Ironman Australia - TriathlonFull Ironman

After waiting for a few minutes, the cannon goes off and we are swimming!
Big crowd, I am not used to it, but trying to keep calm. The water has distinct thermal layers and it is salty! I try not to drink too much, but it is inevitable. I thought that after some time the crowd would thin out, but no, all the time there were people bumping into me, tapping my feet, I was tapping someone else's feet trying to draft, stopping and starting - this was going on till the end of the swim. I managed not to get seriously kicked and didn't kick anyone else, but it was close. The goggles on the second loop got foggy, in spite of rainex I applied the day before, and needed to be washed several times. The swim actually went surprisingly pretty quickly, I looked at my watch and couldn't believe it - sub 1:30! Great!


Nothing really. Honestly.

It's a long haul, so no need to hurry. Let the volunteers put the sunblock on being careful not to touch the face, changed into bike gear, wrapped a jacket around just in case and entered the corral. Here I got surprised - I didn't realise I was one of the last ones out of the water - there were hardly any bikes there! What is going on?
Walked the bike out of the corral and off I went.

I should have put tons of vaseline on bike shorts and socks. I totally forgot about it and paid the price.

Apparently the first 30 kms or so on the bike are critical not to go too hard, or else your day is over... Right. Try to do this when just after you get on the bike you have to climb hills against the wind! Getting out of Port Mac is hilly to say the least, with Mathew Flinders Dive being rough as guts, then you go on some 'undulating' chip and seal road rattling your bike like never before and here it is also, where the wind hits you hard. It was demoralising for me riding so slow, thank god the bike computer stopped working and I simple threw it out at the next aid station and never had a chance to watch my speed!

10k on that chip and seal, then an old, rough surface patched many times over, but somewhat smoother. Another hilly section around Bonny Hills and soon, slowly but surely - North Haven, where we originally stayed before my wife miraculously found a room at the hotel in Port Mac. Here, while shifting gears, the chain dropped and jammed itself really hard between the chainring and the frame. Sure this happened before to me, but never so hard. Turned the bike upside down and yanked the thing many times, but it took a long while to get going again. The hands were black full of grease, but I was happy. Another 15 kms or so around Laurieton, which seemed really long and, looking at my watch, I was begining to doubt if I could beat the cut off time... This was depressing. Another thing - I noticed that if your overall time is more than 14 hrs - you are trailing behind the pack and feel like you are the last one on course... Seeing few other riders behind me was good, but not enough to get the hopes back up. Good thing - riding back to Port Mac was downwind and much faster, till you hit he hills agin and when Mathew Flinder Drive came - it was like a wall to climb. Lots of people on each side cheering and clapping, I decided to go for it. This was not a good idea and the quads felt like jelly when I got to the top. And there were few more hills left. However, looking at the time again I realised I could actulally pull it off if I managed to maintain the speed! This was like a shot of adrenalin to the system. I even noticed how scenic the course was at this point and Port Mac never looked beter. It is actually a great town, right on the ocean, perfect size, clean, parks, hills, churches, you name it, I loved it. Riding in front of our hotel I saw my wife and the Little One on the balcony cheering, I held back the tears. I felt so fortunate.

But now, after the turning point, I had to do it all over again. I felt like I have done not 90, but 190 kms already... Truth be told, I have never ridden the full distance on the bike. Come on, 180 kms on the bicycle - that's just silly... Actually, I have never even done a proper century either, but came close a good few times.

Anyway, turned around and battled again. This time I was behind a girl on a really nice tri bike (...) and we passed each other few times. She was clearly faster downhill, but anytime the hill came up, she was all over the road. This went on till Laurieton where I took the wrong turn! Nobody directed me and I added few kms to the ride. Had to ask a guy mowing the lawn for directios, he stopped surprised, turned the mower off and I realised he didn't speak any English, only Japanese. Great. Had to rely on my intuition then, but it worked. Soon I was on the road again.

At this point I was also really sick of all the sugar. I ran out of my sandwiches and had to rely on Powerbars, cookies, Gatorade and occasional bananas. On that subject - I was really looking forwrd to eating bananas again. Specially for free. You might not believe it, but after the massive floods in Queensland, the price of bananas went up to $13.-/ kilo!!! This is pretty much $2.- +/average banana... Crazy. Naturally, I stopped buying and eating them, so this race was a chance to taste them again ;).

Port Mac appeared again but this time, along with 3 other people, decided to dimount and walk the monster climb. Great decision, chance to relax, talk and save the legs. Soon we were coasting down to town seeing runners along the ocean doing their run part and being happy to have finally finished the bike.

Nothing, other than training harder of course.

Changed slowly in the tent, took a bottle with Gatorade with me and off I went.

Nothing.

The plan was to walk for the first 30 min to get the legs used to the new routine and so I did, only in front of the hotel I put on a show for my wife... The next 30 min did 50/50 every 5 min and then it started getting darker and I couldn't see the time so did some math (took me something like 30 min to figure it out) and concluded I could really walk till the end and still pull it off! Well, that did it, the desire to run disapeared, specially because the plan has alwas been to finish it and not to finish it fast.

But walking fast for over 6 hours is an exprience too. Things were fantastic however, nothing to compare with the feeling on the bike. The stars were shining, people were cheering, I was occasionally chatting to somebody and waving my glow stick - life was great! Unill the point on the 3rd lap where I missed the turn... It was dark, nobody said anything and soon, the street was empty, cones disapeared and I realised I was going the wrong bloody way! Damn. A while passed till I rejoined the course walking over some muddy soccer field...

On the last lap I caught up with a guy wearing a Sponge Bob costume. We were both in great spirits but didn't want to run anymore so time flew as we talked. Turns out he was finishing IM here for the 12th time, started a tri club in Sydney and was a celebrity known by almost everyone here wearing a funny, but different costume each year.

It was Sponge Bob who told me that no matter how good I feel when I enter the final chute - do not run, but rather, slow down and enjoy it. He was so right. Being the last few ones on course, the crowd and Mike Riley went quiet for a long while as nobody was crossing the line. It seemed they all went home, but when we entered the chute the crowd went bananas, started banging whatever they had in their hands, Mike Riley says something about you and then: Mark Zielinski - YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

I almost lost it. The contrast of the long and painful day and now this - it was too much. Still, put on a composed face, accepted the medal (and cool towel) and went to the tent to get a massage... What a day!

Outside of the tent I was greated by my wife and the Little One sleeping in the stroller bundled up -it was chilly. We walked (limped) to the hotel and I couldn't believe I pulled it off. I still can't.

None, we just walked to the hotel slowly.


The plan was to finish, time was not important.


Prior to the race I thought it was just a dare, like Evil Knievel's jumping the Grad Canyon on a motorcycle... Well, this perception changed - it became much more than just a challenge, but I still can't put my finger on it...