Ironman West Australia

This was the biggest race of the year, back to Busselton, and I’d have to say IMWA is my favourite triathlon race. Sorry Challenge Roth, Phuket,Vineman, Copenhagen, me and you are good - we're tight and all that, but me and IMWA and I are BFF. I get pumped up as soon as I arrive in the town.

The course is terrific, the crowd support typical Aussie style with locals having BBQs, with PA systems shouting encouragement, wearing crazy costumes and playing cool music along the whole of the run. It has one of the best swims you could wish for, and the local community really embrace the event and you can feel it from the enthusiasm of the volunteers, who are the best of any race I've done. The local people in Busselton are so friendly, and of course it's in ‘Straya mate so it must be good! I have had a pretty crappy 2011, with both of my other ‘A’ races, Roth and Regensburg, being scuppered by a crash and a puncture/over-nutrition. Of the B races, I’d done reasonably in Ishigaki, Beijing and Cairns, and had another shocker in Murakami. I did have this race in the back of mind the whole time as the one that I wanted to do well in so it kept me training through the ups and downs. I’d had an episode of bad lower back pain and a subsequent shitty race in Taiwan with a depressing run where I couldn’t get under 5 min k pace and had promised myself during the run that I needed a rest and should not even start in WA. I had some encouraging messages from Woody and Jess that made me believe I could do OK in Busso after all and I know you should never listen to any promises you make during a race (unless its to train more consistently).

Was I smoked? Cooked, kaput, trained-off or just plain....

We had a block of four weeks in Australia before the race, and planned on going to Ness’s dads house in the Hunter Valley for a training block but Ness got an injury and couldn’t train for that week, so we decided to stay in Sydney. I think this was a blessing in disguise as we were staying mostly in Karl and Sally's sweet pad in Wollhara next to Centennial park, and I ended up doing all my cycling there. It’s a 3.8km loop, pancake flat with no stopping at all. It’s pretty boring, but great specific training for Busselton, and there are always some other cyclists to reel-in to keep you focused. I used to think the cyclists there were a pest and now I'm one of 'em.....funny how personal experience can change your opinion on things. One session I did 5 hours - 40 laps (150kms) in the cold and constant rain.

Sometimes the training is fun, sometimes it's bladdy miserable, but you get it done for the rewards on race day.

What's that ladies? No, I'm not  really that hardcore, it's all in a day's work.

 
 I’d put in a bit of a run focus before and after Taiwan, including two triple run days two weeks before WA one Tuesday and Thursday, with a total 72 kms covered all around 4.40k pace or faster. We had a less than ideal race week (from a performance perspective) as we had Ness’s sister’s Sally and Karl's unrool wedding Friday night and then had to fly out Saturday at 8am, arriving in Perth at 10am (clocks went backwards thankfully), drive 3.5 hours and we had to be registered, build bikes and check bike and run bags in by 4pm. We got special permission to register late as normally it closes Friday. We missed the welcome party which is always awesome in Busso, so that was a shame, but we were lucky to be able to race at all. We got it all done with about 30 minutes to spare and went back to Mum and Dad’s pad that we were staying in (they had come over on the train for the third year in a row) - to mix up some cocktails (4 parts carbo and electrolyte powder and 3 parts water) – that shit has a kick on it like an angry mule I tells ya!

1,2,3,4.......

We got some good sleep which is unusual the night before a big race as the lack of training and nerves usually keep you up and we were up at 3am for a record early 5.45 start. Just before the race I was queuing for some port-a-loos, when word broke out of some unoccupied ones around the corner (a platinum-rated asset on race morning) and when I broke into a stride it just felt great to run and like I could go on all day, 'It could be my day' I thought. I saw my mate Jamie Slaymaker from Tokyo at the dunny and he said quickly ‘mate you’ve had a lot of bad luck this year – today’s going to be your day’. I had been telling myself the exact same thing but it was nice to hear it from someone else. I decided while making deposits that that would be my mantra for the day – or more specifically ‘It’s my farken day’.

I learned from my days in Kathmandu studying under Flowering Willowbrook (above) that chanting positive mantras can be very powerful. Thanks Flowdie!

  Swim 3.8km (59.45) 16th in AG

My swim had been pretty reliable this season, despite having shockers on both the bike and the run at various times.Not that I'm a top swimmer, but I had been getting out of the water exactly where I expected or better every race. There is a saying that you can't win the race in the swim, but you can lose it.....today I just about did. I lined up to the right on the swim and got a pretty good start. It was really wavy but I thought that would calm down once we got out a little. After 600m or so I realised the whole swim would be like that and was enjoying the open water style of swimming in waves, where you come off the crest of a wave and your stroke is ¾ of the way through before your hand enters the water with a karate chop. I had a few looks up and could not see anyone in front of our little group. I was on the feet of two others and I though we were leading the Age Group (AG= punter/amateur) race. I was trying to calm myself down but was pretty stoked that finally I would be in the lead pack on the bike in this race, which would make a massive difference to my day, and something I’d be aiming for with two years of focused swim training. When we all came together around the end of the jetty at 1.9kms in I was mid-way through the first pack, coming about tenth overall. Straight after the turn for home, I put my head down and took a dozen or so strong strokes without sighting, but when I looked up I realised I’d gone in the wrong direction and was waay out to the right as that was the direction the waves were going, and the jetty cuts away from the inside to the left, so you should turn a sharper left turn at the last buoy.

Always had trouble with 3 point turns.

 I tried to cut back towards the jetty but I never seemed to make much distance up. Every time I looked I was way off to the right and the only company I had was guys on cayaks looking nervously at me. I then started to get pretty sea sick from the chop and was quite disheartened that I was going to be looking at the bladdy lead bike pack go the other way at the ‘500m to turning point’ signs all day again – or even worse if I didn’t start to head left. I got more and more queasy and had less and less power in my stroke. I think the last 600m must have taken 15 minutes as I was barely pulling at all on the water, considering dropping out and even did a few stints of breast-stroking which I had not done in a race probably since my first ever triathlon six years ago. I just keep telling myself that it would be over soon. I appreciated how easy it is to drown when thrown overboard in the ocean, you would just give up and accept your fate, which I was just about ready to do. When I hit the shore I was massively relieved and did a couple of dry-reeches / borderline vomiting. I hear a lot of people had similar issues. I also heard a guy got swept all the way right to almost Dunsborough (next beach down) so it wasn't just me.

Glad that is over (time is for pros who started 15 minutes ahead).

Bike 180kms 4.53 (4th in AG)

It was good to finally get on the bike but I was still feeling sick as a dog for the first half hour.  Although I felt really sick it did not affect my power on the bike like it did in the water and I was passing quite a few (as you would expect with a shitty swim time). I did hear Matthew Illingsworth name called out just in front of me exiting the swim – he is an ex-pro bike rider who holds the AG bike course record in IMWA of 4.19, only one minute less than the overall course record. If I had my game-face on I would have pushed extra hard through transitions to grab onto his wake on the bike, but I was feeling sorry for myself and queasy and never got hold of him. Pity as his time this year was not as stellar as in the past (all times were slower because of wind but his even more so), so I probably could have held onto him. Once again I’d forgotten my Garmin, so I did the whole ride without any information at all apart from my stopwatch. I do like racing this way, but it makes it a bit more boring. I’d decided to try a bit of a new fueling plan; starting on a ham and cheese sandwich with loads of butter and then onto 100% maltodexterin gels then onto the 2:1 fructose/sucrose gels towards the end of the bike and just coke on the run. So using Macca’s recommended formula of more refined carbs as the day goes on. The sandwich first up went down pretty well, and so did the first bit of the gel.

At the end of the  first lap I was feeling good and had a riding buddy – an Irish bloke who didn’t seem to know much about racing at the pointy end and taking turns in front in a pace line. I gave him some polite education on this after he was sitting on me for 20 minutes ‘Yeah but I wasn’t drafting though’ – he said ‘mate I could not give a shit if you were or weren’t - just do your time up front’. We were doing ten minutes stints through most of the second lap, the wind had picked up and we were more than the 1km down on the bike lead pace line.

Hide from the wind, jeez my chest is aero...Hide from the.....

At the end of the second lap my stomach decided it wasn’t so happy about the gel I had just delivered to it and I did a big vomit at 40kms/h that mostly went down my right sleeve. My top now looked like one of those shirts that have tattooed sleeves printed on them, except mine was bright orange paint-splash-style tattoo. 

Never was much of an Ed Hardy fan

It was a very windy, hot and drying bike, the toughest conditions I’d experienced here in three years, and it was hard to drink enough and to stay cool. I was aiming for thee bottles at every aid station, one water bottle first I’d slide down the front of my shirt, then one bottle of Gatorade for the cage and a third water bottle to soak my head, sleeves and back to stay cool that I’d toss as soon as I could while still in the rubbish zone.
I was pretty stoked that the water bottle down my front was ballooning away from my torso as the cooling fabric of my shirt was quite light and making an aerodynamic looking barrel chest inserts that some guys use when making land-speed record attempts on bikes.

Man-boobs.com.au

After I was sick I lost a lot of power and me and the Irish guy were joined by two others. I was pedaling squares and became a massive hypocrite by sitting at the back of the four for the rest of the last lap. I kept getting dropped off and then just worked hard enough to tag back on. I picked up some coke instead of Gatorade at one drink station by mistake, the first bit went down well , but a subsequent lager dosage become my second tattooed sleeve down my left side with a black and white image the ink of choice this time. Drinking Coke in a race is a way one street - you can't go back when you start -as they say in the US 'Once you go black....

C'mon stomach, be good to me baby

RUN 42.2kms 3.34  (13th in AG)


It was good to finally get off the bike and start running. I still felt a bit sick but was able to start at a decent pace. The run course is 4x10km loops with plenty of crowd support, right along the coast without much shade. We had some cloud cover for most of the first 25kms and even two little showers, but it got to around 35 after that. I was watching my pace closely trying to keep it around the 4.30 – 4.35 pace for the first 10kms. After about 5kms I was joined by a guy who had just stopped for a pee, running a very similar pace to me and we started running together for a bit. We ended up running the next 25kms shoulder to shoulder and helping each other reach our respective goals. I looked at his number and said – ‘You’re not in 35-39 are you mate?’. ‘No’ he said, and I said ‘OK we can be friends then’. He said ‘I just squeaked into the 40-44’ I though he meant he was about to turn 45 next year, so I said – ‘I'll be aging up too - we can be friends for life!’. Turns out he meant he had just turned 40, but for today, we were besties.

My new BFF Gav with me just behind.

We chatted a fair bit on the first lap I told him I lived in Japan, but don’t ask me about the nuclear crap because I’m not in the mood to talk about that now. He was cool as you like and we got on great. After having had all kinds of run-ins with competitors this year, including giving a bloke a one metre deep head dunk in the swim after he grabbed and pulled my calf 500m in in Ishigaki, having a deliberate snotting-on-each-other stoush on the bike with a cranky Austrian in Beijing, bollocking a guy for drafting and not going near the front on the bike in Taiwan, it was nice to have an interaction during the race that was more bonding than confrontational.

Anyway we went onto the second lap and were just ticking off the kms. Gavin had his Garmin set to beep every km and would update me every km on our pace – which was usually 4.38 or thereabouts. I was making sure we were fueling adequately – after each aid station checking that he had gotten his coke down and planning for each one as they came, getting as much salt pills, coke and watermelon into me as I could..

Fuel of champions! (Well at least fuel of 7th place in the male 35-39 category in 2011 IMWA)

 We kept ticking off the sub 5 minute k’s through the third lap. I told him briefly about my crappy year of racing and that my mantra was ‘it's my farken day’. Which then became ‘It’s our farken day’ as I would say when we passed some people or got some good feedback from the spectators. It was great to keep us both focused and in a positive frame of mind. I mentioned to him that I thought he was in a Kona position, but I was probably borderline. We both wanted to qualify. He was even getting his big collection of supporters to cheer for me too which was great, and they kept it up even after he dropped me. Onto the 4th lap and I started to slow a bit and was stepping into the hurt-locker and closing the door behind me. Gavin ended up running into third in his age group and getting a Kona slot easily. I was stoked to see him up on stage getting his slot and medal. There was another course cutting accusation with the guy who finished 4th in the 40-44 (on the bike this time) and the investigation into that is still on-going. I slowed down quite a bit in the last 4 kms, I think I stopped taking enough salt and coke, or just ran out of fitness / to the limits of my ability on the day.

Grunting out the k's

I could not see anyone in my AG in front or behind in the final stretch and my quads had turned to rock, so I run/walked it home the last 2kms in about 6min + ks, to make it 3.34 and 9.34. It would have been good to keep up the pace and do a sub 3.30/9.30, but I was happy all the same. It was a slow tough day all round with no AG going under 9 hours. So although my time was about the same as last year, my performance was much much better and I was pretty stoked.

Gavin posted his Garmin file which is the same as me up until the 32k mark, when he kept up the low 5min ks and I didn't... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/133102861

You beauty.

  After the race I was a bit of a gibberer – went into the med tent vomitted a bit and had a litre of IV saline drip - which made me feel so much better. I saw my weight was 83kgs, so I'd only lost 2kgs during the race as pre-race was 85kgs. I noticed my toes had been smashed to smithereens on the run. I need to get a half size smaller shoes for next time. 

Parental guidance recommended

Overall I was happy with my result after the poor swim and sickness on the bike and I had mentioned to some friends before the race that I was after 7th in my AG as I thought that would pretty much guarantee me a Kona slot (last year 10th was good enough). The slot allocations were a bit dodgy this year, despite 35-39 being the largest AG with over 200 starters, we only got 4 slots before roll down, last year it was 6 before it rolled to 10th (roll down = someone does not want to race in Hawaii so it goes to the next guy to finish) and in Melbourne they have 75 total for the race so it will probably be 10-11 before roll-down. The slots from the 70+ AG come down to the largest group when they are not taken, but two out of the three Japanese guys who raced in those AGs took those slots so there was none left to roll down at all. A real bummer and Ness’s AG had 4 slots pre-roll down (a bit dodgy if you ask me as there were only 40 in her AG with the same No. of slots as mine with 200+) and she was 5th but they were all taken too. We now have to work out how we can train for Ironman Melbourne while working 70 hours a week, snowboarding and not being able to do any training outside. It will be interesting!

Me and my new mate Gav after the race

Taiwan 70.3

The Taiwan 70.3 was in its second year and we had heard nothing but good reports on the event. It’s a convenient event from Tokyo as direct flights to Ghoashung (or whatever it’s called) are pretty cheap, you only need to spend three nights there and race entry and accom. are reasonable too. After having a ‘less than stellar’ (or 'sub-optimal' in Chrissie-speak) race experience in the Japan 70.3 all the foreigners in Tokyo canned the Japan race and entered Taiwan. There was also a big crew of ex-pats from Hong Kong and Taiwan entered, many who switched their entries from the cancelled China Race to this race. It was held in Kenting down on the southern tip of Taiwan. I knew nothing about Kenting, but it sounded more like some grey holiday town in southern England that Londoners would go to so they could complain about the weather (and everything else), rather than a tropical beach resort with beach-side bars playing party music with clear sea and fine white sand. 

Kenting on Blackpool

Kenting in Taiwan

We were queuing to check in at Narita Airport and heard some whispers of Y40,000 excess baggage fees so pivoted and went into action stations with our well established and patented 'avoid excess baggage fees in 6 annoying steps' plan that has seen us not pay for the past 12 months - put our pedals, pumps bike shoes in our ‘carry-on’ bag to bring it to about 20kgs. Lock up carry-on bag in the locker. Make sure combined weight of bike bags are 47-48kgs (max 46) go to counter with tiny carry on bag only in view. Check in and return to locker to struggle with carry-on bag. Deal with sneers and up-turned noses from security staff, immigration officials and fellow passengers while making way to gate. Try to avoid the eye of the lady who checked you in who is now putting your ticket in the slot at the gate to get on the plane. Put the bags anywhere in the overhead lockers that they will fit. Which they may or may not. Yes we are ‘those’ passengers.

Excuse me m'am can I move your duty free from this overhead compartment?

We had our Melbourne Cup do and Tokyo Physio staff Xmas party in the preceding nights so we were a bit tired and arrived at about 11pm and slept the whole 2 hours on the bus to Kenting. We were staying in the official hotel – the Yoho Resort that was really cool. We were in the ‘Kids Hotel’ section with bright cartoons on the walls and special inbuilt kiddy toilet seat. The buffet breakfast was great and served until 1pm. All pretty fun and we would love to stay longer another time. The swim start and T1 and T2 were about 18kms from the resort, but shuttle buses made it easy. We checked in and went to the pre-race meeting and were glad to see Whit Raymond had made the trip as announcer. They had 1,200 athletes, so it was a big race.

Swim 1.9kms 29mins

 An Australian 2 x Ironman World Champion was a late edition to the start list, I guess he had not made any prize money since winning Challenge Cairns as he’d been chasing his Olympic slot. I’m a fan and always enjoy listening to his interviews, but was interesting to see him just before the swim start, borrow some bottled water to wash his goggles from a cameraman and then use the front of the poor fellow's polo shirt to dry them. We’ll put it down to nerves. 

Treat 'em mean, keep 'em clean.

The swim was a mass start 15 minutes after the pros, on this really pretty beach with one or two small waves on entry and exit, but calm clear waters on the whole. I got a good start and was coming about 4^th or 5^th after the first buoy. My speed dropped off on the final lap and I got passed by half a dozen more. Judging from the times it was a bit long. Not much more to note except I know I need a few really tough 4km swim sets in the last 3 weeks before a race to swim well. There was a long run up the beach and then a long flight of stairs to the bikes.

T 1 at the top (felt like it anyway)

 Bike 90kms 2.26

I got out onto the bike feeling good, passed a few of the strong swimmers and at the top of the first hill there was a turn around and I saw I was in about 6^th overall (AG), only one minute down on the lead guy. I eventually came across, a HK based Slovak whose name I’d seen at the pointy end of some races and knew he was one of the fastest ex-pat triathletes in Asia. He looked back at me about 5 times in 2 minutes as I approached, so I thought he might be keen to hang on for a free ride, so hammered it hard passed him and then was riding on my own for about 50kms.

All lonesome.

I was low on gels (only 2) as our ATM card wasn’t working in Taiwan and we had no cash to buy more. There was only one aid station that was handing out gels and only one guy at that aid station handing them out and he was playing hard to get. Both laps I missed him, despite me slowing down and shouting “gel” he hid himself between some water bearing dudes and looked away and backed right away when I got to him. The blastard, shy, gel-bearing volunteer from Kenting strikes again! Gets you every time. Still you can’t complain they give their time and do their best, it’s just I think they were still getting the hand of the job. I was pretty low on fuel and grabbed a banana and some power bars where I could. 

Share the love brother!

The wind really picked up on the second lap, and I ended up getting swallowed by a group of 4 guys riding in a pace-line, with the Slovakian hanging on at the back. I joined in and three of us took some turns at the front,  two sat at the back trying to pretend they were invisible. I eventually went to my mate and asked as politely as I could “Are you going to go to the front and do some f&%ing work?”.

Kodak moment

I hate it when people who won’t go to the front more than blatant drafters, when they’re doing both it’s even worse. “I’m not strong enough, I’ll slow youse down” he said, which is really the only acceptable response and hard to argue against. When I saw him sprint up the hills with a smile on his face it was a C & C Music Factory Thing that me go hmmmm. Funny thing was when we came into T2 he pulled his feet from the shoes early and sprinted to the front of the group to get into T2 first – “The hide of him!” my mum would have said. He ended up getting out of T2 first and ran into 2^nd AG place overall I think.

Cyclists: Conniving & work avoiding are part of the sport......Triathletes: most have more integrity.

Run 21.1kms 1.49

The run was a really tough slog. It was 17kms point to point back to the hotel then a heart-breaking 4 kms out and back past the finish line. It was mostly head wind and more up-hill than down. I was pretty smoked from the bike and felt terrible from the first step. I was struggling to even hold 5min k pace and kept waiting to be swamped by the ‘runners’. I took some heart that I’d only been passed by one guy in the first 10kms, and was pretty sure I was still leading my age group. I ended up being passed by only about 7 or 8 guys on the run, three in my age group. The last out and back was mentally tough, as the turning point never seemed to be around the several corners. I was lucky I had two big cups of coke at the 14 and 18km aid station that got me finishing at sub 5min k pace. When we finally reached the turnaround I was surprised to see there was no timing mat, only a few teenagers taking numbers on a sheet.

Ness looking aero as bro.

I was glad there were no big dramas for me but if I was honest with myself I never really pushed myself deep into the level of pain I would have needed to if I was to perform really well. I was bit shy of the real hurt after the ‘Nightmare in Murakami’. I was so depressed I was running so slow that I was thinking to call my season with that race, as maybe I’d 'trained off' in horse racing terms and was ‘smoked’ in triathlon terms.  My run time was crap over ten minutes slower than Cairns but it was a lot harder course. Hot as hell too.

I was surprised when I entered the finishing area and saw an ex-Tokyo resident in my AG  on the medical table getting some treatment, as I never saw him pass me on the run and there was no way I could have missed him – he had is name on his ass and I was wondering if he would pass so kind of looking out for him and getting a good look at all of those who did pass. I knew he didn't come in off the bike ahead of me too as I saw all those guys that did at the turn around on the bike. I didn’t think much more of it until I saw he was awarded 2^nd in my AG and then a mate told me the same guy was running just ahead of him and then he was staggering around at the 18km mark and turned around without doing the out and back, with everyone at the aid station shouting at him he hadn’t reached the turnaround point yet, but letting him go as they thought he was calling it a day. Controversial and familiar! I'm pretty sure he was delirious like me in Murakami and thought he was at the turnaround point but wasn’t. The investigation is on-going…but I understand he didn't take a Vegas slot which makes it simpler.

Where is your evidence? You're an idiot!

Vanessa had a great race and did the fastest AG female run split of the day, won her AG and was 2^nd fastest AG female. She’s in good form now and seems to do really well in the warm half ironman races. We didn’t have an interest in going to the Vegas race (this was a qualifier) so we didn’t go to the roll-down ceremony. She's our big hope for a Kona slot in Busso.

Fastchick.com.au

The finish area was a bit dusty and dirty but they had Asahi Super Dry and Red Bull, so it was OK by me. I had a massage but had to abort half way as the guy was obviously a panel beater not a massage therapist and hell bent on causing an injury by twisting joints in whatever direction they were not designed to go. I hear they are going to move the finish into the resort next year, which will be great. All in all this was a fantastic race and I can see it becoming one of the biggest  in Asia, which it already is I guess, but maybe even bigger. Next up we’re back to Aus and heading for Ironman West Australia, compared to some of my other races this year. May as well do the event..... how bad could it be…wait a minute don’t answer that.

That'll do.

Murakami 2011

The Murakami race has become a bit of a classic within the ex-pat & tri community in Japan and seems to get bigger every year. It’s in a really quaint fishing town that could be used as a film set for Samurai Movies (I know I got a good tour of it – but more on that later) and it’s a really well run race with a straight out and back wet suit swim off the coast, an honest and picturesque out and back bike course on the coast that tends to be head wind out and tail wind back – like Hawaii -so they tell me ;-(, and a well supported run course that finishes with two and a half loops around a few blocks in the town (2 1/2 - confusing I know…more on that later too).. The number of foreigners together with the number of competitors racing seems to grow every year,  this year they had almost 600 starters and maybe 40 gaijin.

We had a long trip down from Hokkaido - big boat eh!

 It’s also become an unofficial World Japan Ex-Pat Championships with the different nationalities doing battle in all age groups. At the pointy end myself (Aussie/Vegemite), Pete Jenkins (England/ Roast Beef)  and Eric Hermand (French/Frog’s Legs) are all very even. Pete is the better swimmer by maybe 1.30, but Eric and I probably make that back on the bike and our three runs are very similar depending on the day. Last year Pete got the win, then Eric then me. We all wanted it this year and a bit of banter on the email group before the race kept it interesting. There were several other battles taking place between, more vegemites, frogs legs, hot dogs, souvlakis, maple syrups and of course, sushis.

I knew we were headed for some ouchi wa wa, but it was particularly prohetic this race.

Vanessa had a great day being the 4th fastest female and for the first time she had the best bike split of the day by a whole minute! Big gear baby, big gear.

Swim course up onside of the rope, back the other side. Two times

SWIM  22.17 (9^th)

The wave swim start is my only frustration with this race, as the under 35s get a clear first lap, then each wave gets more and more traffic after that. Poor Ness had a really rough time in her swim, as the women and older athletes went last. I decided this year I was going to swim the whole thing way away from the rope and started out wide. I got a flyer from the start, put my head down and smashed out 3 x 8 strokes/breath and was wondering if I had actually jumped the gun because there was no one else around. Another guy joined me and we sort of gravitated to the rope, by the end of the turn-around. We did the entire swim together as the top two in our wave, didn't seem to be any real swim guns around. We came out about a minute up on Eric who was in this wave this year as he had aged-up. Pete had swam about a minute faster than me. I was pretty happy with how things were going when I got on the bike.

Took a bit longer in T1 to get into my bike gear

Bike 1.03.39 (2^nd)

The bike is a good one for me, long and straight and getting in the aero position, pushing a big gear into the wind is essential. I was in front of our wave from the start and after 10 kms I stopped passing guys from the first wave and at times felt like I’d taken a wrong turn as there was no one in sight in front or behind. I did eventually catch a glimpse of Eric he was also doing the hard yards by himself. On the turn-around I saw the guys leading the under 35’s race had a tasty pace line of five athletes, including the roast beef, who gave me a guilty grin as I had my nose in the wind and he was tucked in the oven – I’m not complaining they looked to be within legal drafting distance, just jealous we didn’t have one and taking the chance to have another moan about the wave swim starts making it easier for earlier starters.

Big Transition area

At the turn-around Eric was only 20 seconds behind me - he must be riding strong I thought, Shizer! I thought about waiting for him so we could trade pulls but soon thought, don’t be bloody lazy – do the hard yards and try and grow the gap. Eric ended up having a good bike (fastest split of the day –30 secs faster than me). I pushed the last 20kms with the wind in the back and stretched the lead to maybe 40 secs coming into T2. I lost my chain once on the way out, but fixed it after a few trys in the saddle and stupidly got off the bike at the wrong point into T2 and had to get back on and ride another 50m – but those two probably cost me only 10-20secs total. As T1 and 2 times were included I think we were both just under the hour.

On to the run

RUN

1.34 (532^nd)

The run is about 4kms from T2 to downtown Murakami and then the 2 ½ loop to the finish. I always found it a tough one mentally for some reason. 3 loops from the start or even a point to point or out and back seem easier, as your ticking them off from right at the start. On this one you feel like  you've done lots of hard work and only just starting the loops. It is a really cool course though.

Murakami's Norweigian Wood may or may not contain parts of the run course.

I had forgotten my Garmin and did the whole day without any data at all. I also forgot my sunglasses so did the race in a pair of $10 Aviator copies ala Jessie Thomas who won the famous race in Wild Flower CA this year in dodgy Porn-Star sunnies. I started the run at what I guessed was about 3.45 pace,  and came up to one elite female about 2kms in, I called her Sharapova ‘cause she grunts and wheezes with every step. Is it just me or do runners who grunt, groan and breathe much louder than necessary irritate you too? – 'I get it you’re trying rooly hard, me too now STFU'…maybe I’m a harsh judge and they can’t help it / don’t realise it.

STFUOVA

Eric was gaining slowly on me throughout the run and I thought it was probably going to be his day as I was on the limit. I got passed at about the 5km mark by a guy from the Under 35s wavewho ended up running low 37 and I ran with him for a few hundred metres or so before he left me. Then Eric joined me at the 7km mark I stayed with him for a few hundred metres too, but couldn’t hang onto his pace. Damn he was running a fair bit different today to Ishigaki when he ran over 41. I was probably doing 3.55-4 min k pace to Eric’s 3.45 at that stage, and was thinking just hold this and I should do a mid 38 run split and at least second in the AG  (Eric ended up winning the 35+ Allez Les Bleus!) . Then at the 8 km mark, I really started to slow down and run 5min+ k pace. I didn’t know what was happening, it was like a car that was running out of petrol. I got passed by Sharapova, who pumped a couple of extra loud grunts and groans into me when she went by.  I was thinking that I was cracking mentally as it was going to Eric's day, and just to toughen up and speed up but I had nuttin’. 

Ness flying!

Soon after that everything became a blur and my memory is pretty clouded.  I probably have better recollection of the infamous post-race Melbourne Cup Australian society celebrations in 2005 after Makybe Diva won her third in a row and there were allegations of dancing on chairs in Heartlands Roppongi Hills with ties wrapped around heads.

A cause for memory loss.

 I’m pretty sure I got ataxic and was staggering around but still running slowly.  After about ten minutes I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity and thought “Hang on a minute, surely I should be finished by now, I must have missed the turn off into the finishing chute”. I asked a Marshall where the finish line was and he pointed me in the direction all the runners were going (all running anti-clockwise loops), so I thought maybe I hadn’t come to the turn off to the chute yet and I’d only done 9.5. After a few hundred metres staggering in that direction I figured I had actually missed the chute and he was just sending me on another loop. I decided to turn back and as I was going the wrong way and walking like I was going to fall over at any step. Marshalls were making a big fuss and gathering around me in groups, trying to take my timing chip.. I was telling them no and talking and walking like I had had 25 beers and managed to fend them off.

WHAT does the finish line look like?

 I then came to a corner of the loops and in my delirium thought I saw the finishing chute at the left of the corner and staggered up that street and was 'slightly' disappointed to find that it was a residential street that ended in a T intersection. I could hardly walk at this stage and sat in the gutter in pieces.  A local fellow was there and I asked him to call me a cab. He laughed, but I was deadly serious, I couldn’t walk anymore. He called it for me, but after 15 minutes no cab came and I was feeling a bit better. Sorry Mr Cabbie - too slow, and you wouldn't have enjoyed my presence anyway I'm sure! So I decided to try and find the finish line.

Go Ness!

I headed where I thought it was but in all honesty I was totally disorientated and had idea where it was or where I was in relation to the course. I took about four turns and ran into a train line – and thought well this is a good second option,I just need a train to come so I can jump under it. Eventually I saw a sign for the station so I followed that and eventually came across the running course with the race just coming to a close. I rejoined the guys still running and shuffled home.

Eric's day today congratulations mate - we'll get ya next time froggie!

After crossing the line I was really giddy and had trouble focussing and Fabien, Eric and some mates took good care of me. I then embarked on a two hour long vomiting binge, where I would drink something and vomit it up repeatedly, maybe ten times. That then morphed into a 24 hour diarrhea, which started just before I got onto the bus – lovely! I found Eric’s recommendation of coke with two teaspoons of salt was the best thing for me. 

Soo good for Ness to get a warm race and show her true form.

As for what happened to me; to be honest I’m not really sure what the root cause was. So many things can slow you down on the run and most of the time we are just guessing as to the reason; bike pacing, run pacing, swim fitness, calories, stomach issues, lack of run training, lack of salt/electrolytes, are all often put up as causes but sometimes,who the hell knows! You just know you start to feel pretty terrible and slow down.

After discussing with Ness and Woody I think it was most likely a lack of calories or dehydration as I don’t think I ate as much as I should at breakfast and only had about 300mls of fluid and 100cals on the bike. Woody reckons the pre-race meal is especially important in an olympic distance as it’s so hard to get in food or liquids when racing at that intensity. I’m hoping I can bounce back to feeling normal soon. It's three days after the race and I still have a pretty crappy appetite and developed a mouth ulcer and two massive cold-sores. Very attractive! So I guess I'm still struggling a bit. The whole mental/physical aspect of endurance sport is really so painful yet alluring. That conversation you continually have with yourself to try and convince your body to push harder and you never really know if it's your mind or body that's slowing you down.It can drive you crazy, but we all keep coming back for more.

Peek-a-boo.

Also a special mention to my athletes who did big PBs on the day and all spanked their coaches butt: Shin Ishikawa, John Boardman, Yuki Ishikawa, Jean-Marc Morange, Keren Miers and even to Greg Weddell who didn’t PB but followed my lead and did an extra loop on the run (without getting lost!).

Keren in vegemite colours, 2nd in the 50-54.

Beijing ITU World Champs

The ITU (International Triathlon Union) is the governing body of the national Olympic distance triathlon series that are held at different locales around the world. The term 'Triathlon', refers to any distance of swim/bike/run (almost always in that order), with the most common distances, Olympic (1.5/40/10), half ironman (1.9/90/21.1) and full ironman (3.8/180/42.2). The Olympic distance is so named as the distance that is raced at the Olympics as it is more spectator friendly often raced in major cities on small courses with several loops on the bike and run. It is draft legal on the bike at the elite/pro level (can ride in packs), but at the age group level drafting is still not allowed (must ride at 7-10m apart).

Pros are allowed to ride this close - Beijing was a hilly course!

Aside from the Olympics every four years the ITU run a series of races for the Olympic hopefuls to race at every year. There are two levels to these races the top level World Championship Series (WCS) which has seven races at varying venues around the world and the World Cup level, a tier down. This year the WCS races were Sydney, Yokohama (postponed), Kitzbuhel, Madrid, Hamburg, London and Beijing.

 

 The WCS races are kind of like the Formula One races with a points system over the season to crown the overall champ. The final race each year is the “Grand Final’ and is worth double points. With each race they also hold a punter’s race (Age Group) while everything is set up (good chance to make money from entry fees and give us pretenders a chance to race on these cool courses). The Grand Final leg becomes the 'World Age Group Championships' with punters like me getting to live our Olympic fantasies out complete with Parade of Nations, named uniforms, opening and closing ceremonies etc. 

We're good enough athletes to represent our country....really rooly truly we are!

To qualify for the AG world champs, each country has a points series in its own races and you need to finish in the top group or prove to your federation you are worthy to wear the colours (or more importantly pay the fees and buy the uniforms). Due to the expense of travelling and lack of real prestige of qualifying, it’s not that hard to qualify for most countries. As this year’s Grand Final was in Beijing (nice and close) and some friends were racing, we thought it would be a good year to give it a crack.

ITU: All that glitters....

In the longer stuff (half ironman and full ironman distance) the World champs are held in Las Vegas and Hawaii respectively. Although the levels at Vegas and the ITU world champs are a step up for your average race (both held on the same day this year), in reality Hawaii is the only one that qualifying for is a major achievement and a fair dinkum World AG championship, with the best of the best from all over the world competing. But the ITU world champs are the only one with the feel of representing your (a) country. The ITU also have a long course world titles each year (always varying in Distance but around 3/80/20) that are a bit less well known than the Olympic distance ones as not many top pros race them, but with the same nationalistic hoopla. This year they are in Las Vegas and next year they are in the Basque region in Spain.

The real object of most AG triathlete's desire...

Our mates from Tokyo, Keren and Geraldine had gotten entry representing Japan through their performances in several local races in the last 12 months, as we had not raced any Australian ITU points races we got entry to the Japan team via our race in Ishigaki earlier this year. We would have had to travel back to Aus to race the ITU WCS in Sydney to represent Australia and that was not going to work for us. It definitely felt a bit weird representing Japan, when our hearts are green and gold, but what the hell it's all a bit of wank anyway and it should be a fun event. Sign us up! 

Good times with Keren and Geraldine

Due to the lure of the Olympic medals, ITU athletes and races attract a shed-load of government funding, which was very apparent at this race, like no other I'd been at. In our hotel some teenage Australian athletes were staying as they also have the junior world champs on. It was interesting to see three girls come back from a run with a government paid for coach riding his mountain bike beside them. I heard the Aus Govt has put $20million into the triathlon program ,through Triathlon Australia (TA) all of it with the sole goal of getting Olympic medals. You never see one penny of govt money put into triathlon that has no chance of getting a gold medal and TA have almost no interest in any other form of the sport, pretty poor considering they are supposedly in charge of the sport as a whole in Australia.

I know gold has risen in value, but $20mill for a ticket in the raffle for one of these bad boys??

 

  The Aussie athletes bombed out severely in Beijing but on the same day two Aussies won the World Half Ironman in Vegas, meaning all Full and Half Ironman World champs male and female are currently Aussies, but TA send out a release on how the girls finished 11th, 12th and 13th in Beijing without a mention of the success in Vegas. ITU is now starting a team relay format of some kind where two guys and girls do a very short swim/bike/run of their own as a relay and trying to get that as an Olypmic sport (this format was recently accepted as a medal sport in the Asian Games). I guess Triathlon Australia would cop another $20million from the Govt if they got approval for the Olympics, and maybe the teenage girls could get a sport scientist pricking their finger for lactic acid test on every run they do too. 

The rub is Australia's only gold medal in triathlon (Emma Snowsill) was gained when she got out of Triathlon Australia's clutches and trained her arse off on her own with Brett Sutton and her boyfriend Craig Walton. The men have next to zero chance of gold in London and the women are struggling too, so that $20m is going to amount to nada as far as the Govt is concerned. OK, so in case you weren't a fully clued-up tri-geek, you are now and my rant is officially over...

It's just not fair....

As soon as we arrived it was clear that Beijing were going all out with this event, it was the olympics all over again as far as they were concerned. There were banners at the airport and on every street around town, their must have been more than 1,000 of them spruiking the event. 

They brought in 2 x walk through metal detectors to our hotel (the results of which were ignored) and then a dozen 'friskers' to search everyone individually before you were allowed on the bus to the opening ceremony, note security guys and ropes making sure you couldn't leave the area after metal detection. "That's the way we did it in the Olympics and everyone loved it, so that must be how to do it for all sporting events, right?" I wasn't about to tell them any different.....was pretty funny.

The course for the pros was exactly the same as the Olympics, the swim being in a Lake in front of the Ming Tombs with an awesome stadium to view from, and a 400m long stretch of blue carpet to ride (6) and run (4) loops around. The AG race had 3 loops on the bike and run, and the swim course was different too. Unfortunately they had blown the measuring on all three disciplines as the swim was 1,700m, bike 41kms and run 10.3kms, which was pretty annoying. The bike was understandable as the available roads for the loops sort of dictated the length of each,  but the swim and run should have been measured correctly – just moving the turning points at each would have seen the distances correct.

Get it right! And if you make a mistake make it shorter - we want to PB!

 The Parade of nations and opening ceremony was fun, albeit a bit weird. Seeing the difference in all the countries through the afternoon was cool. There were cheeky Brazilians jumping into other group's photos, posing besides guards and generally skylarking at every opportunity.  There were Americans with their precisely cut and combed military hair, a little too-white-for-comfort teeth, kitted in chunky white running shoes, knee length beige pleated shorts with brown belts and tucking their polo-shirts into them at every opportunity. There was the Australian team with baggy daggy blue shorts and over sized white polo shirts, chanting Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi at every opportunity. And of course our Japan team taking group photos while making the peace sign at every opportunity. 

I think I'm turning.........

I really think so.

The opening ceremony was in a massive indoor basketball stadium kitted out with lots of the now familiar blue banner stating how modern, green and civilized Beijing is and how the Olympic spirit was living on in this great city. We were greeted with a few local bands blasting their stuff through massive speaker stacks so loud many people (including me) had their fingers in their ears. There were a few speeches by Chinese dignitaries of some form or another, with an English translation saying stuff like “Glorius Athletes will show a valiant display of heart and courage as you put your endeavours and brave efforts into this esteemed event that will see the nations rejoice in the Olympic spirit in these momentous occassion….blah blah blah”. 

Heart-felt messages that inspire us all to perform in harmony and with unbounded excellence.

There was almost a mass mutiny at meal time, as they were not handing out food unless you had a slip of paper that was supposedly in your registration kit. The problem was that many kits did not have the slips put in them (including the entire Japan teams – we double checked when we got home) and even more people who had them in their kit assumed they were for guests and that their wrist band would be enough or didn’t think to look for them tucked into the corner of an envelope filled with junk. So several hundred tired and hungry athletes who had just had a long bus ride from the hotel, a long wait for the parade to begin, and then the long parade, all while in effective security isolation that they could not step away from to buy a drink were staunchly being denied food by all the helpers. Eventually someone stepped in and gave the OK for the wrist band to be used for provision of food. 

Finally got our hungry hands on the food boxes....what will be inside???

I wasn't sure what any of it was but whatever it was we had to be quick!

I now appreciate even more why athletes competing in the first few days of the Olympics skip the opening ceremony. I was glad when it was over.

Enough is enough.

The day before the Olympic distance race (Saturday) they held the sprint AG races (750m/20km/5km) and it was cold and raining. We decided to sleep in and go down for the men’s Elite race that was also wet and miserable. English brothers Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee dominated again, finishing 1^st and 3^rd, I can’t see any way the field is going to beat these guys for gold in London, and good luck to them. Seeing them walk around they don’t look any different to a 22 year old pasty English kid, their legs are unshaven and don’t have the really ‘cut’ look of most triathlete’s legs, you could confuse them with Harry Potter, except instead of Quidditch (Spl? I'm not a HP-phile) that they swim 1,500m in 17mins any day of the week wet suit or not, hammer the bike without looking to hide in a pack and run sub 30min 10k’s straight afterwards. They are the first ever athletes brought up on triathlon and have been racing them since they were 10. All the other athletes who came to the sport as 18 year olds after swim, athletics or team sports background just can’t compete with them. It was great watching them race up close.

Poor fellas have yet to start shaving so the mud sticks to their peach-fuzz.

Swim 1,500m (1,700m) 24 mins (17^th)

The weather cleared up for our race, although it was pretty cool with our early start time (waves from 6.30am. The swim start saw us line up along the pontoon and I was looking forward to the dive start like the pros but they had us jump in and hold onto the pontoon with one hand before the horn went. 

We wuz robbed!

Each AG started separate, but they had put some thought into the time gaps and it was a one lap course so we didn’t have to swim through many waves ahead. I felt pretty good throughout the swim but not very fast. It was a pretty open course with a long straight swim to the first buoy and everyone was an experienced OW swimmer, so very civilized albeit without much drafting on my behalf. 

View from the swim start - ours was a big upside down U shape.

Not much to note through the whole swim really, the water was really nice, it felt clean and a good temp, but as I mentioned it was 200m too long. I now am even more certain the non-wetsuit swim does not suit me, with my non-existent kick and non-swim background, you can't get away with just smashing through the water with crap technique and body position like you can in wet suit swims. Non-wet suit swims gives the real swimmers a bit of a leg-up and I was a way of the lead guys in my AG group and never saw them thereafter.The transition was a long run up a couple of flights of stairs and another hundred metres before reaching the bikes.

Plenty of space to swim!

Bike  40kms (41kms) 1.04 (7^th)

The bike leg was three loops of narrow roads that were completely closed to traffic. It was quite hilly with a lot of turns, but a few small stretches that you could get in the aero bars and hammer. Not really a course suited to my strengths but not too bad either. I was worried that the course was going to be too full of pumped up riders trying to show how tough they were and it would be really dangerous due to the narrowness, down-hills and tight corners, but the field was pretty well spread out. When I got to the bike racks there were about 15 or so bikes there already. I passed a few guys in my AG and several from waves ahead on the first lap. 

Dream machine. But have got a few more tweaks to increase its aeroness.

I got passed by an American bloke with a super-aero Trek Speed Concept and we traded leads a few times until he lost me through the transition areaat then end of the first lap, that had a few obstacles that could bring you undone easily at 40km/h, but he hammered through them. I can handle getting ridden past by a better rider but getting out aero-ed is even worse! This guys bike and position was slick! I'll do some more cable hiding and drop the final spacer to cheat the wind a bit more...The second lap I traded the lead with an Aussie guy in the 24-29 Ag who was a really strong rider, - he went into T2 and I noted where he removed his shoes and most importantly where the entrance to T2 was! I wished him all the best and headed onto the last lap.

Elite male bike leg

Towards the end of the third lap an Austrian bloke in the 45-49 AG speed past me putting out about 600 watts at 100rpm, it was certainly a weird pass to see in a triathlon, I was thinking. He must have been following me for a bit and trying to prove a point about how strong he was when he passed. Obviously after putting out that sort of power he slowed down a bit after he passed me and 5 seconds later looked back to see I was in the draft zone gave me that scornful look and did the ol’ “Bushman’s Blow”, 'clearing the nostril without a tissue' thing directed right at me. Some strong cyclists have this 'holier than thou' attitude on the bike course that they think no one has a right to ride with them and it is bladdy annoying. This is one of those things like rough stuff in the swim that some triathletes love to talk about at dinner parties or on forums when people ask about the dark-side of the sport and he obviously couldn't wait to play his favourite trick on me.

I could have copped it sweet if he hadn’t passed me like a good sort and slowed down so much so soon afterwards, or if I had been hanging in his draft zone for longer than the 3 seconds I was. Screw that I thought and re-passed him slowed, sat up did a half pivot on the saddle and let him have it - the uniform might say Japan but I'm as Aussie as the day is long and we invented the Bushman’s Blow Kaiser, so get that into you big boy! I had a bit of a sniffle so he got a good spray.

Triathlon Australia offered Megan (and me) automatic entrance into the squad after seeing this superb technique.

 He was none-to-pleased and mumbled something about Japanese, but you started this game buddy! I was heading into T2 soon after and flicked him the bird while I was unstrapping my shoes. "Glorious, friendly nations coming together to compete in a spirit of joyous harmony", while showering each other in snot.

Chinese wind slows you as much as Japanese, German and Aussie wind. Gotta avoid the bugger.

Run 10km(10.3) 39.30 (16^th)

Was stoked with an effective 1min PB on the run on a tough course.

The run course was really fun. Three long laps with a 50 percent of the laps on the carpet in front of the big grandstand. Outside of that there was a killer hill of about 150m before the turnaround that the pros did not have to do, and a big steep ramp over the bridge to enter the stadium area.

Rounding the bend for home in the cup! Propaganda on the outside looking strong..

I was pretty focused on the Garmin pace watch throughout the run, trying to keep it around 3.45-50 on the flats. I was looking at my average speed slide up slowly from 3.51 after one lap, to 3.55 after two (damn might not go sub 40) and then with 1km to go saw it was 3.56 so I knew that meant I could do the last k in 4.40 and still go under 40mins. Sweet! I didn’t expect the extra distance and had hoped to duck under 39 minutes, but at least I held it under 40 on the official time. I was pretty stoked that my run split ranking was even higher than my swim ranking for a change and gave me hope that the work I’d been doing on it was finally paying off.

Pros going up the ramp to enter the straight - I much prefer a hilly run to a hilly bike....here we had both.

 Ness got some hypothermia again and had to drop out after the swim. Keren had a very solid day, getting 28th in his AG and Geraldine got 9th in hers. We had a lot of fun hanging out together all weekend.

Will take that result.

Money shot.

 Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony was similar to the opening but even louder (maybe I am just getting old) but the performances were pretty cool.

The medal ceremony went for quite a while doing all the age groups for sprint and Olympic distances. A Japanese fellow won the 30-34, and the whole J team were all stoked for him.

Nagata-san won the M 30-34 - he has won a series of races overall in Japan and will be in Murakami - look out! Flys on the run.

Will take a long time to get over the olympics in Beijing. OK you did a good job...now move along.

The Japanese team all bailed from the ceremony for our own dinner in some kind of a yakitori place with coals and a chain driven drive to turn your sticks for you.

Chinese charcters say: "House special: Roast Border Collie"

Chinese are about as subtle as a brick with most things, use of chilli and garlic in their cooking included. I'm going out there on a limb to say it- All Chinese food is shite.

We had a great time overall and even though there was a fair bit of over-kill in the organisation and security they did a great job hosting. Next year it's in Auckland in October, and there is a fair chance we'll be in staying in Sydney at that time so maybe we will give it a crack. Water temp will be 16 degrees though so I might do it solo! 

Next up is the Tour De Hokkaido bike race this weekend, where I'll be playing domestique to Team Niseko's roadies Ben and Ross, who have a chance of winning it, then we have the biggest gaijin participation race in Japan, Murakami on Sep 25 and then Taiwan Half Ironman Nov 5, before IMWA Dec 2.