against and ensure I wasn't being led astray by my little maps wizard.  The route took me through Petersham, Liechhardt, Lilyfield and Rozelle, which seemed a bit further out to the west than I had anticipated, however I figured we'd take a turn soon and start going east towards the CBD and harbour bridge.

At Rozelle I came to a T-Intersection and the Garmin confidently says "turn left".  I'm stopped at the lights and look at the intersection and see the helpful bike route signs.  The signs provide two options.  Head left to Parramatta.  Head right to the City.

Hmm.  The Garmin wants me to go to Parramatta?  Who is it kidding?

I was getting pretty tired by this stage - the heat and wind (and almost getting run over by a bus) had combined to take it out of me but, despite the fatigue, I still had sufficient common sense on board to realise that I did not want to be heading towards Parramatta.

I therefore decided to part ways with the Garmin (directionally-speaking) and, much to its disgust, I took the right hand turn onto Victoria Road and shortly thereafter over Anzac Bridge.  At this point I also figured out what my little buddy's problem was.  And this is important for any Garmin Edge owners in Sydney….

The route finding on the Garmin navigation maps for Sydney do not know how to direct bikes across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

That's right.  I had encountered it on my first few rides with the Edge but figured it was something I was doing wrong.  However, no, it doesn't recognise the bike lane that goes across the bridge and so it was going to try and direct me towards Parramatta and cross the river further west and bring me home on the northern side of the river via Lane Cove and North Sydney.  Probably an additional 20km which, in the weather conditions, I wasn't in the least bit interested in entertaining.

All that didn't matter by this stage, though and the sight below was a very welcome one - the steps at the northern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and my finish point.  As I was taking this photo, St Pete had been tracking my progress, knew I was almost home and was walking down to meet me.  

Another very welcome sight!

Finished!

So I did it.  The Sydney to Gong ride and back home again and a smidgeon under 180km.  Pretty happy with that.

In the days and months since I've had plenty of time to reflect on the experience and think about anything I'd do differently next time.

• Would I do the Gong Ride again?  Absolutely.  It was such a fun day out.  Fantastic atmosphere and stunning route, so scenic.  And for anyone outside Sydney, this is definitely worth a trip over for the weekend.
• Would I do the Gong Ride in a costume again? Absolutely.  It was a great way to add some fun to the day, not only for myself, but for the other riders as well.
• Would I do the return ride home again?  Yes, although I'd probably be more flexible with my intentions and planning.  It would have been great to have stayed longer in Wollongong and enjoy the park festivities at the finish line.  As it was St Pete came down on the train but only spent about an hour there before I was turning around and heading north again.  Next time it would be good to make his journey down more worthwhile.  Also, if it is that hot again I'd like the flexibility to cancel the ride home and save it for a cooler day.
• Would I do the return ride home in a costume again?  Probably not.  This is the only thing I'd change next time.  Especially given the conditions, but in any case, there was no real purpose and nothing to be gained from wearing the costume home again.  Being later in the day the wind had got up causing me to lose the wings and the elevated temperatures meant I just ended up overheating for the bulk of the ride, which could have been largely alleviated by not wearing velvet! Next time I'll change back into regular riding gear for the return ride home … unless someone donates a significant sum of money to the cause!

Until next year - Bzzzz :)

Sydney to the Gong Ride Part II - The Ride

So the costume was ready and fundraising complete.  All I had to do now was enjoy the day out and do the ride.

Oh, and ride home again.  But that's for the next instalment….

The morning arrived and by 5.00am we were outside our apartment block meeting Sarah and daughter Emily.  Sarah is a bootcamp buddy and tends to respond to my madcap ideas better than most!  We had done the Rebel Run with her the weekend before and she was keen to dust the cobwebs off her bike and join me on the ride.  Try as I might, though, she was less keen to join me on the return trip!

But that's OK, we were out to have some fun, enjoy the atmosphere, and then meet St Pete and Emily at the other end - they would head to Wollongong and hopefully arrive in time to see us finish.

So onto the train, in the dark, and onto St Peters Railway Station.  The start area of the ride was conveniently located at Sydney Park, directly opposite the station, so really well set up for people to take public transport and leave their cars at home.

At the start line

We had been given slightly different start times.  The first start time was 6.00am, however Sarah's was 6.15am and I was 6.30am.  Given the ride was untimed we figured though it wouldn't be a problem if we started together and so the aim was to go with the 6.15am group.  As it happened we turned up at the park, had a brief wander around to get our bearings and then saw people starting to line up in the start chute and so headed over to join them.  What we didn't realise at the time was that we would actually end up going with the first group.

Queen Bee is ready to go … bzzzz...

Being untimed, it really didn't matter.  Plus, despite being told several times during the start line briefing that "this is not a race", all these early guys were looking way too serious, and so this Queen Bee figured they could do with a bit of fun up the front!

Sometime after 6.00am the gun finally went off and we were on our way.  Down Princes Highway, through Tempe and then heading east to Brighton-Le-Sands and Ramsgate Beach.

This part of the route was all about getting warmed up.  The weather was starting out well - no wind and clear skies - it was going to be a stunner of a day.  Despite this not being a race, some groups were already obviously keen to hammer it and we happily let them go.

At Ramsgate Beach we passed the first water stop but didn't bother stopping for it.  It was early in the ride and we were rolling along well.  Over the bridge to Taren Point, through Miranda and Kirrawee and we were finally leaving the metropolis and reaching the start of the Royal National Park, the scenic part of the ride.

At the 30km mark we reached the morning tea stop, at Loftus Oval.  Yes, morning tea!  I told you this was a fun ride…..!

Muffins, tea, coffee and a water station to refill bottles were all laid on for the riders.  A festival atmosphere was around with music playing through outdoor speakers inside big wheelie bins throughout the field.  The muffins were devoured, closely followed by a nice hot cup of coffee, and it was good to provide some entertainment for the volunteers.  They were all in great spirits and loved having a Queen Bee turn up for some food.  I even had a couple of people stop to take my photo.  Bzzz.

Sarah arriving at Otford Lookout

Refuelled, we got back on the bikes and cruised along the highway to Waterfall where we were due to make a left turn off the highway and enter the National Park proper.  This was also the point of our first major descent and we were stopped at the top of the hill to wait for an escort who would drive down ahead of us.

As always, these drops were highlights for me and I'm sure a few people did a double-take at having a bee literally fly past them going down the hill.  I was getting plenty of positive comments from people as they went past or I went past them, although the funniest remark came from one guy who mistook the wings for another creature.  "Hey, I'm pushing too hard, I'm seeing fairies!", he yelled up ahead to his riding partners as he went past me.  Couldn't help thinking that he'd feel a right fairy if he let me pass him later on…bzzzz.

This section of the road through the national park was stunning.  Great road conditions, stunning bush to ride through and we undulated our way out the other end to the Otford Lookout where we had our first amazing views out over the ocean and first glimpse of the Ocean Road Bridge.

This provided another excuse for a brief stop for photos and to check out the views.  Did I mention it was stunning?

Otford Lookout

After leaving Otford Lookout we continued our way south along the coastline to Stanwell Tops and the start of our second major descent where we had to pause again to wait for another escort.  At this point the wind started getting up and, as we headed around the corner to start rollin downhill, a huge gust of wind came up and my wing popped off the back on one side.

Crap.

I stopped by the side of the road and tried in vain to pop it back on, but my contortionist efforts with my arms wasn't happening.  By this stage Sarah had disappeared down the hill and had no idea that I had stopped.  There was nothing else for it but to run the 50m back up the hill to where the cops were managing the intersection and ask one of them to help this bee in distress.  I headed up the hill but found myself on the opposite side of the road to them.  Inbetween us were thousands of cyclists streaming past and so I had to wait for what seemed like an eternity for a gap to appear so I could get across.  Where did all these riders come from?!!!

Wing finally reattached I got going again and stormed down the hill, on a mission to try and catch Sarah again.  At the bottom of the hill we ride through Coalcliff and then get to ride over the Great Ocean Bridge, a section of the road that is built out over the ocean and appears in many tourist magazine shots.  Just after the bridge I finally caught Sarah - she had no idea what had happened and was starting to get worried as an ambulance had just gone past.  But I wasn't in it and thankfully rolled up just in time for her to not panic completely!

Soon after we came together again we reached Scarborough and a welcome fruit stop.  This time fruit and oranges were on offer, as well as another opportunity to fill water bottles.

This final section of the ride follows the coastline south, through Wombarra, Coledale, Austinmer and Thirroul before starting to use cycle ways and arriving at the northern outskirts of Wollongong and finish at Stuart Park.

As we started to see various industrial areas we also started to get distance indicators from the volunteers on the side of the road.  At one point we were told we had 15km to go and I looked at the Garmin to find that we had only done 62km.  Hmm.  If we were going to complete 90km then this was going to be a bit short.  But, don't worry, I thought, maybe their distances are a bit out.

On the outskirts of Wollongong and we go past another volunteer on a corner shouting out "only 5km to go".  Another check of the Garmin and it's reading 77km.  Definitely short.  Even more importantly, I was conscious that we might get in too early for St Pete and Emily to see us finish.  A quick stop and phone call to them confirmed that would be the case, but we were given the green light to carry on and not worry about it.  So we did, and soon after rolled over the finish line with high fives and about 3 hours 30min ride time under our belts.

Sydney to the Gong Ride: DONE!

About 20 minutes later St Pete and Emily found us, lounging on the grass eating our lunch, enjoying the atmosphere and the sense of achievement of making it to Wollongong in one piece.

What a great day it was.  Oh wait, it wasn't over.  Did someone say ride home? 

MS Sydney to the Gong Ride Part I - The Fundraising Virgin...

Well the party is almost over.

It's Sunday evening and tomorrow I officially become a triathlete again ... training begins for the 2014 Ironman season.

It's been a fun off-season. I've done some different things to make training seem worthwhile and successfully managed to not gain any weight....BONUS!

The highlight of the last few months though ended up being the last thing on the agenda, and that was last weekend's MS Sydney to the Gong ride. Before I tell you all about it, though, let me just say: if you are in the Sydney region, or can make it to the Sydney region, and you can ride a bike, then you should add this event to your bucket list (or even your regular schedule of events).  It's a really well organised ride with 10,000 participants, well supported and an amazingly scenic route on good quality roads and bike paths.

It's also a fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis Australia and this was a new experience for me as an individual.  I had been in teams before that had fundraising targets to achieve, but never tried this sort of thing solo.  It was a ride I was keen to do, however, and the minimum $250 to raise seemed almost achievable for this fundraising virgin.  Given the distance of the ride could be seen as not necessarily a huge challenge for this irongirl, I thought I'd make things interesting by upping the challenge for myself if the donors came to the party and threw sufficient dollars my way (well, MS Australia's way to be exact!)

So I put it out there: If I raised $500 I would double the ride distance, doing the Gong ride and then riding back home.  If I raised $1,000 then I'd do the double distance in a crazy costume.  I figured $500 might be on the cards but anticipated a less than 50% chance of having to do it in a costume.

Ha - how wrong was I?!!!

The fundraising started out well - a shout out on Facebook and an initial email around work saw the total head to $400 and then sit there until a week out from the ride.  I was really happy with that - I had achieved the minimum $250 and figured I might just get to $500 if I was lucky.  But the options were open and I was in two minds about doing the return trip anyway.  If I didn't get the $500, no pressure, I could come home on the train.  And if the weather was bad I could definitely come home on the train and not feel guilty!  Or, if it was a nice day then the return trip would make the day a decent training ride.

I therefore felt really relaxed about either option.

A week out, however, saw a major change.  Suzie and Rodina, two work colleagues, remembered to get together and make a joint donation on the website and then decided to also appoint themselves my personal marketing team.  Great move on their part - I'm just the athlete, after all…!  Anyway, on the Tuesday before the ride they sent out a follow-up email around work on my behalf urging people to sponsor me.  The total by then was $465 and so I did another spruik on Facebook at the same time.

And over the next 24 hours the website went slightly crazy.

Maybe it was the timing, but donations started coming in and by the end of Wednesday my donations were sitting at $860 and I was suddenly contemplating not only the double distance ride, but doing it also in a costume.  Only problem was, I hadn't given a costume any more thought since the first week after registering for the ride, when I first set the challenge.

A quick discussion with St Pete on Wednesday night and I was starting to check out costume websites and consider options.  Thursday morning came around and a decision had to be made.  Would I get to $1,000?  Chances suddenly seemed high.  OK, let's commit to this.

A Queen Bee costume had been found on a site that offered overnight delivery and it looked like it would work well over the top of bike pants.  Costume was duly ordered and just as well - by the end of Thursday my donations had surpassed $1,000….wow.

The comments and support coming in from people was both humbling and exciting.  This was like doing my first ironman all over again and I knew I didn't want to let anyone down now.

All I had to do was get out there and do a good ride and have some fun with it.  Time wasn't important - just look the part and do the distance.  Let's do this!

…to be continued...

Rebel Run Sydney - In Search of that Elusive Negative Split

A fair bit of time is spent during the year planning various events to do between my ironmans.  For the last couple of years winter has been a time to focus on running and, let's face it, I need all the help I can get in that department!  We've therefore set up a bit of a routine, with the Blackmore's Running Festival providing me with an off-season opportunity to run a marathon and still give plenty of recovery time before summer kicks in properly.

When the Rebel Run Sydney dropped into our inbox last year we made a mental note of it but, at only 10km, it was barely long enough to justify putting the running shoes on, especially given it was held out at Olympic Park.  This year, however, the organisers added a half marathon distance to the event and that was enough for us to sit up and take notice.

Well, for St Pete to take notice.  Given my plans to do the Spring Cycle and Sydney to Gong ride on the weekends either side, I figured I had done my running for the time being and could therefore play cheerleader and go be support crew for him for a change.

The guys in my life, however, had other ideas.  In fact both of them ganged up on me and Coach Dave had no hesitation joining St Pete in deciding that I should enter it as well.  Well, what the hell - I didn't put up too much of a fight, and what's another training day, just with the bonus of a medal at the end of it?!  D, however, had another very good reason for me to add this to the calendar.

The coach's nirvana - I would aim for a negative split.  Oh joy.

My running's been going great this year, but they've all been characterised by the traditional problem of starting strong and fading at the end, whereas the goal of coaches all over is for us to start out slow, build throughout the distance and finish strong.  So you do the second half of the race faster than the first half, hence the negative split terminology.

So finish time today wasn't of any interest.  What I needed to do was run each 5km split faster than the previous 5km, and I was given the following times to aim for:

1st 5km: no faster than 6min 15sec pace
2nd 5km: no faster than 6min 00sec pace
3rd 5km: no faster than 5min 45sec pace
final 6km: own choice (a.k.a. "go like hell!")

We also managed to rope in bootcamp buddy, Sarah, to join us - although I was under no illusion that I'd keep up with either of them!

The conditions on the start line were pretty much perfect.  Clear skies (although later to be clad in smoke from the NSW bush fires), 15 degrees and no wind.  I wasn't feeling any pressure, just keen to get going.

After a bit of a delay the gun goes off and we're running.  Sarah disappears into the distance and within a minute I've lost sight of her.  Pete decides he needs a toilet stop and so he deviates as soon as we cross the start line, however storms past me at the 850m mark - in race mode and not even slowing to acknowledge my existence.  Nice…lol.

I get going, though, and try to focus on finding a pace and slowing it down.

Not very successfully, however.  First km goes by - 5min 48sec.  Oops, a bit fast.  Try and peg it back a bit for the 2nd km.  Nope that didn't work either - 5min 35sec.  Faster than the first kilometre!

I carry on like this for the first 5km, not feeling flash - no real rhythm, feeling like I'm working too hard and way too conscious of the people running past me.

Don't run everyone else's race.

Finally after 5km had ticked by things started to fall into place.  I felt as though everything was flowing a bit better and I was able to relax into a steady rhythm that wasn't expending too much energy.  There was possibly a good reason why it had taken time to get into it though.  I had run that first 5km faster than I should have, with an average pace of 5min 50.5sec.  Oops.  Sorry Coach :)

The second 5km was much better and I went through that second stage marginally faster (5min 50 pace).  Still faster than had been planned but also sticking to the plan of the second 5km split being faster than the first!

At around the 13km mark I started to become aware of people slowing down around me.  Either that or I was picking things up a bit.  I was feeling pretty good though, and so started occupying my mind with the game of picking off the next person in front of me.  From that point on I started making my way up the field, focusing on passing people and being aware of the fact that no one went past me for that last 8km.

I felt strong, physically and mentally, and was confident enough to back myself and keep the pressure on.  That 3rd 5km split went by in an average 5min 45sec pace - exactly what coach had wanted.  Now I just had 6km to go and could do whatever pace I wanted.  Does that mean I could walk if I wanted????

No way!

There were plenty of people to pass and that's all I was interested in doing.  Hold the pace, keep the form strong and don't stop until you get to the end.

The final 100m is a right hand turn as you head down under the grandstand and then another right hand turn into the ANZ stadium to the finish line and as we headed through the tunnel I passed chicked another guy.  As I went past I mentally prepared myself for a sprint to the finish with him, however he didn't put up a fight and I crossed the line, ahead and on exactly 2 hours.

Great run, and while it was 2 minutes off my PB that didn't matter.  What did matter is that although I started out faster than I was supposed to I still managed to improve my pace for each 5km split.

Coach will be smiling :)