Busselton 1/2 Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Chatted away on the beach with mates watching the countdown from 5 minutes. positioned myself a couple back from the front closest to the buoys. After 100m I found clean water and pretty much had no one around me the entire swim. Was I swimming off course?? Where was everyone?? Sighted on every 6th stroke and I seemed to be following the course. Everyone else was sitting quite wide for some reason. I looked for feet to draft but there was no one in front of me that I could catch and I didn't have anyone go past me. Strangest swim I have ever been in. Had a seriously fast breaststroker to my side the entire way which totally annoyed me. How dare he !! Swell got pretty big after about 500m and sighting was difficult. On the return home I seemed to just zone out and I was thinking about my bike leg. Pretty uneventful swim - not much more to say unfortunately.

Find some quicker feet!

Hooray, got my feet in my shoes within 200m of getting on my bike. Great start to the bike leg. If only I knew about the wind I was heading into.

Nothing

Talk about headwind! 33km/hr on the way out and 42km on the way back. Took it easy on the first lap and took in fluids for the first 30 minutes. Had a couple of gels and salt tablets every hour after that. Drank 1.5 litres of fluid along the way. No toilet stops. Was glad to not puncture as I didnt bring any spare tubes :). Felt like i kept a consistent effort on the pedals the entire way making sure I left myself room for a decent run. Was 1 minute slower than last year but given the conditions I was pretty happy with that. Happy to have a tailwind on the return home although it seemed to have disappeared on the last lap and turned into more of a side wind. Glad I didnt have a disk on the back and the wind was pretty scary at one point when i was nearly knocked over!

Not a lot. Maybe train harder :)

Perfect transition for me.

Run with no socks.

Took it easy on the first 5km as i could feel cramps wanted to stop my run but somehow they managed to keep at bay. Kept my pace just above 5 minutes. Knew I would get it back as the race went so I wasn't too worried. Next 10 km's I picked up the pace to 4:45's careful not to bring on a cramp fest and held that consistently. Ran through all the aid stations at this point. Wanted to finish strong so I stopped at the second last aid station (4km'sto go) and drank some coke to power me home. Unfortunately I found that the power wasn't coming and I only managed to hold my pace home. Looked at my watch with 2km to go for the first time in the race not knowing what I would see. I was surprised to see 4hr44 and I felt relieved to know that I can calmly bring it home under 5 hours again. Nearly had a hammy cramp when i hit the final chute which would have been embarrassing but thankfully all went well.

I didnt do enough speed work after the IM in December so my run wasn't quick enough for the time I was hoping for. 5 minutes quicker than last year and no disabilitating cramps so all good.

Muffin and fruit juice.


IM training


Hope to be back next year!