Post Mortem - Ironman WA 2009
It’s a little hard to know where to start with this report. In my entire 45 years of existence I have never had a muscle injury or soft tissue for that matter. It is with some disappointment that I have to report a calf muscle tear into my first 14kms of running the marathon. Stupidly I tried to run through after I felt the calf muscle pull and I actually thought it had righted itself. I didn’t remember to take any of my carboshotz tablets, I had about 2 swigs of my carboshotz gel.
My firt 14kms was in around 77mins so I thought ‘Great, I have around 3mins of buffer here, just keep this pace going and the sub 4hr will come. I recall an earlier post where I thought my calf had tightened uncomfortably in the WA Marathon Club Deepwater Pt run. At around 26kms, and after some frustration at having to walk most of the second lap, I said to my wife and our team swimmer that I would plug on. After only another 2kms, I was unsteady on my feet and barely able to walk straight, without one word of exaggeration.
At the 28km point, I saw them both again and they made me withdraw then and there. They helped me to the Drop Out zone and I went straight to the medical tent. I had some ice on the calf, a space blanket and both legs started cramping up very badly. After 1.5hrs in medical, I insisted on checking myself out of there. After walking about 20metres toward my wife, I started to feel nauseous, went back to medical tent, and vomited a few times. Felt much better, strangely. My lips were purple but I was at least able to manage a hobble.
As a stranger to physical injury (hand on my heart, never had a physical ailment before!) it just threw me and in spite of what I thought was a very thorough training regimen, I was undone. However to focus on my misfortune does no justice to the event. What a great day! Our team swimmer blasted out in 67mins (an 11min PB on the time she expected) and our team cyclist had a 6hr25min ride which was around 55mins slower than she wanted.
My workmate, Dave Koopu, finished in 16hr 29min. We met up with him the next day picking up his bike and he had plenty of battle scars to show us (welts around the neck, purple toes. He’d done the whole bike with his board shorts and running shoes. He proved how tough he is and, more importantly, that he is now an Ironman. Nice job Koops. Legendary stuff mate.
The lady staying in the bungalow next to us at Beachlands had travelled all the way from Abu Dhabi (or rubber ducky as we called it after a few drinks). She had been stung by something in the swim and when she emerged from the water very ill and 2hr 35mins later, her tongue was all swollen and she was having an allergic reaction to it. A quick jab of adrenalin and a trip to hospital that night meant that we offered to pick up her bike the next day and take it to Busso Avanti Plus for packing. We promised to think about her invitation to do the Abu Dhabi International Long Course Triathlon in March 2010.
I lent my Limar Chronos time trial helmet to our ‘rival’ team and Lee, the cyclist used it with pride and managed around 6hr 40m on the bike. Their runner finished his first marathon in 4hr51m and swimmer in 74mins……so because of my DNF, our team shouted drinks on Sat Night. D’oh!!!!
I saw a lady dressed as a cow on the run and asked politely if she could spare a calf muscle. Just about every house that was playing music on the run course played AC/DC (Shoot to Thrill, Highway to Hell…very appropriate, Let There be Rock). Load of residents trained their sprinkers on to the running track. Fantastic gestures. Mt Everest near the bridge crossing was fantastic again with great support from the locals.
I have to say that I was just rapt to hear ‘Thunderstruck’ being played as the age groupers took off. Great song/anthem for IMWA.
Really, we had the best time and our team members just all gelled so well together. Some of our team have trekked Bibbulmun end to end, our team swimmer now doing Rottnest, Dee with her Kilimanjaro exploits. Everyone pushed their boundaries and the atmosphere at the event and afterwards was electric. I felt sorry for myself for a little while but I should have been a little more acutely aware of my calf issue before attempting a marathon. A little blinkered on my part. I’ve booked in to see the doctor and plenty of rest and repair for the leg.
It’s really strange but the first thing we all said we would do was sign up for Busso Half (individually) and also maintain the fitness for next years Busso Ironman. Troy Coulthard was on a flyer but, like just about all the other cyclists, found the third lap tough going. Dimitri LaFleur also faded somewhat but managed 4hr 28mins. My training mentor, Terry Cameron, pulled up a little short of his Kona ambitions. He needed a 9hr 35 to 10hr result I think to be in the hunt. He still did a sensational swim and bike and like so many others, had a hard day out there on the run.
John Pendse had a 3hr 27min marathon when he was gunning for a 3hr result. He , Troy and Jeff were only a minute away from being fastest team in IMWA. Fantastic going guys, you’ll get the chockies next year.
It was a little sobering running past Tim Berkel who’d been broken pretty early on the run….and he was last year’s winner of IMWA. Gina Crawford proved herself 11mins quicker than any other female cyclist and won comfortably.
I always get warned about putting my target/goal time out there in the public domain. I was really in a bit of shock when the calf muscle actually gave way. Its swollen and black now, 2 days after the event. Still sore to touch.
Big brownie points to the organisers - so many dedicated volunteers and staff. The medics tent was well-drilled and it was a tough day at the office for all the Ironman athletes. A big increase in the use of compression wear on arms and legs. It just looked like it was cooking athletes out there, from my perspective. Enjoyed seeing Daniel Kowalski fly in from the swim in 43mins.
We have it on good authority that the second male Pro to come through on the swim actually sighted a shark close by to him. Authenticated by one of the staff at bike transition/checkout.
Most swimmers took at least 10mins longer to make the return journey (eg our team swimmer 28mins to get out to jetty end, 39mins to get back). Make a mental note of this all you prospective IMWA athletes.
Among 3 bikes, we had around $38000 of bikes in tow. Our practice cycle of one 60km lap on Thursday afternoon was a pretty easy hitout and we met up with some Cyclebuzz folk and a few other friends.
There are many, many other stories to share and these will dribble out over the next few days. I felt a bit ashamed to be wearing the Painathlon shirt but I did certainly give it my all. The calf simply wouldn’t let me run after a while. I enjoyed the support from the Cyclebuzz folk near the Equinox (including Clarky calling me a girl as a ‘gee up’.)
Congrats to Kate Bevilaqua, Katy Duffield, Tom Bakowski and many, many others. If you finished, you are certainly deserving of the Ironman title (again for some).
In the words of Sean O’Neill, we have a new team name and motto - UNFINISHED BUSINESS!!!!
CHRISTO