Ironman Austia 2008

Specialization

Coffee and 2x fruit buns

Good

100% - Very Prepared

1 - Very Physically Relaxed

3 - Excited

Focus on Race

Training peaked 3 to 4 weeks out from the race and I was feeling good. I have been working with John Dargie and the structure and consistency has put in me has made a world of difference. Averaging 260+ watts on my key bike sessions with long intervals at 270+. Running I was holding 6:26 pace for 2hr to 2hr:20min. This left me tired but the fatigue lifted steadily through the taper and felt ok by a week out. On Wednesday, out of the blue I started having plantar facia problems and although it started to settle down by Saturday it was a real worry for the marathon.

I felt good before the start the swim had great conditions and stayed together quite well. I started to feel pretty tired by the end of the swim and lost confidence when a lot of fast age groupers past me in the canal.

Smooth and practiced although not the fastest.

Once out on the bike though I realised I was surrounded by mostly PRO guys and some low numbers so that was a boost. By 10K a pack of about 6 had formed and drafting was rife. This was frustrating as I wanted to ride harder on the flats but was forced to sit off the back. From here I started to see the warnings and then the penalties getting handed out and one athlete at least was DQ’d from that group. They were more interested in hammering the hills and I was getting dropped only to catch them on the flat. They finally got away on the big climb on back half on the first lap. The second lap was ridden mostly on my own and I was able to go with a more even effort. Although I finished in good time I still didn’t think I was doing very well as I had spent nearly 5 hours getting left behind on every single climb.

Again smooth and practiced although not the fastest.

Leaving T2 I saw the race time at 5:45 so realised I could still achieve a very satisfying sub 9hr PB if I didn’t blow. First few kilometres past at a rather fast 3:45 pace and I relaxed and got my breath setting down to the 4min pace I had trained for. I was past by two fast runners but held pace as I knew I was not in sub 2:50 shape and would start passing people if I could just hold on. My foot started to hurt at 15K after the cobbled section in the town but I decided to tough it out and the torrential rain kept it cool. The pace started to slow and the last 10K felt very slow but I was still averaging 4min pace so kept working and started passing slower runners and the odd guy that had just blown. I passed Karl Prungraber in the final few kilometres and he had it in him to pick up the pace. We ended up tearing through the transition area towards the finish, cutting corners and yelling at the poor age groupers we were lapping and went back and fourth. My foot was hurting badly and I was running on the outside of my heel rather than my normal neutral midfoot strike but gave it everything till we hit the finish chute. The crowd noise was amazing as we sprinted for it and as I saw Prungraber get up on his toes I knew I couldn’t muster the speed. He collapsed over the line and I followed 4 seconds later. Prungraber got the last Kona slot but I felt I gave it a good effort. He may have been further ahead if it were not for his 4min drafting penalty, however you might well say he would have been much further back if he had not drafted his way round the 180K bike.

3 - Raced within my limits

I executed each stage at close to my potential on the day!

Hills!!!!!!

Possibly

Awesome

Awesome