IMWA…and the sly old fox!
PRE RACE
It’s pretty hard to know where to start with this little missive. Very hard to summarise Ironman WA but I’ll give it a go. Dee and travelled down on Friday 9am and arrived at Peppermint Park Eco Village around 11.40am. Set up our tent and then hit the Esplanade Hotel for a big feed (a Dinosaur Steak for me and Pink Snapper for Dee).
We then had Emily, our team swimmer, arrive with her mum Norma and gave us the assorted goodies from the team ’showbag’. We then went to Ironman WA registration marquee and I got my wrist band. When I was there, I caught up with the Duffield girls and Rob Dunn. Amazingly, they thought they had registered way back in August but arrived to find there was no record of their registration. Unfortunately, their ‘pedigree’ and preparation counts for nought and they left feeling more than a little shattered at not being able to register. Very disappointing for them but there wasn’t a heck of a lot I could do.
Caught up with Dee’s Busso HIM swimmer, Ash Davis, for a quick cuppa at the ‘Merchant’. Back at Pepi Park, Dee and I went for a long walk along the beach just to unwind a little. We opted out of the carbo loading party although it was a real highlight for me at last year’s Ironman WA. At $45 a ticket for team entrants, it seemed a shame we had to pay when the entry fee was comparable to the individual one.
Instead, we went out with Brendan and Liz McSweeney to a place just south of Dunsborough called ‘Relish’ for dinner and it was sensational. Mr ‘Lenton Brae’ made the evening more memorable and it was a great night. Saturday, Dee took 90mins to walk to Busso Jetty. I was in the main marquee for the 9.30am briefing and the team briefing afterwards. Simon Beaumont does a great job MC’ing.
RACE DAY
Dee and I ordered some pasta from a place just next to the Bayview and set the alarm for 5am on Sunday morning. We had to pack up ‘camp’ so we got to the start at around 6am, just in time to see the professionals set off on their swim. We followed Emily and Ashleigh out along the jetty and watched around a third of their swim as they made their way to the end of the jetty for a right turn then back again. I saw everyone coming in from the swim: Emily (our team swimmer) with a great 77min effort - the clock may show 80mins however this will always be slower as it includes transition. Great job Em - the youngest competitor out there. Stung by jellyfish and all!! It was pure elation as she tagged with Brendan McSweeney. Ash Davis had a giant stingray gliding a few metres underneath her. That must have got the adrenalin going.
Now, I raced along the fence and saw Brendan depart the bike transition. Dee and I watched along with Liz McSweeney and we all missed Brendan come through on his first lap (how is it possible for us to do that?). Naturally we thought, after not seeing him at all at 10am, that he’d had some major problems on the course. How wrong was that! It ended up that he was on his way to smashing the bike course in a time of 4hrs38mins. Words fail me at how far Brendan has come as a cyclist in the last 18mths. But to post what was nearly spot on a 39kph average was a massive effort. With a headwind greeting most cyclists on their last 20 to 30kms, it was a memorable effort. I tagged with Brendan and felt good as only 7 teams had departed in front of us. He was understandably rapt in his effort and Dee got a great picture of him straight after tagging with me.
I checked my watch after the first 14km lap and I had this done in 65mins, well under 5min/km pace. Naturally, I thought I was on 3hr30m pace at that point. My second lap was marginally slower but I still thought I was somewhere between 3hr40 and 4hrs. I ran a good portion of the first and second lap with a lady called Bridget. She ended up with an awesome IMWA result so I’m glad I didn’t try to stay with her the whole run. Then, at around 28kms, I had a couple of unscheduled ‘pitstops’ and a huge wall came up out of nowhere. It freaked me out a bit because I’ve never experienced such a dramatic ’shutdown’. I tried to recall what I’d eaten in the lead up or, indeed, what I took on board in terms of food and fluids for the actual run. I knew I was well hydrated.
At the start of the finish chute, I tried a gallop but, unbelievably, my first cramp set in at this point. I got over it after about 50metres, managed to give Dee a big smooch and then started the dancers on a YMCA routine at the finish line. Little was I to know the next 3 mixed team runners came in less than 2mins behind me. As soon as I crossed, I felt very faint and felt quite unwell. I managed to get into the massage area and spoke briefly to Terry Cameron ( a bloke I had done a lot of running training with in my last IMWA preparation) and Rob Suriano. A 40min massage on my legs probably saved them from totally seizing. Well done to all the Curtin physio students. A massive effort in organising massages for so many people.
As I left the recovery tent, I immediately had to lie down for about 20mins. I just crashed and felt dizzy the whole time. Even after Painathlon, I never felt this bad and it was a salutary reminder for me to respect the marathon effort and, perhaps, to prepare a little more for it next time. The 10 to 15km training efforts didn’t really cut it and my cycle commute doesn’t really prepare my running muscles that well. From thinking I was ’sailing’ to a 3hr 30m effort to being a whole hour slower was very sobering and a little embarrassing really. I wished I didn’t have the Front Runner shirt on as I definitely didn’t do it justice. Next time I will.
My eventual run time of 4hrs 32m was very disappointing and only 15mins quicker than my Rotto effort. But I’ve already built the bridge and over it. Thanks to Emily and Brendan, our mixed team was second in its category although we were a good 30mins behind the first placed mixed team.
KUDOS
Well done to Steve Hammond (got a nice shower scene photo as you came out of the swim), Hannah Lawton (solid 11h30m effort), Stuart Durham from Eclipse Fitness (setting up his team runner Johan Borg for a second place team effort overall - I had a chat to Johan and asked him what time he was hoping for. When he said ’sub 3hrs’ that sort of finished the conversation), John Janssen on his first Ironman, Terry Cameron on a super 10hr37m including a 3hr45m run, Todd Panietz for his first Ironman (good luck in Sweden , Toddy. We’ll all miss you over these 6mths mate), Amber Morrison on filling in for Tim Roach and putting in a 4hr 48m first time marathon at very short notice (all one day of it), John Pantelis on being an Ironman again, Peter Clark on being an Ironman again - solid preparation and supreme fitness, Paul Prottey on an amazing 5hr30m bike effort given his limited fitness and preparation after the bad accident he was involved in - not easy doing a 180km bike with a dodgy shoulder, very well done mate.
Best team name goes to ‘Does my bum look big in this’. Fantastic.
Frank Stapleton’s job as tech race director goes largely unheralded but such a massive effort. He was once a 2hr37m mara runner and I’m sure harbors dreams of doing Ironman. One day Frank - well done mate.
Mitch Anderson did a great job with Pete Murray at both the swim exit and the bike exit. Very funny and edgy. Also very noble in learning that Matt Illingworth had broken his bike record.
To all the supporters. I learned that Shannon, Carolyn and several others were cheering on the last few competitors to ensure they sneaked in under the cutoff time by a mere 30seconds. That’s what its all about and I’m sure they will never forget your encouragement.
The solitude of the 180km bike effort, the meditative meanderings of the swim when you’re past halfway, the interminable 14km run laps, feeling sorry for the aid station folk at the back as noone ever takes their water, coke or Hi5 drinks, the town centre support as you go around the roundabout, the family who let me use their toilet when a portable was nowhere in sight, the great chalk messages of support on the footpath and cycle, the two girls dressed as the Iron Man character all day, the afterburner of Jimmy Johnsen as he tried to make his move on the last lap, the running cadence and pure grit of Berkel as he shook off Jason Shortis’ challenge with 5kms to go, the high 5’s I got from Dave Koopu, my workmate, on all my run laps. It all adds up to a great Ironman WA and I think all those involved should really take a bow.
It takes a lot of teamwork, organisation and planning. I heard some overseas competitors marvel at just how many volunteers were involved with the event.
To Mark Batten, Lisbeth Kristensen, Tom Bakowski, Courtney Ogden,Tim Roach and scores of others whose day didn’t go exactly to plan in spite of their exquisite preparation, your day of triumph will surely arrive.
I will dream about how many nice bikes were in transition and how I want a set of the latest Zipp Flashpoint wheels at $2300 a pop!
THE FUTURE
Tonight, some of us have a 15km time trial to wake up our legs again. This is an ATTA event at Champion Lakes. I ended up marshalling at this and young Travis Meyer put in a blinding 18min result. Most people I’ve talked to are on board for Busso Half Ironman in early May 2009. Training for you guys will start just after Christmas. Don’t forget, earlybird entries from Mid January. And Raf Baugh has a 9 week training course for those of you wanting to sharpen up your half marathon in time for the Darlington Half Mara in mid April 2009.
That’s it for now. What an event. I ended up crashing at Brendan and Liz’s digs in Busso on Sunday night after being in no shape to drive home. Set the alarm for 3am and drove home Monday morning in time to get ready to go to work.
And, lastly the ’sly old fox’ reference. ‘What the…?’ I hear you ask. Well, a person who sets out to finish an Ironman deliberately a few seconds before the cutoff time. That’s my definition of a sly, old fox. An awful lot of effort to go to though!!
Reservoir
CHRISTO