I missed the start slightly we were still wading out to the buoys when the siren went off. the waves were only 1min apart and I managed to miss it. Ooops Oh well the siren went and I was off and swimming. managed to avoid any congestion and found the buoys pretty easily. I just put my head down and swam.
I knew I wasnt' making super fast time as my shoudlers were a bit heavy from yesterdays swim. In fact my body was letting me know that it really wasn't interested in swimming again today.

I didn't manage to find any toes to draft off. had to keep going round peole from the next wave up. 1min between waves is really not enough.
before I knew it I was back at teh beach and heading up for the long run back to the transition.

my actual swim time was 26mins which I'm happy with. after the long run back to transition it was 28mins.

Not swim 4k's the day before a race. If I was serious about the race.
I would also concentrate more on nto missing the start :)

Not sure of the times as they were included in the bike time. wetsuit came off really easily. I threw on the bike shoes and helmet and off I went

Remember to reset the computer even if it doesn't work properly. learn how to put on shoes on the bike. (when I get my new tri shoes :) )

I knew this was going to be a bit tough today, it was really howling wind. 6 laps of a looped course. meant half would be into the wind half would be out of the wind.
Into the wind was really hard going. I tried my best to just put my headdown on the bars and go for it. but It was gusty at times so had to sit up.

I was feeling ok once I'd settled into a good pace and just thought I'd suck it up into the wind and push it really hard out of the wind. which I did.

I had my gel halfway through the bike and felt ill immediately. I swear I've reached my gel quota. was not feeling great at this stage.

there are a few tight turns on this course and I was really pretty average at cornering today. I'm just a bit nervous about being on my bike with people near me. stupid really.

I was really happy to get to the last lap nd realised my dad had not caught me! I've never beaten him off the bike in a race before.
pulling into transition I saw him about 50ms behind! awesome.

Ride faster, If I wasn't training on Ironman legs I know I could go faster then I did today. work out the gel issue.

had a little trouble tying up the laces, but wanted to make sure they were done properly and didn't give me any problems.
grabbed my cap and gel and off I went.

not much

This is where it all went completely pear shaped. my stomach was not happy with me at all, and the girly issues were really not good. I trotted off out of transition and tried my best to settle into a good pace.
that did not happen. threw up the gel that was in my stomach. and wondered if it was a good idea to eat the other one I had in my pocket.
decided it was had the gel and again felt ill after it.

roughly 2 k into the run I was so glad to see public toilets which I stopped at! (yes in an olympic distance race!) so at this point I knew my ok race was going down the toilet :)

off I went again feeling marginally better, another k or so into the run, my ankle just started stabbing pain. absoultely stabbing pain. same issues I had earlier in the year after the sprained ankle/broken foot thing. I think the timing band was too tight around my ankle so I stopped and switched it over to my right ankle.

Away I went and the stabbing pain got worse and worse. I had to stop and walk, and yep princess tears appeared. it didn't get any better walking for a bit. I decided i was pulling out switched off my watch and started trudging to the start line.

I got some great encouragement from a fast chick running past me. here's the conversation of which I'm embarassed about
fast chick "come on girl you can do it..."
princess 'no I can't....' (in a whiney Kim from Kath and Kim voice)
fast chick "yes you can. you can do it.."
princess 'no I really can't, my leg is gone' (again in whiney rude Kath and Kim voice)

after she'd gone past I had this inner conversation with myself. Hey that was rude, she doesn't know that you have leg issues, she doesn't know that you are not stressed about this race but are thinking about the Ironman race and whether you are goign to be able to do it or not. how rude of you"

anyway I walked a good 2k's and then the ankle seemed to ease off, I managed t o start running again VERY slowly and when I got to the race finish, I decided not to pull out and to go through and do the second lap of the run.

I just could not face having the DNF next to my name. so I pushed on through and had some tears but managed to get through the second lap. my guts felt much better on the second lap.

I managed to finish in a very strange state. over the finsh line with heaps of my friends cheering me on. I just wanted them to all go away and leave me alone. (yes I was in a very whiney childlike state) asked where the first aid tent was. because I clearly could not see the big ambulance that was 2ms from my face! duh.

Not run with dodgy leg, not race with girly issues. (sorry guys if thats TMI)

run faster if that is actually possible for this accident prone idiot.

sat at teh first aid ambulance with ice on my ankle. attempting to ask the ridiculous questions of the first aider like what is your address. I could not remember where the hell I lived.

Luckly the fast chick walked past and I apologised for being rude and thanked her for the encouragement!


- niggles
- ironman training 3 hour run on the wed before does not help
- no food in my stomach
- girls stuff.


So after a bit of a disaster we headed back to the accom and showered etc. got to the presentations a tad bit late. I walked through the door to hear them call my name out in 3rd place for my age group! I looked around and thought they were all playing a joke on me.

realised they weren't and went up to pick up my water bottle prize. still think that its super hilarious that I managed to snag a 3rd place for a race where I walked, went to the toilet and ended up in the first aid tent. Yes there were only 4 people in my age group!

I picked up a carboshotz prize pack as a spot prize too.

fingers crossed the Ironman is not as incident filled.