Ironman 70.3 Auckland - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Auckland, Auckland
New Zealand
World Triathlon Corporation
21C / 70F
Sunny
Total Time = 6h 14m 50s
Overall Rank = 676/818
Age Group = 40 - 44
Age Group Rank = 111/128
Pre-race routine:

I live in a quiet neighbourhood, but this is one of the few nights when someone decided to have a late night party, ended up getting to sleep at around 2:00am, had to be up at 4:45 so I only had a couple of hours sleep.

The bike was racked the day before (our first night apart) and everything was packed the night before. I had a last minute check in the morning.

Breakfast was the same as i normally have, oats with some fruit, and I decided to add the up and go drink that I found in fridge. I thought well it's a big day, I will have that for breakfast as well. (Nothing new on race day). I suspect the up and go caused some grief later on in the day.

Drove down to the viaduct; this is an area on the water front which has a lot of restaurants and night clubs; it’s a real social part of the city. It was funny to see all people vacating nightclubs mixing with tri athletes, a real mix of polar opposites. ( used to me , in my younger days in the same clubs).
I was feeling a bit nervous before the start as it was a big race and the routine was a little different with the bike being racked the day before. Normally I would pump up the tyres for the bike at the car and take the bike down to transition. But I would have to take it down to transition, pump the tyres up there. Then should I drop the pump off at the bag drop off or take it back to the car. For some reason I became obsessed with what to do with the pump.
Finally I made it to transition and set-up, basically the same stuff as I would put out for an olympic distance race. Shoes on the bike , sun glasses. Visor and shoes for the run, added socks as I started to get blisters during the last race.

Set up didn’t take long so I had a lot of time to spare, my start was at 6:51 and it was 5:30, spent some time walking around looking at the swim start, went to toilet. Noticed that I felt a bit warm , body temp wise and was coughing a bit. I did this aimless wandering for about 30 minutes.

Took bike pump and bags back to the car, got changed into wetsuit and waited for the swim start.


Event warmup:

The swim was a started in waves. One wave was in the water, and one on a pontoon. When one wave started the next wave one got into the water and swam to the start line.

I decided to dive off the pontoon, felt a twinge in my left calf as I pushed off. Swam to the start line and waited for the start.

Swim
  • 41m 52s
  • 1900 meters
  • 02m 12s / 100 meters
Comments:

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.

What would you do differently?:

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.


Transition 1
  • 01m 20s
Comments:

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.
What would you do differently?:

Need to get proper triathlon shoes.
Bike
  • 3h 00m 38s
  • 90 kms
  • 29.89 km/hr
Comments:

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.

What would you do differently?:

Not much, I thought i rode really well.
Transition 2
  • 01m 24s
Comments:

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.

Run
  • 2h 29m 35s
  • 21.1 kms
  • 07m 05s  min/km
Comments:

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.

What would you do differently?:

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

Post race
Warm down:

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


What limited your ability to perform faster:

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

Still feel sick a couple of days after the event.

Event comments:

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.




Last updated: 2012-09-27 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:41:52 | 1900 meters | 02m 12s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/128
Overall: 0/818
Performance: Below average
Suit:
Course: From a wade start , swam directly out to a buoy. Turned left, then straight again, another left. A left diagonal towards the first buoy. Then a right into the viaduct. Then a right to the swim exit.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 20C / 68F Current: Medium
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Below average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Average Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:20
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
03:00:38 | 90 kms | 29.89 km/hr
Age Group: 0/128
Overall: 0/818
Performance:
Wind: Strong
Course: Loop north of across the harbour bridge. Down the motorway, then a loop though and industrial area. Then two loops out and back around the water front.
Road: Smooth Wet Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 01:24
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
02:29:35 | 21.1 kms | 07m 05s  min/km
Age Group: 0/128
Overall: 0/818
Performance: Average
Course: Out and back long the water front. two loops
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5