Ironman Hawaii 2013

The Most famous pier in sport?

One of the great things about this sport is that your average punter can compete right alongside the best in the world in the time honoured races.  If you’re a serious golfer, you probably will never get the chance to play a round at Augusta, or if you're a tennis player, you’ll probably never get to hit a ball at Wimbledon, and if you are, and you are lucky enough to do those things, it won’t be alongside the best, while the tournament is on. But in triathlon, if you're lucky and work hard, you can. When we first got into the sport, we weren’t that fussed about racing Hawaii – probably because we never thought it would be possible, and for the first few years, I didn’t think I’d ever be good enough. But as the training hours accumulated; slowly but surely we started to see that it could be possible. This race became the beautiful girl you saw only from afar, and thought you would never have a chance with, but given some persistence and effort, and one day she’s lying next to you in your bed (or you’re married to her!) and you’re bobbing in the water off Dig Me Beach in Kona waiting for the gun. Dreams can come true blah blah blahzzzzzz. 

Me heading out on the Queen K on the run - still 25 kays to go???

The race in Whistler that I’d qualified in was seven weeks before Hawaii – which is a bit of a tricky time between Ironmans. I had done Ironmans 2 weeks and 4 weeks apart in the past, which are almost easier as you get 'two for the price of one' (one training build) and don’t really need to do much in between the two. But 7 weeks is enough for you to lose your fitness. When you take out the recovery and taper, it leaves a tricky window of training. As we’ve been flat out getting our clinic in Singapore off the ground and training motivation was low after the come-down from the highs of IM Canada, it made it all the more difficult. Still, I’d had a pretty relaxed attitude coming into this race, possibly too relaxed as I had missed a few sessions here and there, and knew my condition was not as good as before Canada. I knew that I wasn’t going to be competing for a high ranking here and the race is the World Championships, so by definition, does not lead anywhere else. It was always going to be a hot race, so not really ideal for me, in fact, I wanted to qualify more than I wanted to actually participate in the race at Kona. It’s kind of weird, as some CEO/charity slots go for $50,000 or so on eBay just for the right to race, but for me I just wanted to be classified as a ‘Kona Qualifier’. Or more correctly, to lose the tag of "Chump who missed out lots of times, thinks he’s good enough to make it, but really isn’t". 

Over the last few years, if you were friends of ours coming over for dinner, I could just picture the pre-dinner briefing scene in the car: Husband to wife – “Oh and by the way don’t say anything about the Hawaii Ironman to Bevan – the night will go much smoother, and with any luck we’ll get in and out of there as quickly as possible, with no plates broken.”  

Don't mention it.

My parents and their granddaughter / my niece Maggie had made the trip up from Australia which was great, especially as it was all quite last minute and a lot of the accommodation was booked already. Mum and Dad took a rare flight too as they usually prefer to travel on the earth’s surface, and in fact had just gotten back from a round the world trip where they didn’t take one plane. My sister Evelyn and her man Jack, had kindly paid for Maggie to join along for the fun of the event too. She'd come out to Busso a few years ago and loved it, so was great to have the three of them along.  Vanessa’s Dad David is a GP and came to Hawaii last year to support Ness and had come back again this year again and Vanessa, him and me were all attending the Ironman Sports Medicine Conference the week before the race. Yes it was now a ‘work trip’ =). 

You're All Winners!

This made race week quite hectic as the time outside of the conference was taken up with registration, the occasional workout and the other usual race-week stuff. On the way over Vanessa said to me on the flight she felt some pain in her throat – damn – "That's no good" I said, and sure enough, about 3 hours later, I had the same pain. Unfortunately it developed into a bit of a nasty cold and we both had a few bad sleeps race week as I was coughing and expelling mucous half of the night, we both and had killer sore throats and runny noses. Im still coughing up gunk now ten days after the race. I remembered back to the Tuesday before IM Canada when I got in from a ride and felt some pain in the throat - 'no surely it can't be a cold I thought' and made a deal with the devil and I had some more water and my throat felt fine later that day and it was gone. It reminds me of the tingle I felt on my top lip 4 days before my wedding - the same tingle that had always turned into a massive cold-sore a day later. But somehow this one just went with only a mild discolouration. After somehow getting out of jail for the 'big-one', I always take cold-sores with a bit more grace when they come these days, just as I did this cold. OK you gave me Canada, I'll cop Hawaii.

See you in Hawaii Robert.

We got through the week doing all the obligatory events – Parade of Nations, Slowtwitch Party, the new Triathlon Australia breakfast, which was great as TA reached out to long course athletes for a change, the 7am swims at the pier star spotting, the swim out to the Coffees of Hawaii boat, Lava Java meals and coffee, but this year we missed the undies run which we forgot about! Still thanks to Justin we bagged the lucky money shot from there last year. But as ever you are looking forward to the race being over so you can relax. 

Our taper week

For nutrition, I’d decided to go with three bottles of Ensure plus meal replacement in a water bottle (about 1,000 calories) and for the slower release carbs (Sweet Potato) - after chatting with my mate from Singapore, Mark Jansen, I’d decided to mash the sweet potato and add a fair bit of coconut oil, some avocado and some butter and salt and pepper and chia seeds for the hell of it too. We got the idea to put it in a cake-decorating squeezie thing – which they make in tubes not material funnels these days, I found a pair in the cake section at Safeway that were perfect for the job, and on testing, it squeezed out quite nicely and actually tasted really nice. It was definitely a better solution to getting some slower release carbs and fat in on race day than the undercooked, olive oil soaked, shreds-of-aluminum-foil-embedded mess I had in Whistler. 

Secret recipe

 Onto race morning and we parked at Mum and Dad’s apartment and walked the last mile to the start, with nerves jangling. There’s nothing quite like the tension in the air of an Ironman morning. As the experienced campaigner in Hawaii, Ness was guiding me through all he steps – I managed to avoid the arm markings as I was racing in long sleeves all day and they make a mess of the materials. Tattoos this year.  When I was half way through the way to the bike I realized I’d left my Ensure plus bottle in the freezer and the two tubes of sweet potato mash in the fridge! Damn. I texted David but neither his or my parents phones were working – Damn Luddites! I thought about jogging back to the car but the start was less than an hour away this time and there were still tyres to be pumped and other prep to do at the bike. Vanessa gave me half a bottle of Ensure she had and a bit of pumpkin and sweet potato she had - very kind of her! I’d just have to make do with what was on course and rely on my new super-powers of using my own body fat for fuel, that I’d been working on.

Forgotten feast

Swim 3.8kms 1.03

Walking down the steps on the tiny bit of sand for the swim start was some experience. I stood on the beach for a while as I was waiting for Ness (turns out she’d already swam out the 200m to the start). It was some sight to behold, the famous rock-wall lined with thousands of spectators along the shore as far you could see, helicopters buzzing overhead, Mike Reilly on the speakers, telling everyone to get out to the start. The sky was clear blue and the water was very calm lapping over my feet – damn this is it, this is the place all the legends have stood before swimming out to make history. I took a deep breath scanned around once more, and then did a pee all down my leg. Much more comfortable than doing it while treading water I tells ya!

There were many warm patches in there

 The swim out to the start is about 20m and I lined up on the right, it seemed pretty crowded all over, and I couldn’t be bothered to swim out to the left, which was further away. Everyone was huddled in tightly close to the line with a fair few people treading water with an annoying ultra wide kick; tensions were high. There was still ten minutes to the start. A girl swam next to us with a small blow up boat harnessed behind here, with an Asian girl with some type of developmental problem in the boat. Got to love these inspirational stories. Got to love them even more when they provide an inflatable boat that can be used as a floatation device that you can hang onto for ten minutes instead of getting repeatedly frog-kicked to the thigh.

"How are you doing in there? - And remember you're not only inspirational, you're floatational, so don't forget to help out those less-fortunate than you if you have a chance". "OK Mum, I will".  Atta girl.

The famous cannon went off with an echoless boom, and we were off. It was some rough start!  It goes without saying that most of the field had qualified to get here and everyone here was pretty sharp, so I did not expect that it would be calm after 200m or so like most swims. I was proven to be correct – the flow of the swim soon became apparent; it was rough for a long time, then spaced out for a bit and got peaceful, then we’d come to a buoy and everyone would squeeze in for a minute or two and it was rough again, before separating again after the buoy. I was enjoying the swim more than any other swim I’d done on the course there, as it was often choppy but today it was still and I hit the turn at half way before I knew it. 

And....they're off.

 The swim here is not wetsuit legal, making the times a fair bit slower – especially for non-child swimmers like me who get added bonus swimming with a wetsuit over the real swimmers. With about 1km to go, the pack was tightening up again and a guy on my right was bearing left, and a guy on my left was bearing a bit right, I think I was drifting right too, so I was getting repeatedly hip and shouldered by the guy on my right. This went on for about 100ms or so and I had a good look at the hip-and-shoulder guy I was wishing would piss off - dark skin - sure enough - bloody Assad! My mate from Singapore, it’s uncanny how similar we are on the swim; we always seem to come out of the water together – I knew he was after a podium here and had a good chance to get it; we bike about the same too – I just need to run one minute per kilometer faster at my best for all my races and we’d be the same and I’d be on the podium too – damn don’t know why I’d never thought of that – will do that next time fah sure.  Assad did get on the podium with a 9.00.41 and 5th in 35-39 a truly awesome performance and achievement.

The ol' hip 'n' shoulder gets you every time.

 I eventually relented and stopped swimming for a few strokes and let him go, dropping back off the back of the squeeze we were in - 'You owe me one Assad' I thought - and he later repaid me on the bike, with some sage advice so all square. I was glad to finally see the shallow water, scrape the fingers on the sand, stand up and happy enough with my low1.03 time. About exactly what I expected.

An Ironman swim start is always some sight to behold, especially in Hawaii.

BIKE 180kms 4.54

The changing tent was pretty packed – I’d decided to wear my long-sleeved De Soto top as I think it’s more aerodynamic than skin and it keeps you out of the sun without worrying about sunscreen. Mark had given me the great advice to keep it wet before putting it on so I had it in a zip lock bag folded just so and it slipped on easily. Onto the bike and it was cool going through town for the first 10kms. People riding at crazy paces and crowds everywhere. I saw one or two had crashed on the Kuakini Hwy. Then up Palani I was keeping the watts below 350-400 and people were still passing me like I was standing still. Finally onto the Queen K (damn it’s fun to use these terms like Palani, Queen K, Hawi, Kawaihae like they are second nature – wondered what they meant for ages.). Anyway at the 1 hourish swim time and current bike pace I was in the meat of the field and there were cyclists everywhere. 

Onto the bike and yes my sunglasses have a mirror prism on them so you can see ahead while your head is down.  As you can see the chicks dig it.

About 500m onto the Queen K there were people everywhere nd a French guy, a couple of us were overtaking, decides it would be a good time to have a moan “oh what about ze drafting!” I could imagine the way the Frenchies think he was probably thinking “We will get you to ze Pyreneez and you climb ze mountain, like a real cycleest, zen we zee about ze drafteeng!” As the ride had hardly started, we were over taking him and it was a still a shitfight with riders all over the place I suggested in the kindest possible way to him that maybe we should just worry about pedaling for now and perhaps be just a little more silent.  We ended up crisscrossing back and forth for the next 100+kms without another word uttered – just lovely silence. 

Monsiuer, how well do you ride with zee baguette up your ass?

Things did spread out soon enough and I got into a rhythm. I was grabbing Gatorade at the aid stations and some shot blocks and the occasional banana, which I thought would be enough, don't know if it was or not. I was feeling OK about 60kms in and then I came upon Assad and also Mark J and Arnaud Selukov sprang up from nowhere too. It was funny – probably the only 4 guys residing in Singapore in the race and we were all together at Kawaihae. Assad, Mark and I had a quick chat - we're all part of Red Dot Racing team who have been smashing me on Saturday morning rides all year, I was particularly surprised to see Mark as he is one of the best cyclists in the field and I thought he would be up the road – turns out he had crashed early on and hurt his hip. I said to Arnaud – "How about this? You, Assad, Mark and me from Singapore all together" I was sitting up and pointing. I’d never met Arnaud before but knew of him – he was 11^th in Hawaii 40-44 last year and had actually taken the roll-down slot in Busselton that could well have been mine if I never go that littering penalty and flat. 

He seemed to have no idea who I was and just grunted something that I thought was “Merde” – French Ballet slang for "Good Luck". I went back and had a listen to the tapes and turns out he said, “Shut up you bloodee Australian peasant.... or I will murder you and Merde on you".  Apparently it also means 'shit'. 

 I noted the red mark across his number (drafting penalty) so guessed he wasn’t in a chipper mood. Lucky I didn’t tell him that he owed me a 'thank you' while we were climbing to Hawi like I was thinking about; as he took 'my' slot in WA to get into this race, probably would not hae gone down too well. He was a very thoughtful rider too pointing out dangers on the road that people rarely do in a race. Hitting the turnaround at Hawi was good fun, and despite still bringing up my share of phlegm and few coughing attacks, I felt reasonably good. I’d gone through the first 90kms in 2.12. Damn I thought I'm half way through –that means I’m going to do a 4.24 bike split.There was no tail wind after all, I was just feeling good and super aero.  I can see it now in writing, Bevan Colless 1.03/4.24/3.26 - 8.59. This is going to be easy – put that shit as a status update on Facebook, "Just went sub 9 in Hawaii" and I’d get 100+ likes for sure. Life Choices and Self Worth = Validated. Boom.

Easy Peasey from here on in.

Once I was through Kawaihae and onto Queen K it soon became apparent that there was in fact a tailwind on the way out, and I was starting to really struggle. From the Manu Lani to town is about 40kms and it felt like it was going to take me 2 hours. I was struggling to hold even 200watts – Assad came along about then and in his lovely reassuring voice said “Just stay aero and go with it” I was sitting up and squirming around like Thomas Volker– looking for answers where there were none to be had.  A draft-buster surprised me right when I'd been passed, but luckily I was on a slight downhill and looking for an excuse to stop pedalling when passed so I had done. If the draft buster was there when I was feeling good and on an uphill and was passed, I might not have been so lucky. Stopping pedalling up a hill usually means you'll fall over - one of the many intricacies of the drafting dilemma that seems so simple to most people but in reality is far from it. I really limped home with people and groups passing me and could not even tack onto them and my good bike split went out the window, even if 4.54 was not terrible, but it was a fast day and the ranking was not that good.  I was pretty glad to finally hit town again – always love the sight of the Target logo sign on the horizon on the training rides I done up and down this road and never more than today. Those lava fields are definitely pretty harsh when it’s 30+ degrees you’ve got no power in the legs and there is 40kms left till home.

Remember if the legs have got naffink, it's even more important to sty aero. 'Cause free speed is the only speed you got Mista!

RUN 42kms 4.24

I was glad to get off the bike and start the run – the first 16kms are out and back along Ali’i Drive, which is quit busy with spectators. I stopped for a pee early on, as I did not fancy 42kms soaked in pee and was not too fussed with my time either. It was a bit of a worry that even as early as 8-10kms in I was struggling. Normally the “punch in the face” happens at about the 25km mark, but I was already taking long walk breaks at aid stations 10kms in. Damn, it’s going to be a long 30kms ahead I thought.

A long, long way to go.

 The rest of the time on Ali’i and up on Palani was tough. I walked the whole of Palani – it is a decent little hill. The 10kms out to the Energy Lab and back is a pretty soul-destroying run on a wide highway with not many people about.  I was struggling to run much at all, taking in coke as much as my gut would allow but still feeling pretty terrible. Motivation was hard to come by, I basically knew my day was done, had no goals to aim for and stopped racing all-together in my head. I could not care if I do 10.01 or 12.01.  Just to get to the finish line now. If it had not been Hawaii I may well have DNF'd. Finally I made it into the Energy Lab and I started on the oranges at the aid station and they made me began to feel a bit better. 'Orange Power' as my brother Phil and I used to say when kids after eating lots of them and running amok. I was running/shuffling more, and even jogging the climb out of the Energy Lab. 

Drawing from the Orange Power reservoir in the Energy Lab

Onto the Queen K and there was still more passing me than I was passing, but I was moving along a bit better. 6kms to go and I really started to come good again and put in a few kms without walking at all and was moving along at about 5.15min k pace. My main motivation was one or two annoyingly positive Americans I was running with, some chick with a cute butt, but wearing Newtons and running with an exaggerated forefoot strike that was just an annoying and ridiculous way to run a Ironman at 5.30min k pace and some guys a kilometre or two behind me who I knew from social media that I didn’t want passing me. Oh and of course not to have my run time be longer than my bike time – which is a common source of amusement in Ironman, and would prefer to keep my sheet clean in that regard, even if I had given it a nudge.

As usual, it's a bit of both. but whatever gets you to the finish line is all right.

The turn down the hill on Palani again was pretty sweet, then the nasty little stretch along Kuakini away from the finishing line – when spectators give you mis-information - one guy says 'it’s just a kilometer', and you think 'great – I’ve got this', then 200m later a guy says ‘it’s just a mile to go, nearly there’ and your heart breaks.  Finally arriving on Ali-i Drive for the last 400 metres is certainly oa terrific experience in your life. You walk that bit of road so many times in race week and finally it becomes the finishing shute with chalk everywhere. You’ve seen it so many times before in highlight reels but it still feels like it is far removed from the mythical stretch you’ve watched the champs run down waving the flags with the Hawaiians with flamed torches dressed in native clothes ahead of them.

Gotta enjoy the finish of an IM no matter how the day went.

The post race area was better than I expected, having heard some not so great reports, but there were no showers or changing rooms and just a dingy toilet block. Food was pretty crap with pizzas and french fries. I had zero appetite anyway. I had a chat with Alex Kolesov from Tokyo who had gone 10.03 and had a pretty good day, and then went out to find my parents Maggie, David and Woody, who combined, I’d seen once all day – which was my parents and Maggie at about the exact moment on the run when it all went south. Where was the Love, Brothers?! I guess there was about 1,500 people who looked very much like me out there. I just missed Ness in the finishing shute, she did not have a great day either and we then met her for a meal and back to my parents for a debrief all together.

Bike pick up

Lame-ass post race shot - like my salt tab carrying technique! Maybe I should have remembered to take some...

 I wasn’t sure why I had a bad day. It’s always tough to know. If it’s not enough fuel (nutrition), not enough fitness, being sick, being too hot, lacking the motivation to dig deep, going too hard early on in the run or on the bike, they all mostly feel the same in my experience. You just feel like crap and start going slow. Coach Woody thinks it was the sickness, and maybe lack of calories on the bike, I think maybe it was skipping a few sessions in the lead in from Canada, and lacking the motivation to really dig deep, and just simply giving up. As a bigger guy, to do well in an Ironman run, is a pretty tricky mental exercise, you've got to want it almost more than you want to live. Whatever it was, I’m not too worried about it, I’ve now got some ‘unfinished business’ there and can try and get back there next year, race with my great mate Jess Ripper who qualified in Japan already and hopefully have a better day. As an 85kg racer it's always going to be risky to perform well there, but it won't be impossible. But getting the chance to go back there will not be easy.

Most photographed sign all week - elbows and patience were required to finally get a clear shot of it.

 Next up, I’ve got a very small chance of a slot for 2014 at Mandurah 70.3, but I think the field is stacked there and there will only be 2 slots in my age group. A return to Phuket for the race that got us started in the sport in 2005/6 and then back to Busselton, where I should have a decent chance at a slot, even though there will only be 4 in my age group to go (from prob 400+). The race there is well suited to me if it is under 30 degrees.We were going to have this year off Busso, but as I was sitting on the side of the road there last year, waiting for 30 minutes with a flat I couldn’t change, I promised myself I’d come back one more time next year and finally bag a slot there, so I'll hopefully keep the motivation and training up until then. After that, time for the off-season and snow!

Ironman's latest thing is printing on competitor's names - 3 Woody athletes amongst this lot!

Ironman Canada, Whistler

After all the race reports I’ve written this is the one I've always wanted to write. There’s been so many with all kinds of tails of woe: punctures, vomiting, walking, penalties, mechanicals etc. I had to keep the faith that one day if I keep training and keep entering surely it will happen. Every dog had to have it’s day right? Even if it was years in the making. Well finally, after four+ years of let downs, this one fine day in Whistler this dog, had his day.

It's our day today, me and you Yukester.

  Each year the Hawaii Ironman is run in the second weekend in October and from September 1 the preceding year, there are several races around the world that offer qualifying 'slots', and for the 2013 race, I had entered a few. In fact more than a few. I was like the crazed housewife on a TV game show standing in the clear tube with lots of wind being piped into it and $50 notes blowing around her and 60 seconds to grab as many as she could. I’d entered IM West Australia (littering penalty and puncture - Fail), St Croix 70.3 (Double puncture - Fail), IM Cairns (Heat Stroke in did not start) and finally the last chance saloon, the 3am in the club looking around to see if it’s going to be another lonely night, - IM Canada in it’s new home of Whistler.

Got to be init to winnit, innit.

People who have read a few of my race reports (poor souls) will know how many times I’ve failed, and how much humble pie I’ve eaten in this sport, enough to make you gag on really, which I've made a habit of in races as well.  It had become tough to keep the eye on the prize and I did start to try and justify the let-downs thinking 'what the hell does it matter anyway'. But that was justifying it, truth is I had to get the bladdy monkey off my back. Despite having achieved some pretty cool feats in the sport including qualifying for the half ironman champs in Vegas twice (not taking the slot though), finishing top ten in the OD Age Group Worlds in Beijing, 5th overall in my first Ironman (Vineman), winning a triathlon over all (sorry for all the tooting of my own trumpet – no one ever accused triathletes of being overly modest), I still had not ‘ticked the box’ (am so over that expression but is apt here) of qualifying for Hawaii. 

Hawai'i.

To be honest it gnawed away at me every day. It dragged me to finish the sets I didn't want to and to start them too. Having a wife who was killing it and had won her AG in her last Iron Man by 30 minutes made my failures all the more apparent. I’d like to think I have never begrudged Ness her success and have had tears in my eyes watching her get her slots and trophies in the past, but there’s no denying it can be cold in the shadow. Especially with friends who are not in the sport, and even some who are classification just ‘qualified for Hawaii' and 'not qualified’. I knew I was good enough to qualify, but there's no point explaining the intricacies of qualifying, no one wants to listen to the hard luck stories. Either you've done it or you haven’t. And I hadn't.

No matter which way you look, it's either in or it's out.

Ironman Canada was one of the first Ironmans evert o be held outside of Hawaii, and had been going for 20+ years all in it’s previous home of Penticton. This year Penticton had decided to change to the “Challenge” brand and boot out Ironman, so Ironman was on the lookout for a new home. There was a bidding process and the biggest ski resort in Canada Whistler won out and both races were scheduled for the same day. It was an interesting parallel with Ironman Japan, which had moved from it’s previous home in Goto (which was still running as an independent race) to its new home of Hokkaido – near the biggest ski report in the country. Niseko's 'official' sister city is St Moritz, but in reality, it's Whistler. And I love both places.

Dunno why but despite being an Aussie from Sydney, the mountains excite me more than the sea. Always have.

As 'Ironman' was going head to head with a key foe (Challenge) they had thrown 100 slots at this race to make sure the punters would come. It worked, as the race sold out its 2,600 capacity, and poor 'Challenge Penticton' had only 800 starters.  Rich Wadders and me had decided to enter 9 months before as he was also a mountain man with his 2nd home in Verbier and we both wanted a crack at a slot. I was surprised that there were no flights from Singapore to Vancouver so went via Tokyo, where I needed to spend a few days to check in at the clinic, do some staff orientation and a few bike fits and then onto Vancouver. It happened that the weekend before was O-bon in Japan, which meant ultra-expensive flights. As I was busy in Singapore getting the clinic going I was thinking to fly after the expensive flights, spend a couple of days in Tokyo and arrive in Whistler on the Thursday or Friday before the race for a hit and run mission. Rich gave me some sage advice that I’ll always be thankful for, and said I should try and get to Whistler earlier to adjust to the massive time differences and recover from the long flight. And I'm sure that really helped me have a good day on race day.

Not ideal prep for an Ironman

I was very fortunate that some good friends Julie and Jonathan from Niseko had recently moved to Whistler and offered to host me in their lovely house. In fact there were no fewer than 6 friends who had lived or travelled to Niseko who I caught up with while I was in Whistler. Made me feel right at home.I arrived on the Monday and had a great week before the race, working on the computer and the food in Whistler was so good, I was eating fry-ups of coconut oil, high fat bacon, sausages and eggs all day and fatty steak at night and not eating any refined carbs at all. As the race was hilly I was working really hard to get the weight down and the high fat diet and carb avoidance just saw me get skinnier and skinner. Race day I was 83kgs, about as light as I get. And to think most stil think fat makes you fat. Blows me away that we've all been sold that con so much that people see a picture of a fatty bit of meat and think "disgusting" and yet see a picture of a massive cake and think - "beautiful".

Ironman food.

SWIM 3.8kms 58mins

The swim was in Alta Lake, a pretty lake about 4kms from Whistler central and it was a spectacular site. Simply perfect for an Ironman start. I had some trouble with my pump in the lead in to the race and needed young ski star Kai to help me pump it and it was still hit and miss. Rich W was going to help race morning, but he was also running late and with 20mins to go I still had about 60psi and the pump had just shat itself and nothing was going in.  Rich W gave me the good advice to seek a mechanic, which I should have done 30mintures earlier, but my typical race day IQ of 50 had already kicked in.  Fortunately the mechanics had a disc adapter so I got it pumped up, taped over the valve cut outs and racked with about 10minutes until the gun. The transition area had long since closed. The mass-crowd was all ambling to the water slowly over the mat in a daze, so I weaved in and out through them to the water. Too often nervous athletes get caught standing on the beach when the gun goes.

Pretty easy to navigate. Still heard some cut corners.

I entered the water and kept swimming out across in front of the start line until I was near the inside lane. Bobbing up and down for a minute or two before the start with steam rising from the lake, the mountains in the background and a hush over the crowd, the sun suddenly came out for a minute, and I couldn’t help thinking – wow – this is a really cool moment. I’ve always tried to be a self-appointed crowd controller at swim starts but usually fail. This start was totally different and restored my faith in humanity. There was no ‘creeping’ forward, no people bobbing about 100m in front of the start pretending they are invisible and oblivious, not even anyone jumping the gun, despite a 10 second count down. The North Americans just seem to have a bit more decorum & class about themselves than Aussies and Asians in the same situation.

Great swim start here.

Once the gun went I had a decent start but soon noticed there were quite a few really good swimmers here. I lost the first pack pretty quickly and was in the second pack for most of the swim. The course was really well marked with buoys every 100m with marks on them 1,2,3 etc. so you could tick off the distance as you went. First time I’d seen this and a really cool addition. The swim was two loops with no exiting the water, which I was glad of as I hate running after a swim and I stayed relaxed and swam easy-moderate throughout.

Not my best swim time, but I think the swim was a bit long.

When I sighted the lead pack seemed to have a lot ahead of me but there wasn’t as many as I thought. I exited the water feeling really fresh but still in a bit of a daze. The first thing I saw was about 30 volunteers with rubber gloves standing around looking at me. One was a spritely elderly lady with a exaggerated body language. She was beckoning me with a two armed motion almost pulling me towards her saying “come here, come here”. She reminded me a bit of the wicked witch of the west or some weird erotic dream of being seduced by an old lady sitting on a bed head that I’d had and tried to forget soon after waking up. She was drawing me towards her (hey it’s been a while OK!) and I finally managed to ask, “what is this” or something similar. Some guy shouted out “strippers!” not as in 'Badda Bing' stripers thankfully, more as in lie down and they will take your wet suit off for you. I’m not a big fan of them so quickly pivoted and went to try and find my bag. The poor old lady, but it wouldn’t be the first heart I broke on the day. I actually ended up taking too long to get the wetsuit off my heel and my timing chip was dangling by a single clasp of Velcro, so maybe I should have let her have her way with me.

You know you want it Big Boy.

BIKE 180kms (well 178 actually but who’s counting). 5.05

I was happy to see there were not many bikes missing from the racks so went out on to the bike feeling pretty happy. The bike course had everyone a bit scared. It was the talk of the town all week. Basically it broke down that there were rolling hills for 30kms then a decent climb "Callaghan" to the place where the biathlon was held at the winter olympics, then down to a cul-de-sac town called Pemberton, 50kms flat out and back from Pemberton and a final 30km climb from Pemberton to Whistler and onto the run.

The flat 50kms looked tasty.

As I’m not much of a climber (too heavy) I didn’t think it was a good course for me, but I didn’t get passed on the bike and the climb up to the biathlon range at Callaghan was not that steep – max 10% so I just tried to climb in the bars and keep the power meter below 350. I was even passing a few. On the turn-around at the top of the climb, I was surprised to see I was coming about 6^th overall and there was only one guy ahead of me in my AG. One guy was out in front by himself but the others were within 30-60sec. Damn this is going better than I thought. The descent was pretty cool and I made up one or two spots, For nutrition I’ve totally gone off the gels and had decided to get into the sweet potato on the bike as I'd worked hard to become a 'fat burner' and wanted slower release carbs. I'd prepared them the day before, however not being the best cook I’d boiled it (poorly so it was still raw in the middle) and then cut it open and poured olive oil over it and lashed it with salt. I had two big schlongs of them wrapped in foil, but while eating it the oil drizzled all over my hands and descending at 70+kph and bar tape that is a slippery anti-chain oil marking, it’s probably better if your hands are not coated in olive oil. 

Slippery little sucker.

 Then going through Whistler town there were lots of supporters out and the weather was great. A nice part of the ride. On the way to Pemberton I finally caught up with the guy leading my age group and another youger Aussie guy. I was tempted to ride through them but thought of the 50kms flat ahead and thought I should take a breather and ride with them for a while. There were a few nasty climbs and a moment or two when I wished I had a 28T cassette but they passed soon enough. The three of us swapped the lead quite a few times on climbs and descents, and all three were vey good at keeping the legal draft distance. Through Pemberton with quite a few locals out cheering, seemingly unbothered by being marooned for 10 hours in their quaint town (would not have bothered me either) and onto the 50km ‘Pemberton Flats’ and my plan as posted on my blog was to bludge for the first 15-20kms then hit it solo.

Pemberton, a gracious host of the Bike Course

 First the guy in my AG took the lead and road for 8kms in front. I was sitting third feeling guilty. I was at 7ms but going easy. I was doing 190-200watss, just as planned and was almost yawning. The younger Aussie guy then went to the front and did 8kms and I stayed back soft-pedaling and concentrating on not encroaching the draft zone. 

Not that bludger....

We were going along about 38kph, but third wheel makes such a difference and the two behind (me and the other one) were solid on the draft zone. 18kms into the flats and I’d had it and hit the front at 270-80 watts, which was about 43-5kph and said sayonara to me two mateys. I did feel bad as I’d often berated pace line bludgers for not doing time on the front, but today was different for me. I felt I’d paid my dues at the front of pace lines in spades, and just for these 18kms it was my turn to bludge and cash them in a bit. Sorry guys – no time to explain my actions but on my moral radar I’m OK with them.Also it was only a small fraction of the bike course total, aside from that time and a few kms at the end of the Pemberton climbs, I was pretty much without much help from legal drafts. 

........this one!

We had passed 2 or 3 others and at the turnaround 25kms in to the flats I saw there was only the one guy out in front, leading the AG race and I was 2^nd. The Aussie guy had left my AG guy and as we crossed over after the turn-around he said, “wait” to me, he was killing himself to latch on. Sorry mate I thought, I’m not waiting today.  I ended up putting a gap on those two and bridged up to the leader. I thought I’d take a breather behind him for a while but after going 42kph the leader's 38-39 plus the legal draft made it too easy. I sat back for 30seconds but was soon running up his ass and had to go around and pass him.

Who's that chick?? Must be lapping her. Oh one loop course. She must be pro and started 7mins ahead. Definitely. Must be. For sure.

 I was surprised to see the packs coming through the other way. The guys who were probably 10^th-40^th in the AG race were in full-on pelotons, not pace lines – 3-4 wide and packed in really tight. I’d never seen packs like that so close to the front. Only in the middle of the field, which I could not care about. Considering these guys were getting a free ride while I was smashing myself with my nose in the wind I was not best pleased. I had put all the thought and effort into my bike and had a great service before the race by Singaporean 'Zen' bike mechanic guru Gabriel Tan (9060 4004) he had it going as good as it ever had, finding and fixing many faults with it. My tyre selection was right for a change too, I went for Conti 4000 20mm front and 4000s 23mm back, both with Michelin latex tube 20-23 front and 23-25 back. I'd almost gone for the Bontrager Aerwong 19mm front and R4 aero back but decided to go for the better puncture protection of the Contis. I hit a few rocks hard so was glad I did. The aero efforts I’d made were paying off big time as I could see all the aero mistakes other guys were making. Funny how many people are so dismissive of aero and even after you post a great time still say – "mate you didn’t need to worry about the aero your legs were so strong”.  Or “forget that aero crap and just train, that’s where the gains are” as if it’s impossible to train and put effort into improving aerodynamics.  Anyway luckily most are still dismissive of the importance of aero as it makes it easier to get a higher ranking. I ended up averaging 40.2kph for the 50km "Pemberton Flats".

Another slippery sucker. Wind don't confront me none.

Through Pemberton and I was leading the whole AG race, and there were quite a few spectators out giving a great cheer. This was the first time that has happened in a full distance official Ironman and in a big Ironman like Canada with 2,500 starters I couldn’t believe it – “Damn you’re having a good day,” I thought, surely, this must be ‘THE” day. The long 30km climb back to T2 had lots of hills and I was busting for a pee, which made it hard to pedal well, and the efforts on the flats were still stinging. The guy who was leading was pretty light and he re-passed me after 15kms or so. I was still putting out 250+watts but on the long climbs it didn’t feel like much and was not staying aero as much as I should have. One other guy I had not seen bridged up and I rode with him for the last 8kms or so, but he ducked into the penalty tent once back in Whistler so I guessed he was going extra hard knowing he had a 4min draft penalty to serve. I was glad they caught someone!

Decided at the last minute to wear the long sleeve top. It is more aero on the bike - I did feel bad for the laaadies I was depriving of viewing pleasure, but unfortunately; skin is slow.

RUN 42.2kms 3.38

Going into T2 coming 2^nd was really awesome. The parking lot was really packed with speakers everywhere and the announcer was pumping me and everyone up. The crowd were giving me lots of love, so many surrounding the transition and lining the first 500m of the run. Some reporter with a big hairy boom mike was running next to me asking “what motivates you to keep going?” all I could say was “I wanna qualify for Kona”. Weird to be interviewed while running in the race, but could not help being flattered. It was so cool to see the locals into it as there seems to be no endurance/ road bike culture in Whistler. It's all MTB but I think in a few years that will change for sure.

Onto the run through the village and my only thought was – you’re 1^st in your Age Group, top 14 go to Hawaii, and don’t you dare screw this up. So that became my mantra on the run “Don’t Fark it up, don’t fark it up”. God knows I had farked it up many times before. During the first 2kms a few savvy spectators said “You’re 80 seconds behind the lead age grouper”, next one “You’re 90 seconds down on the lead age grouper” thanks I said, but really I was thinking  - I’m not going for lead Ager the only thing I care about is how far ahead am I of the 15^th place age grouper in my category. But who the hell had that information?

Is that a sponge in your pants or are you just glad to see me?

I finally found a quiet dirt path with no one around; a great place to pee and decided I did not want to pee on myself and probably had enough of a buffer to make it not worth it too, so pulled it out and went on a tree. As there was a dirt track and no one around I soon decided to keep moving forward. Yep – while peeing. I was walking forwards cowboy style with shoulder width gait drawing my zigzag mark off to the side of the path. Never pulled that one before had to have a laugh at myself.

Just don't tell the race marshalls will you Curtis.

I was feeling a bit smug and just running well within myself at about 4.45-4.50 pace to make sure I would not be walking home from the 30kms mark. I kept thinking that as long as I run 3.40 I’ll get there, there can’t be 15 guys running 3.25 surely. Surely! The first turn around point at 11kms in was a real litmus test. Not long after turning around I saw the big train of runners and with their numbers showing you could tell what age group they were in (aside from those guys who were hiding theirs - which was quite a few!). It was a bit of a wake up call. I was counting them off 1, 2, 3, 4 can't see number, looks about my age 5, 6, 7 etc. There seemed to be 15 guys in my AG within ten minutes behind me. Shizer, I thought this could quickly go badly wrong. Maybe today could actually be another day to add to my long list of failures. They all looked to be running so quickly too and I wondered how many of them had spent the ride in those packs and how they must be fresh.

Did not see this lil fella - maybe would have broken 3.30 if I did!

From then on I was running more scared, but still determined to keep the pace steady and walk through every aid station. As people passed I had to remind myself to let them go, everyone's got their strengths and yours is not running so just let 'em go. It became clear that the 100 slots on offer in this race had drawn a lot of people who are on the cusp of qualifying and the fields were very deep. I had quite a bit of support from friends during the run and got through it without feeling too bad or going to any really dark places, extended walking or the like. I even managed to pick up the pace after 30kms a bit but had another few in my AG pass me. I saw Trevor Wuertele in the lead of the men's race, who is a Canadian whose wife Heather has won about 5 Ironmans and his previous best finish was about tenth. I thought - surely today is the day of the husband.

Run course was great. Not much flat though!

It was not until the last 2kms when I finally let myself think today was going to be the day. I saw Suzie Bates and Eric from Tokyo days with about 1.5kms to go then Morag, Kal, Julie and the kids with about 1km to go. I really started to get overwhelmed and after that there was a winding part through town for 500m that I’ll never forget. 

1km to go, surely ten guys can't pass me from here - Kal, Maggie, Julie and crew gave me a big cheer. An awesome moment for me and stoked to share it with some friends.

I was starting to choke up and could not believe it. Then into the long downhill into the chute and I saw some more Niseko mates Amy and Paul from Mt Merry, who were waving a bright yellow Kutchan flag with Jaga-kun, the skiing potato on it– awesome! The chute was packed with grandstands – did the airplane giving high fives for ages and had never been happier.

Words can't describe this feeling.

After the race I went for a massage and more ex-Niseko friends found me and said hello – Yukiko who had worked for us as a massage therapist two seasons before. As I was rolling over after the  ‘front” side of the massage I felt a bit nauseas and asked for a sick bag. I ended up doing a very small vomit in the bag and some Dr saw it and made me go into the med tent. I was trying to tell them vomiting was very normal for me, and it would be weird if I didn’t’. Still they took me to the med tent and I tried to talk my way into an IV but fell short.

They forced me to assume the pateint role. I was fine..... If only they knew the troubles I'd seen.

The guys Julie, Morag and Kal were so kind and helpful in the little duties to complete the day, I felt like it was a hometown race. So good.

Not that I’ve won a big award but this is a big life achievement for me, that I thought might never hapen,  so please let me indulge in a few thanks you's before the band starts to ramp up and I get hooked off stage – to my wife Vanessa who has been so kind, patient and thoughtful and such a great wife making so much lovely food over so many years it makes my head spin. She kicked my but to get me out to do sessions more than a few times. Of course massive thanks to Coach Woody (Alun Woodward) who has been a big big help right from the day we decided to race ironman, am so happy I decided to pick and stick when it came to a coach. It would have been too easy to blame my failures on him, but he only ever did a great job with me and I knew it and appreciated it all the time. 

Thank you. You like me, you really......oh you don't and you think it's all a bit of a wank. That's cool. Understandable really. There's kids starving in Africa. 

Other people who really had a big influence on my triathlon life whose advice has made a big difference to me and the way I think about the sport that I'd like to mention: Kristian Manietta, & his wife Charlotte Paul - got me started on the right foot from early on in my tri career. Matt Koorey and Rob Pickard gave me some really great advice on a camp, Nick Croft also came to Niseko for a camp and gave some great advice. Super coach Brett Sutton - who is a massive presence in triathlon coaching so many world champs, Kona winners and even a gold medalist, I've hung on his every word for years to great effect and despite having never met me was kind enough to reply to several queries I’d asked him without any financial incentive. Mum and Dad have been big supporters and gone to great lengths to watch me race, not only today but even when I was a kid racing cross country and for dragging me and the other 6 kids on cycling trips, and the few big charity rides Dad and I did from Kosciusko to Sydney and Melbourne to Sydney, when I was a teenager and which I’m sure are partly to thank for my strength on the bike.

I love youse all

Now it’s onto the victory lap in Kona, no big goals for that race, just to have a fast bike split, brandish my wristband obviously around town and lap up the day. My Mum and Dad have decided to make the trip and are even going to fly in for it!! Can't wait.

Camera man did not need to ask me to smile = )