Ironman New Zealand - 25th Anniversary

The nerves worke me early this morning. Up at 5am, good pre-race breakfast of banana and peanut butter on toast, chatted to the family for a while, did a light warmup, then got ready for the start. The gun went off at 9am and there I was typing furiously. Managed to stay well hydrated most of the way through but got a bit of finger cramp towards the end. My wife's support got me through tho.

I sat back to bask in the glory of this moment until my wife remined me this was just registration.  Then I had a "holy crap - what have I got myself in for" moment. Only 10 months of training, obsession, and nervious excitement til I find out. Cant wait!

Gerrard

Yep it is the first.

I did the Auckland 1/2 last month. Leading up to that I was dreaming about maybe doing IM next. At the start of the run I couldn't believe people wouild put themselves through this, let alone the full distance. And an hour after the finish I couldn't wait for IM registrations to open! I'm so fickle...

Am still having physio on the IT band from the 1/2 so at least there's 10 months to go.

Gerrard 

This may sound like a cop out, but I've just started triathlon training, coming from marathon running and am planning on entering IM NZ in 2010...

Sound more realistic than rushing to do it next year?

Did the Panasonic Oly at Mission Bay before Christmas.  Finished in 2:21 and was pretty pleased with my time as it was my first Tri in nearly 13 years.

Oh I was persuaded by a friend to do the IM just for experience more than anything.  You might call me silly to do it in my first season back, but I've done quite a lots of long rides 150-182km and lots of long runs (up to 40km).  Lots of bricks a well, yes and lots of swimming.

Am doing Tauranga this Saturday, should be fun!!

Hey Forrest - think I read somewhere that you're off to Taupo soon for some training?

I had a stop there on Fri night and had a chance to do one lap of the bike course and most of 1 lap of the run.

Take a pillow with you 'cause Broadlands Rd is boring as all hell. At least during the race there'll be other people and aid stations out there to break it up. And Reparoa's a joke. I thought it was a town but no, it's an intersection with a shop, a petrol pump and not much else! Taps at the school and gas station to refil bottles tho. No other water between there and Taupo unless you go knocking on a farmer's door.

I found the "hill" leaving Taupo to be an easy ride. Short hill up SH5 then very gentle incline from there. The hill coming back though is long and slowly peaks up towards the end so wasn't as much fun

It was hot as all stink when I was out there (est 27 - 30 degrees) and a hot very light breeze. Was the first chance I've had to ride in hot weather (Welly's been real windy so kept the temps down) and it did affect the fluid intake. Warm Horleys and water just wasn't feeling so nice on the leg back. Definitly something to practice and get used to.

There was about 5 others out doing the bike course the same day as me and I saw more the next morning so I'm sure you could hook up with others for a bit of company.

I did a run in the cool of the next morning. Great scenery and a nice run. A couple of gentle hills and a few good landmarks to aim for / break up the trip (I found the flat of Tauranga really borning).

Didn't do a swim but paddled with the kids. Lake edge seemed dirty with little bits of weed etc so hopefully it's clearer further out (and cleaner for all those mouthfuls of water I'll be taking )

Let us know how you get on and what you learn.