mytrilife

Ironman New Zealand 2004

Prologue
I started my IM journey in August 2001. After training and preparing poorly for the Canadian Death Race (a 125km ultra trail run), I had my first race DNF. Mentally, it was very tough to recover from. I needed something to spark my motivation to train again. My massage therapist and friend, was signing up for IMC02 and offered to sign me up as well. I didn't own a bike, nor did I know anything about triathlon, but this seemed like a fun challenge.

I spent the next year constantly purchasing gear (crazy how much it takes), and training with only a vague idea what I was doing. Typical week went something like "600m swim, rest day, 1 hour run, rest day, 1.5 hour bike, rest day, LONG 2 hour bike." I had my friends laughing hard last month when I told them about my first year training logs!

Like a typical newbie, I tried to make up for lost time and stack a bunch of mileage 4 weeks from IMC, which caused me to partially tear my achilles tendon. I averaged about 3 hours a week in 4 weeks leading to that race trying to heal enough to start. Despite the risk of a full tear, start I did. I suffered on every leg, but was able to finish. I was disappointed with my 13:08 finish time, but, in reflection, I probably would not have done better with a fresh achilles. I was unprepared for such an event and needed some guidance.

Two months after IMC I joined a coached triathlon group and discovered my first taste of "real" triathlon training. I was now consistently hitting 10-12 hrs/week. With my 50 hour work week I was quite happy. My swim was making huge gains. I dropped from a 20:00 1k to 17:20 in 8 months. Funny how training works like that?! I hammered out two new 10k PB's, both sub-40 in the spring of 2003 as well. Only my bike seemed to not be making much progress.

My A race in 2003 was the Great White North Half-Iron at Stoney Plain on July 6. I raced a disappointing half-iron three weeks previous in 5:21.. same time as my half-iron before IMC02. Had I gained ANY fitness? The course was slightly long, but I was sure I should have dropped at least 10mins.

GWN was a disaster for me. It was a cold day and I finished in 5:35. I had a PB swim, but couldn't bring it together on the bike and run. As well, the cold weather caused an injury to my foot which would take over two months to recover. My season was over and it was a big dissappointment. I felt I had made some top-end gains, but my overall endurance had gone nowhere.

Two weeks later, I jetted off to Europe for 3 weeks to watch my buddy get married, drink beer, and recharge the batteries. It was just what I needed. When I came back to Canada I was ready to start my training for IMNZ.

The next 4 months I worked my ass off and suffered through some endlessly boring indoor sessions in the Calgary winter (up to 4.5hrs) to get in shape. I lost 3 weeks of training around xmas/new years due to work/xmas/moving/etc… Oh well, my trip to NZ would improve things!

My move to ChristChurch at the start of January helped me immensely. Anyone serious about improving their cycling ability absolutely has to get out of the Canadian winter for at least some of it. I had a tremendous two months leading up to the race. I didn't hit every workout, but I consistently averaged 20 hour weeks. The following is my IMNZ race report starting with the Monday before race day.

Monday, March 04
Final 90min easy ride before IMNZ. I'm cruising around ChCh near the QEII. As I approach a roundabout I see a truck parked to my left, I shoulder check to my right as I pull away from the edge of the road to go around the truck. I look forward just as the driver of the truck opens his door. WHAM! I hit the ground HARD. I can see something black fly past my peripheral. I feel pain.

Someone comes over to me. "Are you ok? Don't move. Can you feel everything?" Second voice of a lady "Is he ok? Do you need me to call an ambulance?". I finally manage to say something other than "UGGHHHH…..". "No, I'm ok. I'm ok. Really. Everything is ok." I manage to stand, but I am NOT ok. The first person is the driver of the truck and he helps me off the pavement, the lady grabs my bike and moves it to the sidewalk.

I manage to hobble over and survey the damage to myself and my bike. I'm relieved when I find that the carbon bars are in one piece and the black piece that I saw was just my tool kit. My wheels are waaaay out of true, but not tacoed. Hopefully they can be set straight. My body has not fared so well, though.

I have a bruise on my right knee, left quad, and a HUGE one just above my right hip bone. I have cuts to my hands, wrist (as I write this, I am sure I have a tiny fracture) and tailbone area. The muscles in my back have gone all out of whack, I cannot move my right shoulder without pain. Luckily, I am 5mins ride from the Burwood hospital where Lynds is doing some research. I managed to half-pedal there so she can patch me up.

We score a ride from the hospital back home, and in the car it finally hits me that my race might be over. I am quite depressed. I will not be able to swim with the condition of my back and shoulders, and the bruising on my hips and legs could cause me some difficulties over such a long race. And how bad is damage to my bike and how much will it cost to fix?

That night, I lay awake at 12:30am, stressing about my race and bike. I wander downstairs and give my bike another inspection. Now, I notice the crack in my fork. Nice. Bike parts are expensive in New Zealand, and 650c parts are almost impossible to find. The probability of finding a replacement fork stresses me even more!

Tuesday, March 05
I take my bike to BikeRight at 8:30am. It's fixable. Woohoo! The mechanic there also finds some other stuff that needs done. Now to find a fork. I post to my internet tri lounge chat page that my fork is busted, and it so happens that Roger, who lives only 15 Miles from the Reynolds factory in SoCal, can get me the exact fork I want and bring to me in Taupo! WOOHOO! Things are looking up.

That afternoon, I visit my massage therapist in ChCh, Selwyn Bain. I relate my story and hope that he can undo some of the damage to my body. He goes to work on my shoulders, neck and back deeper than I have ever felt before! He pulls out the acupuncture needles for my shoulder. He does some mild chiropractic work on my neck.

I return home barely able to move my upper body! I am assured by Selwyn that I will recover by race day. I start trying to pack my bike, but don't even have the strength to lift my frame! I think, how on earth am I going to compete in 4 days!?

Wednesday, March 06
Quick acupuncture on the right shoulder in the morning. Fly/drive to Taupo. Get bike built.

Thursday, March 07
Peeps Breakfast! Good to see all my internet friends again, and some new ones I haven't met. Roger has my fork (Roger, you rule!), and I quickly get it into the Avanti shop (what kind of hammer did those guys take to my headset, sheesh!). Quick swim in the afternoon. A little shoulder pain, but I seem to coming around. I have to do a wide-swing recovery. A quick run, my bruised quad has healed a bit and will be ok for race day.

Friday, March 08
A little crunchy, but my shoulder is feeling almost good for my morning swim. I check my bike and transition bags in, as IMNZ requires everything be checked on Friday. I get lots of good food in, but breakdown and have some of Lyndseys burrito at 8pm. Probably not the best thing for my system!

Race Day!
3:30am, the alarm goes off. I have slept surprisingly well. I change into my race suit, and head to the kitchen at the Holiday Park. Eggs, quick oats, and kiwi fruit on the menu. Stomach full I head back to the room and put on my hoodie and warm-up pants. It's COLD! BRRRR! Nerves are calm, I'm mentally ready to roll. I know I don't perform well in cold weather, but I'm determined to give it my best shot.

The swim has been changed this year, due to heavy rains, and the current into the river mouth is too strong. We will swim 1800m out, and 1800m back, the other 200m being the distance between the out and back legs and the final bit ot the shore.

I get to the swim start and very few people are in the water. Everyone seems to be waiting til the last second. Mike Reilly is urging everyone to get to the start line for the deep water start. I jump in. Cold, but bearable. I have two swim caps, and earplugs. It's 5mins to start and I cruise out to the start buoys, or where I think they are, as I can't see anything in the cold morning fog. Apparently, somewhere out in the mist is a Maori war canoe, but I cannot see more than 10 feet.

BLAM! The cannon goes. I start out easy, picking up the pace slowly, getting on some feet and finding my rhythm. I am a drafting maniac! It's a skill I have worked on in the last couple of months and I'm finding it the easier than ever. The swim is fairly uneventful for the first 1800m to the first turn. Probably one of the least rough swims I have done, just a few bumps and taps. I must have picked a good line.

Somehow I manage to lose the main pack in the 80m turnaround stretch, I should've hammered a bit to get back on some feet, but it's too late. I'm now swimming free and clear, with no draft. I try a few more sets of feet, but none very good. At this point, I start to cramp in my quads and calves from the cold, but I manage to shake them out. I just keep my strokes long and cruise back to the final buoy before the turn to shore.

As I pull up out of the water, I see the 1:10 on the clock. Good! I'm very happy with that. 4 days ago I wondered if I would be able to swim at all! The run to T1 is cold, my feet are completely numb. Ow! People are HAMMERING it like it's a 10k race to T1. I jog easy and try to get some blood flow to my legs.

T1 is a disaster. 10 minutes (incl. the 400m run). My hands are numb, and its hard to get my arm warmers and spare jersey on. My right calve now cramps REALLY BAD. ARRGGHH!!! When it loosens up, I head straight to the portaloo, shouldn't have eaten that burrito last night. ;-) I finally grab my bike and put on my sunglasses. They are covered in dew and completely unusable. Damn, they should clear in the wind. I slowly spin out of T1, legs still feeling like blocks of ice.

Pre-race bike strategy: easy for the first 45km, build to the end of the first lap, determine how I feel and pick it up for the second lap to a stready strong pace.

The first 40km is terrible. I am absolutely FREEZING. My teeth are chattering so hard, I'm having trouble getting in food and drink. I manage to get some Leppin and water down, but at 1:20 into the bike, I have consumed probably less than 200 calories, although plenty of liquid. Uh-oh, this could be bad, I need to play catch-up on the calories now.

The first leg out to Reparoa is downhill from 14km on… but I just can't get any speed, because the wind is too cold. I'm hitting my brakes on the downhill as the shivering is so bad. Thankfully by the turnaround, the sun has started to shine and I'm starting to regain some body heat. I have once again taken in too much liquid though. I am peeing quite frequently, slowing me down. In training I have found I don't need much more than 400ml/hr and with the cold weather I have definitely drank too much again.

By this time, my HR monitor has totally crapped out. I am not sweating, since it's so darn cold. I guess it's an RPE day. My bike doesn't have a computer on it.. so I have no other indication of my effort level.

I start to finally feel "good" and get into a rhythm about halfway back to town. I start to get on my nutrition and am pleasantly surprised at the number of calories I am able to get in without messing up my stomach.

Total bike nutrition: @1600cals (253 cals/hr: not enough!)
2 bottles water
1 bottle Leppin
1 bottle Pro4
2 Pro4 bars
10 shots of Hammergel
8 Endurolyte tabs

As I make my way out of town for the second lap, I feel really good. There is now a stronger tailwind on the downhill, and I drop down into my big gear and start to hammer along. A Japanese competitor and I swap places a few times and spend much of the next 30km together passing tons of people. I finally reach the turnaround, and estimate I'm on pace for a 6 hour split. I can handle that.

The final 45km into town is tough though. The wind is now gusting 30-40kmh, it's all uphill, and I'm tired (I think now it was lack of early calories). Most people around me have gone out too hard and are suffering. I feel ok, but not exactly a powerhouse. Around this time, the temperature has finally risen enough to make me sweat. My HR monitor comes to life and shows I am cruising at 10-15bpm under what I should be. Crap. I've been going too easy. I make an effort to pick up the pace, but the wind is mentally draining and I just can't seem to get going any faster.

I cruise the downhill into town, and clock a split of 6:20 at T2. Not what I'm capable of I'm sure, but I accept it and am just glad to be able to get off my bike and give my back and shoulders a rest. I get to run now! :-D My favorite part of the day.

T2 is pretty good. I managed to get through in under 4 minutes, despite stopping to get full body suntan lotion (the UV is VERY strong in the southern hemisphere), and struggling to get my extra jersey off.

My pre-race run plan: run comfortably for the first 4-5km until my legs come around and then hold 5min/km until the last 10km, then let'r rip!

Legs came around immediately! As I started to check my km splits, I was hitting 5-5:30 consistently. I clock first 10km in @56min. My stomach was protesting the gels I was trying to get down though, so I said, ok, coke/water/endurolytes it is!

The next 20km were kind of a blur, but I started to lose pace, walk a few hills, and generally piss around too long at the aid stations. It was starting to get hot now, just the way I like it. The aid stations, were spaced almost perfect for my pace, as I was just getting thirsty at each one. I was a little concerned that I hadn't peed much, but figured I'd be ok, and stopping to pee takes time anyways!

Run nutrition total:
7 Endurolytes
lots of coke
lots of water
2 mini-snickers
handful of crisps (potato chips)
3 orange slices
2 cookies

I reached the 32km point after the final turnaround. I looked at my watch 10:50 race time. Suddenly, I had a sense of urgency, there was no way I was going to finish in over 12 hours, and I really, really wanted that sub-4 run split! I picked up my pace a bit. I felt awesome. I realized, I had gone too easy. I had TONS of energy left. Maybe it was the caffeine and the sugar from the coke, but I felt like a rock star then. I started running hard, then harder, then just f'ing hammering. I started to fly past people like they were standing still. I rushed through the aid stations, grabbing coke and water and picking up the pace again. I wanted that sub-4 BAD, and I was going to kill myself to the finish to get it.

The final run down the lakeshore was totally focused. I could hear people as I passed "Holy crap, look at him go!", "Hey #747, you sure look like a jet plane!". Woowoo! I remembered something Gordo said from one of his IMNZ seminars, somethink like "The mental boost of moving past people at the end of the race is tremendous". How true!

I was picking up spots so easily. I surged past every competitor, I wanted no challengers, I wanted them to know there was no chance of catching me. Finally, the finish chute, my hands in the air, and a big smile on my face.

Run split: 3:56, 22nd in my AG.
Final Time: 11:41:06 on the clock. (actual time on my watch was 11:40:06 though?). 380th overall
38th AG 25-29

Epilogue
So… what did I learn? 1) No more cold weather racing unless I'm prepared to put on a lot of clothing in T1. 2) Need more calories on the bike, JFE! 3) Trust in my fitness. I could have gone faster on both the bike and run, but this could be due to point 2.

Taupo was an amazing venue, great crowds, great course, great organization. I would do it again in a second! Thanks to everyone that in someway motivated or supported me to reach the finish line at IMNZ. :-)

posted by Greg @ 3/06/2004