Where to start well it may as well be race morning. After several poor days of weather(wind and Rain) it was 4am race day morning. After a down poor in the night I was hopping for a better day ahead. So it was breakfast and shower, watch a little TV and out of the door at 0450 for a 3km stroll to transition. It felt warmish, but at around 0515 it started to rain torrentially. So its get well soaked in my dry cloths! I get numbered up, check in special needs gear and set bike up. Could not inflate front tyre, thought I had puncture but mechanic sorted it for me. Next was time for wetsuit. Greased myself up, got it on with no problems and thankfully the sun was coming out with the rain stopping around 0550.
Next was the walk to the start. Did not feel right without family but knew they would be watching via Internet. Water at start didn’t feel too cold, and for the first time was not stressed by the thought of an open water swim.
Happily treading water, listen to national anthem, then the cannon goes off, quick look at watch and it is 0631. Autopilot kicks in. Or should I say my head gets kicked in!
The start was the worst I have every been in. They tried to send 1500 swimmers down a channel of about 20m wide, not good. Could not get any clear water was kicked and punched several time. Lost goggles twice, so had to stop and sort them out.
At first buoy got some clear water on the out side and so was happy after that, even though there was no one to draft. But not to worry as navigation was not a problem. I have to say it felt great in the swim. Felt very relaxed and felt very enjoyable in the open water even if sea swimming fills me with dread at best(felt great doing it a sense of calm and relaxation). Only other problem on lap one was cramping in my right foot. On lap two it was clear water most of the way. The water seamed a little cooler this lap but, nothing else except for a little cramp in right leg. And got a little too far to the left of the buoys. So had to get back on track.
Then the last 200m people started to bunch up again so more rugby scrums, but then it was time to get out

go harder

T1 was very slow, could not get wetsuit off, but won in the end. Dry myself off quick with towel, Tri top on, eat cereal bar, sunscreen on, hat and shoes on, checked I had good luck charm from daughter in pocket, forgot to take wedding ring off watch strap as that is where I keep it during swim. Quick swill of Gatorade, find bike ok and it’s off for a lovely ride in the NSW countryside

get wetsuit off faster

Onto the bike and the weather was looking good, warm but not hot, no rain looming. Into town and the crowd support for the first section was great. As I had not really rode the course I was going to use my first lap as my recce. The hills at the start were nothing to write home about. But I found the Matthew flinders section of two steep down hills, on way out which would turn into steep UP hills on way back, and could have been a concern with only a standard crank and a 23 on the back. The course as a whole is undulating, with no long climbs just short and sharp. With a nice flat part of approx 10km each leg. I found the road surface very poor making for a rough ride. Was a little disappointed in the aid stations with no gels so ended up eating biscuits from a couple of them. The first lap passed without much incident. Found the slog up Matthew flinders drive ok. Then back into town and teh number of people out as great. infact there was good crowds all over the course except at the far ends out of te populated areas. So made it easy to turn back out for lap 2.
This was the worst of them all. About 8km into the lap it started to pour down with rain with the wind picking up, into our face on the out leg. This was my down part of the race, but just kept on turning the pedals. ( i just kept on thinking of family and also i had no money for food so needed to get to end to get free food! At 90kms it had stopped raining hard and was just a little damp in the air. It was also time for a pit stop and open my jelly sweets. (i do love jelly snakes, great bike sweets) The trek back to town was my best leg i felt. Also was looking out for people who i might lap was that would give me an extra push to keep on going. But the short slog up the steep part was hard as my rear tire was jumping all over the place and not gripping too well. But we made it and it was into town. I did wonder if i could make it up there one last time! For the final turn around. This is where autopilot kicked in, all those hours training took over and was able to block a lot of this lap out. I remember passing a far few riders which was good for me not them, but i felt was that 120-150 took a lot time!!! Or so it seamed. But at the turn around it was all good. 1hr left 4 jelly snakes and it would be T2.
My pace had dropped but the plan now was to just get back and start the run, in good order. The last slog up the hill was not a problem, then at the top of the last hill approx 3kms from T2 changed down into spinning mode to get the legs going again. God it felt good to get off the bike.


nothing

Legs and back felt great to be off the bike. So into the change tent for the last time. Didn’t want to sit down as you never know you may never get back up! It was empty pockets time. Out goes the bike tool, two cans of seal and inflate, two co2 cans. No punctures for the whole ride great!!!!!!!!!! Out go the arm warmers and uneaten cereal bar. Changed socks put plaster on blistered toe, shoes on, out of tent, quick pit stop, cup of water this time remember to take wedding ring off watch strap and back on finger, then hit the run. 26.2miles and I am done.


took to long to empty pockets

But as per normal with in the first km I get cramp in my left hamstring, and it is all stop. It soon pass’ and it is off again. My plan was to run the first hr and go from there. But a hill after only 9kms would spoil that. My fueling strategy for the run was to be water and coke at alternate aid stations with jelly sweets every mile for the last 12. I ran the first couple of aid stations, but from the start I took water and coke at every! aid station and started in the jelly sweets after 4miles. From then on I took water and coke at every aid station with one jelly sweet there and one in the middle of them. The run passed with no problems not once did i feel down or that i could not finish.
After 12kms I was able to pick up my special needs bags, which had my lifesaver in. a bag of pretzels. So from then on it was one sweet, two pretzels and coke/water at every aid station.
The run is split into three laps and each lap is split in two. The first part is flat but on the second half it has two nasty hills. So my strategy was to walk the hills and aid stations after the first 12kims. I think out of the three laps the first was the worst of all as each one got better after that. At the start of the second lap I was given a green scrunchie. Great I thought, a nice presant for my daughter, then my little boy could have my swim cap no arguments. The second lap was good if very uneventful. Legs felt a little heavy, but was not surprised as I have done very little running due to bad left knee, but just keep boxing on. And said knee was ok but that was more to do with the adrenaline i think. There was good support throughout the whole run which made it easy to keep on going.
Then before long it was the start of the last lap and an orange scrunchie too! Bonus! Will be in the good books with daughter. (but at the end they were taken off me despite a lot of pleading with the volunteer)
The last lap was great everyone was telling me that there was not long to go which was great. And saying great run and all. To keep my mind focused I was working out the KMs into miles and visualizing how far it was compared to my runs back home. Then there was the hills again with only 4kms to go just over 2.5miles to go approx and it would be over, so walked up them said hello and this would be the last time you see me to girl with megaphone who had been giving me grif for walking up the hill. Then at the aid station at the top it was down hill from there. I ran down teh hill like I don’t know what. Again it started to feel a little sad tyhat it would soon be over. It was not until around 1.5miles to go I realized I could get in under 11hrs. At the start I would have been happy with 12hrs 59mins. So I really pick up the pace, I must have run the last mile in under 7miles easy. Passed the sepcial needs station and was asked do i need anything and i replyed a lobotomy. The last few hundreds yards were great, I made myself smart for the end and took my good luck charm out of pocket to hold as I crossed the line, Then it was down the blue carpet again. What a great feeling to come down and Mike Riley calls Lee Cartmell you are an Ironman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

faster run less walk

got bike and gear and walk back to hotel 5km away.