Ironman 70.3 Auckland - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I swam well to the first buoy, about 300 meters and seem to keep up with most of the swimmers, i then turned to the left and at that point I slowly lost a lot of the swimmers , a real case of where did everyone go. Had problems finding the next buoy, and spent a lot of time looking up. So I decided to swim 30 strokes before siting, but ended up swimming way off course. Made the second turn but I was really high on the second buoy and had to swim down to it, rounded and found the next buoy.
The swim to the third buoy went well, managed to pass a couple of people from the wave before mine and had a good rhythm. The swim to the fourth buoy was where a few issues started to happen. My calf cramped, and started feel sick in the stomach. All I could taste was up and go. Mmm. At times I was swimming way off course. I also started to get passed by to wave behind. This helped as I used them to help navigate.
Rounded the fourth and fifth buoy and swam to the end, still feeling sick and really wanting to get out of the water. I was very careful getting out of the water as I’ve had dizzy spells from previous races, but I was ok this time.


Don't know, my open water swimming is slower that pool swimming. Considering I have a wet suit in salt water this shouldn't be the case. I think my navigation is the problem. Especially swimming across a tide.

I put sunglasses on , didn't really think about it, but considing that it was overcast I didn't really need them. Just habit , not really thinking about it.

Transition went well.

Need to get proper triathlon shoes.

Out of transition and out to the harbour bridge, the bridge is about 1km 5% climb then a decent down the other size. The bridge is part of the motor way system so normally it’s no cyclists. So in a word it was so cool to cycle over it, twice , counting the return trip. Shame that the view was not great due to the weather. Oh well.

The ride carried on north along the motor way on super smooth road, so it was easy to maintain a good speed. There a few climbs, the larger ones a spun up, the shorter ones I attacked. It was also at this point we started to get a bit of rain. A few people fell victim to the wet road. I was road bike which I think suited this part of the course. I certainly noticed and advantage climbing.

The other problem I had was the pain in my stomach, it certainly got worse whenever I ate or drank anything, or engaged my core at any point. I made an effort to relax which helped, but the pain in my stomach got worse and worse though out the ride. I still forced myself to eat and drink and not doing so would cause bigger problems later on.
It helped that we had great spectators supporting, I could really use the atmosphere to forget about the issues I was having.

Back to the viaduct, and my first ever bottle drop off and pick up. I was a bit worried about this as I’ve never done this before . But it went well. They had some young kids doing it , which is great because they seemed to be having a ball, plus it good to expose kids to the sport. Went through three times, electrolytes the first time then water the second. The third time was so close to the end of the bike there was no need to get anything.

From the viaduct heads out along the waterfront, the first thing was negotiating the cobble stones and tram tracks plus man hole covers. The viaduct it not cycle friendly, especially when wet. Even though it did become a bit of a traffic jam at times with people going a bit to slow. Lost some momententum in the viaduct area.

The water front was and out and back twice, tail wind going out , head wind coming home. Out was good with the tail wind, I could ride on the hoods which helped my stomach. Coming back tired to use the short tt bars but that was really painful being in an aero position, the drops worked a bit better.
Made it to the end of the bike, with just electrolytes and water, no gels. The last 4 km were tough and I was worried about the run, didn’t think at this point I would finish. The plan was to get out of transition then find a toilet. Hopefully that would help my stomach issues.


Not much, I thought i rode really well.

Coming to the dismount line a bike stopped in front of me. Had to go around him last minute. Pedal hit the back of my leg and the shoe came off. Ahhhh.

Transition entry , which was quite long and narrow, ended up being caught behind someone wearing bike shoes. Lost a bit of time.

Felt really ill getting off the bike, stomach really hurt a lot. At the first drink stop used the toilet. Drank some water. Ran the first 2 km in a lot of pain. Thought about pulling out as there was no way I could run another 19 km like this.

Started walking , for a minute, then ran but could only run for about 200 meters before stomach really hurt again. Was like this until the next drink station. Which I tried water and a banana. This didn't help, more walking and running until the next drink station where I tried coke.

This worked really well, and after about 10 minutes was running really well. For the next 10 km ended up getting coke , bananas and water at each station. This until 1 km after the final turn. This was about 5 km from the end, and funny enough same distance as my longest run in training. Pace slowed to just above walking. Even walked for a bit to see if it was in fact quicker (wasn't). Did a bit a walk run for about a 2 km , heard someone say come on not far to go. Started running again, just counting groups of 10 steps.
Finally made it to the end big smile , so happy Yay.
That was the hardest run I ever had to do.

Got finishers medal.

The great part about the run was all the support that I got from people that I didn’t know. It helped so much. From little kids , to families ,all sorts of people. It’s a little humbling that make an effort to support just about everyone. Tired to thanks as many people that I could while running. I think that was the best part of the day.

Even saw ex girl friend, Paulette.


Did the best I could , had some injuries during training that affected that amount that I could run.

Sat down , oranges, bananas. Replace, burger rings. water, salty cracker mix. Anything that I could find.

Got stuff from transition packed it all in the car.
Then had a couple of beers and a meat pie at the pub



Run training and run technique work , just not an efficient runner.

Still feel sick a couple of days after the event.


Great race , supporters where awesome. Organisation was great, 70.30 event.

A great race to do as my first 1/2 ironman.

Drink stations. Bit expensive but worth it.